Thread: finger hones

I hope this is not so off topic.

I just made a blog of finger stones.

Kitaeji Maintenance 1
Kitaeji Maintenance 2
Kitaeji Maintenace 3

I used fingerstones of these stones:


Ohira Uchigomori Suita Sword Polish Grade


Nakayama (Maruka) Stone (a bit more orange than egg yolk color)


Hakka (Finer and a bit harder than usual Hakka)

The first 2 stones are quite rare quality stones (I have visited several natural stone stores in Japan to get them).

These stones are not finisher for razors but are quite expensive because the finish to the blade is so beautiful.

Eidt to add:

Thank you moderator to move this thread.

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

We are kind of Hijacking the thread, since it is dedicated to the Shoubudani.
DrNaka your Blog is highly interesting, maybe you want to open a thread for it.
I think this way most people will read it and benefit from it.

I have a question for you.
The Kasumi finish of my knives plays an important role for me.
I found that if I sharpened the knife on my japanese naturals in only one direction (i.e. into the edge, dge leading)
and used the fingerstones in an angular direction (so the scratch pattern is 90° to the original)
the contrast between the iron layer and the steel layer becomes very crisp.
(I am talking about three layerd knifes)
Have you noticed something similar, or is it just me?

I noticed a better "grip" of the fingerstone if your scratch pattern is 90° to the original.
But I did not notice a more "crisp" Kasumi.

I do not know why but if you use a fine (or harder) fingerstone first (little haze or semi mirror finish) and use a more softer or more coarse (more haze) fingerstone after it I notice a more "crisp" finish.

There are so many kinds of Japanese stones so it is very difficult to generalize our experience.

But swarf/mud pictures with (macro) pictures of the blade helps a lot to see what stone you use.

drnaka i have a few higonokami blades could i use finger stones as a slurry stone on a jnat to get a contrast inbetween the two steels (soft iron & blue steel) or do i just do what you did and rub the stone on the blade ?

Originally Posted by eleblu05

drnaka i have a few higonokami blades could i use finger stones as a slurry stone on a jnat to get a contrast inbetween the two steels (soft iron & blue steel) or do i just do what you did and rub the stone on the blade ?

I have a Aritsugu Higonokami.
IIRC the blade grind is concave.
So you must have a bit convex fingerstone to do that.
Just rub the stone on the blade. I think a bit sofer fingerstone is better (it will fit the concave grind faster).

I use (or abuse) my Higonokami as a tool and never had the idea to make it look good

thank you drnaka i use mine as a work blade to but i do like to regrind mine and yes make it look pretty

as you can see in the pic you cant see the contrast in the two steels because i used chromium oxide to polish the blade

Originally Posted by eleblu05

as you can see in the pic you cant see the contrast in the two steels because i used chromium oxide to polish the blade

I see it.

Use a softer Jnats to make more haze.
I would recommend a Hakka.

A soft or medium soft Suita will work too.

Do not use a hard stone for razor finishing.

ok thank you very much for the info

I made some more at the blog.
There are some info about natural middle stone too.

Kitaeji Maintenance 4
Kitaeji Maintenance 5