Thread: My new nagura...

Originally Posted by zib

It's funny, I'm reading this thread and just heard from maximsan at JNS about the Nagura...Strong the force is....
How do you know which is which, I don't read Kanji...I'll need help from you guys....

Koma is the boxy one, but the boxes aren't closed. Meijiro is the boxy one, but the boxes are closed boxes. Botan is the most complicated looking. And by process of elimination, I find Tenjyou. Sounds silly, but that's really the way I've memorized them, lol.

Edit: I'm referring to the shape of the writing.

Thankfully, my Japanese wife has helped me to learn these kanjii (for the meijiro and the tenjou). The koma and botan are technically not kanjii, they are written in katakana. I put both the romaji (english characters) and the kana (Japanese characters) in my original post specifically to aid those who don't read either kanjii or katakana... Good luck!

Very nice looking stones. Congrats!

Yes very nice and thanks for sharing the pics, they helped me to identify which is which in my set that I just received from Maksim.

Originally Posted by bassguy

No joke about the HAD. It's been suggested the best way to keep a japanese natural stone lapped is with another japanese natural stone!!

Legal, how would you rate their relative softness? How would you rank them based on how quickly the slurry comes up?
I have only my own stones and a theory.

Justin,

Based solely upon slurry generation after two uses (once with tenjou and once with meijiro), I'd say that botan is very soft (almost immediately generated a slurry), tenjou took a bit of work (maybe 20 seconds), koma was fairly close between the two. I didn't really pay attention to this with the meijiro, so will have to do it again next time. My honzan takes a very long time to raise a slurry (better part of a minute and requiring a bit of pressure)...

The edges both times have been incredible. They are wicked sharp and butter smooth!

in addition.
you can use those stones also for sharpening kitchen knifes/ combat knifes.
Without using any other stones. It works very well.
You get one of the stones for 14 Euro. It is a good price

OK, I'll be contacting you guys when mine arrive....Thanks....

Originally Posted by zib

OK, I'll be contacting you guys when mine arrive....Thanks....

Mwahahahaha!

On a serious note, I think the color distinction within nagura types relates to color and softness. My Koma is richly stripped with yellow and produces a Splenda colored slurry very very quickly, it is by far the fastest and softest stone I have. The other three have NO yellow, are of a different color grade, and are all harder.
I'm so exciting about honing now that I have these stones. Initially amazing results that will only get better with time. But that's why we do this I suppose

Where'd ya get the Koma, They are hard to come by it seems....?

Originally Posted by bassguy

Mwahahahaha!

On a serious note, I think the color distinction within nagura types relates to color and softness. My Koma is richly stripped with yellow and produces a Splenda colored slurry very very quickly, it is by far the fastest and softest stone I have. The other three have NO yellow, are of a different color grade, and are all harder.
I'm so exciting about honing now that I have these stones. Initially amazing results that will only get better with time. But that's why we do this I suppose

From what I hear from people that know stones koma should be pretty hard stone. Also the color of Koma can vary and is not related to quality or fineness.