Thread: Shoubudani Mizuasagi with kanji translation

Just wanted to share with you guys picture of the stone I've bought yesterday. Finally I found someone in Japan who speaks great English and have some expertize with stones. They were selling stones in Tokyo from 1933.







Here is explanation I've got from them about kanji written on it

① 菖蒲谷 (Shoubudani) is the name of the place that the stone was quarried from. The quarry was located in central area of Kyoto city, Ukyou-ku. Kyoto is famous for good quarries for sharpening stones. It was also said that the stone quarried in the central area of Kyoto city has better quality than the stones quarried in other areas of Kyoto. But the Shoubudani quarry was shut down in 1975.

-菖蒲(Shoubu) means iris, a kind of flower.
-谷(Tani) means valley.

合砥(Awasedo) means finishing stone.

② 最高級品(Saikoukyuuhin) means best quality products.

③ 水浅黄 (Mizuasagi) is color. Asagi is light blue. Mizu means water. So, Mizuasagi means light blue like water. Asagi is usually Soft Hard. You may be able to find Asagi more easily than Mizuasagi. So, Mizuasagi of Shoubudani is rare stone.

Stone seller in Japan, whom I got this tennen toishi from, doesn’t recommend to soak stone in water at all. Here is few tips from them.

“You do not need much water or power in order to use the stone efficiently. You just need to add water over the stone before you start using it. The stone does not absorb much water. You need to slide a blade on the stone softly and slowly. While you are using the stone, only when you think you are running out of water, you need to put two or three drops of water on top of the stone”

And when it is coming to naguras,

“Naguras work well with the stone. The stone definitely needs slurry. You should not wash out slurry while you are using the stone.”

Hi-res photos will follow this week.

Cool looking stone, Shobudani stones can be very hard and very very fine.

Finally Shoubudani stone arrived. Some photos, enjoy.

Congrats on a great looking stone.
Please keep us updated on how it performs.

Small update on the performance. I’ve tried to hone 6 Japanese single bevel knifes with this stone and 2 straight razors. I also used 3 different Mikawa nagura. No point to talk about knifes at straight razor forum, just to mention that result I’ve got was amazing and better than I expected.

I knew that “little hard” stone in not really suit for razors, but I gave it a chance. With my collection of 120+ razors I already know what “really sharp” razor can be. Again, result that I’ve got was much better than I expected. I had a feeling that I just removing foam from the face, so smooth and gentle shave was. I am fricking surprised. Really.

As Sham recommended, the next stage would be to try to hone with it’s own slurry, without naguras at all and see how it perform. Let's see.

Originally Posted by Traskrom

Small update on the performance. I’ve tried to hone 6 Japanese single bevel knifes with this stone and 2 straight razors. I also used 3 different Mikawa nagura. No point to talk about knifes at straight razor forum, just to mention that result I’ve got was amazing and better than I expected.

I knew that “little hard” stone in not really suit for razors, but I gave it a chance. With my collection of 120+ razors I already know what “really sharp” razor can be. Again, result that I’ve got was much better than I expected. I had a feeling that I just removing foam from the face, so smooth and gentle shave was. I am fricking surprised. Really.

As Sham recommended, the next stage would be to try to hone with it’s own slurry, without naguras at all and see how it perform. Let's see.

the harder the stone the better, for razors.
Very hard stones are not going to be good for traditional knives because they will scratch the soft iron, but will work fine on western style and honyaki knives.
For razors you have a few options , slurry using Jim's method.
slurry with dilution, or water only. Depending on what stone you are coming from you will have to find out the optimal number of passes.
How fast your stone is will also determine which method you need to use to get the best result.
Please keep us posted you have a beautiful stone.

Looks great! What a nice looking stone.

R