Thread: Jnat from 330mate?????

Well, I am done dealing with 330mate.

Somehow, I thought 5 purchases would have qualified me as somewhat regular customer.

On my 6th purchase it arrived different than what I expected. So, I questioned if he had sent the correct stone. He responded by deriding me and calling me names.

I responded politely and again more insults.

My response was:

I am happy to go away.

I have no time for 頭でっかち businessman.

I hope that was appropriately insulting.

Try Alex Gilmore at The Japan Blade. You will be amazed at the difference. And welcome to the club of FORMER 330mate believers!

I have been looking more of something less fine. Something to use after a 2K stone.

I am pretty happy with my stones after that.

Neither Alex nor O_S seemed to have any of nakato type stones, although I didn't ask.

Have you tried any Belgian stones? Either BBW or coti (or better yet, a combo of the two) might suit your goals, and they are natural stones and very beautiful too.

I wanted something faster than the BBW. The Ohira Tomae (size 100) I got from 330mate on ebay was doing the job, but I wanted something bigger. I was concerned when it arrived (and with a few preliminary swipes) that perhaps the wrong stone had been sent. Not wanting to mess up the stamps and being up against the Paypal dispute deadline, I initiated a dispute. Over the next few days I realized it was going to work just fine and have closed the dispute. Of course the unpleasant interchange happened as well.

Now that I have decided to keep the stone, I will lap it and see how it really performs, but if pre-lapping results are indicative, it will be a good stone and do what I wanted.

Since I had been supportive of 330mate earlier in this thread, I wanted to clarify my "updated" experience.

Originally Posted by Pyment

I have been looking more of something less fine. Something to use after a 2K stone.

I am pretty happy with my stones after that.

Neither Alex nor O_S seemed to have any of nakato type stones, although I didn't ask.

Try So @ japantool he has a freak load of all kinds of stones.
No to mention he is the biggest authority on Nat stones I am ware of.

The next lowest grit J-nat I have is a Shiro suita that the So's father said was probably Okudo but could be Shoubudani. I probably could go from the 2K to that, but (greedy little HADite that I am) I wanted another stone in there that was a little wider and harder than my Aoto. This new stone fits there. I am not certain it would be worth it to someone else to deal with the seller.

I was also looking for something I could recommend to others. I think either of 330mates 100 size stones (Shoubu or Ohira) on eBay would be good for this place in the progression (if the size is OK with you). My Ohira 100 was pretty inexpensive.

I would be willing to PM someone with what I offered on the Ohira 100.

I was looking for a possibility to try a Jnat, and I was thinking about taking my chances, and getting one from 330mate. I know that most likely it won't be a nice stone, or it can arrive broken in 3 pieces, but I like gambles Are there any differences in the stones he are listing for cheap? I mean it looks like they are priced by size, and not really by fineness. He sells the nicest stones with separate pics and auctions, but is there any chance that I can get a prepolisher, or a finisher in the lower price segments he sells? 38$+shipping could be worth a shot, or not really? If I get a coarser one than I could use it for the lower stages of sharpening, or with knives too.

From what I've been reading (lots in anticipation of my Oozuku! ), $38 sounds awfully low for a decent sized, fast prepolisher. As far as finishers are concerned, forget it. You almost certainly will not get a quality Jnat finisher for razors for that price--even if you did, it would probably be full of toxic inclusions.

Talk to Maksim @ JNS. He regularly gets "Traveler" Oozukus, which are not too expensive & are actually suited for razor finishing. He could probably find you the kind of prepolisher you're looking for too. Plus, shipping to the EU is free.

Originally Posted by PA23-250

From what I've been reading (lots in anticipation of my Oozuku! ), $38 sounds awfully low for a decent sized, fast prepolisher. As far as finishers are concerned, forget it. You almost certainly will not get a quality Jnat finisher for razors for that price--even if you did, it would probably be full of toxic inclusions.

Talk to Maksim @ JNS. He regularly gets "Traveler" Oozukus, which are not too expensive & are actually suited for razor finishing. He could probably find you the kind of prepolisher you're looking for too. Plus, shipping to the EU is free.

Thanks for the advice, but its a bit too late, I already bought a razor size oozuku asagi from maxim 3 weeks ago, and I love it Well worth the price, and I can be sure that its a quality stone.