New Ozuku-yama Karasu from Morihei

I decided to enjoy a recent windfall and get a high-end finishing j-nat. I gave Michiko at Morihei some guidance about price and he sent me some options.

His top pick and the one I went for was this Ozuku-yama Karasu
(大突山合砥カラス). Dimensions are 205×73×27mm 1,080g

Attachment 58426

He has suggested using the stone with a Mejiro nagura and water (no tomonagura).

His other recommendations were (all comments from Morihei):

#89 Narutaki-yama (鳴滝山)
Approx. 207×75×25mm 1,000g
Hard
Very good quality
Most of Narutaki stones are yellow or light blue color.
But this stone is red brown color. So, this one is rare.

Attachment 58427

#107 Kitsu-yama (木津山)
Approx. 205×78×34mm 1,400g
Little Hard
Very good quality.

Attachment 58428

#32 Nakayama (中山)
Approx. 210×73×35(mm)1,270g
This stone is one of the hardest among Nakayama.
This stone will grind steel well and put a fine edge.

Attachment 58429

I will report back when I have received the stone.
Claude

Sweet! Nice score matey, that looks awesome!

I'm very interested to hear about how that stone performs. I love my J-Nat, its definately my favourite finisher.

Thanks for the eye candy Claude, let us know how it performs.
Mike:gl:

Some of those names are new to me. They look great.

Let us have some feedback on performance.

Would it be impolite to ask about the price or range of prices? I think everyone wants great finishing jnats, but are intimidated by the prce. I have bought many stones from various sources and only have a few good one to show for it. Would have been better buying a few good ones to start with from more reputable sources.

Nice stone dude. Congratz.

Sharpman

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 25609289

Would it be impolite to ask about the price or range of prices? I think everyone wants great finishing jnats, but are intimidated by the prce. I have bought many stones from various sources and only have a few good one to show for it. Would have been better buying a few good ones to start with from more reputable sources.

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These stones are not cheap (for me anyway) and range $1,300 - $1,600. Having said that I got a very good Shouhonyama Ohira from Morihei for a fraction of this price and a nice Wakasa Karasu from Maksim for even less. Unless you are an expert the key thing with j-nats is to find a vendor you can trust and be upfront about what you want, how much you are prepared to pay and your level of experience.

Claude

I got my Nakayama from So. It was specially selected for me by his dad. He is a great guy. You have to bear with him though, he is very busy.

OK, so I received the stone. Three days Tokyo to London, got to love EMS. Beautifully (and securely) wrapped. Both stones, Ozuku and nagura, come with a nice silk covering.

Last week I won a very nice Filharmonica 14 on ebay and I decided to wait for these stones to hone. I wasn't really sure at which point to go from my choceras to the nats. I set the bevel on the chocera 1k and then chocera 3k. At this point I went to a Tenjyou nagura on the Ozuku, about 6 sets of circles and 20 - 30 x-strokes (I never count exactly). Then repeated with the Mejiro nagura and finished with 20 - 30 x-strokes on plain water. Finally stropped as usual. The whole thing took 10 minutes.

I just shaved this morning and I will admit that I am completely blown away. So smooth, so close - just amazing. As it so happens I shaved a few days ago with another Filly 14 that I had honed up to shapton 30k and it is really interesting to compare the two. Both were super close shaves but with the 30k finish it constantly felt I was about to give myself a weeper whilst the j-nat finish was just so comfortable.

Very, very impressed with the stone and equally impressed with the advice and service from Morihei.

Claude

Have fun with this beautiful stones!