Removed the Stamps and still I Made it through the Night

[jleeg]

It took me a few years and a glass of good scotch (any alcohol would have worked); and a re-reading of your posts on the subject. But they are gone and all I'm left with are some photos and a really great stone. I was surprised how easily this stone (Maruichi Nakayama Asagi) flattened. And how nice the stone is to use. Began with 125 diamond plate and progressed to 1500 sandpaper on a granite flattening plate.

Anyway, this is my only Jnat; if I were looking for another.....what suggestions?

Best to all. J

[mainaman]

Try Maksim, he has great ones for razor .
JNS japanesenaturalstones.com

[JimmyHAD]

Anyway, this is my only Jnat; if I were looking for another.....what suggestions?

Best to all. J

Lovely stone, enjoy it. My suggestion comes from a friend thirty years ago, "If you can't be satisfied with what you have, you'll never be satisfied with what you get." Unfortunately I haven't been able to follow his suggestion.

[DaveW]

If you get a finer edge with it than a synthetic stone and it has a good feel, given its stamp, I think any other move you make will be a lateral move. At least you have a picture of it before you ran the stamp off!

I bought 10 natural japanese stones (woodworking, not shaving, but some turned out to be good razor stones because they were too hard/fine/slow to be practical for woodworking) before I realized all I was doing was making lateral moves from one place to the next, and not really getting anything better.

Far be it from me to discourage you from getting more, though, if you want to do it to satisfy curiosity or if you do come to a razor with an alloy that one that you have doesn't cut well.

I'd pick a desire for harder or softer if you want to get another one, and then go from there to a reputable stone seller. At least 6 of the stones that I got of the 10 were not what the sellers said they were. They were either more coarse than people said (because everyone seems to think that a natural stone is automatically finer cutting), softer than people said, slower cutting, or not as even from corner to corner as they were made out to be.

The stone that I got from alex gilmore was exactly what he said it was, and despite all of my bargain hunting, it remains the best stone I have.

[Disburden]

I have a Nakayama Maruichi too and it's an amazing stone, it is my favorite finisher so far, I like it more than my YG Escher! I lapped the stamps off mine too, you can see the thread on here, and the stone preformed a lot better. My stone had the same exact stamps as yours, including the Kamisori stamp. After the fine sandpaper I did lap the Maruichi with another Jnat to make it smoother, you can use a coticule or something too.

It's a beautiful stone, Makism is probably the best place to go Jnat right now as far as final polish and price is concerned.

[JimmyHAD]

I have a Nakayama Maruichi too and it's an amazing stone, it is my favorite finisher so far, I like it more than my YG Escher!

BLASPHEMY !!

[zib]

Here are my Maruichi's, The thinner one has a Maruka stamp on it (on the end). The wider one had it's stamps lapped off, It was a sad day indeed. I too broke out the Scotch.

[jleeg]

Zib, its these heart-wrenching tales that, sob, are just so distressing (the sound of cork pulled from the bottle); I hear ya man (glug glug into the glass) and all you guys who've gone through this (sip). No more sad tales (only cause its not yet 10 am).

[DaveW]

You guys are sentimental! The first thing I want to do when I get a stone like like that is work it and see what it's like, and then see how it behaves as you get through the outer skin.

They are such a joy to use (the naturals), experiment with, feel, smell (you know what I mean, the smell is something you can't get with an artificial hone)...I don't know how you guys can leave the stamps on so long.

[jleeg]

So, how can we leave the stamps on for so long? I'll offer some answers.

I bought my stone from Old_School who said that the stone did not need to be lapped and something to the effect that the stamps held value for authentication purposes (not a direct quote and based on a failing memory). I did pay a substantial sum and, looking back, I think I was not committed to the stone's intrinsic value as a sharpener, albeit one with great provenance. This seems contradictory to my reason for purchasing it, and was not intentional. We mortals, exploited by Madison Avenue, are impressed with tags, hood ornaments and logos, even those of us who claim to be impervious. Over time and despite the allure of these mystical markings, I came to see the stone more as what it was intended for. Reading here that flattening and polishing the stone would bring out its best...the conversion came over me. I held off a little longer because I wanted to do it right....didn't want to open a small crack (I didn't)...and simply out of an unfounded fear that I'd screw it up. So, up off the psychiatrist's couch and back to work I go!