Thread: Has Anyone Tried the Asagi Stone That ChefKnivestoGo sells?

Well, I ended up just deciding to follow my own advice and I went to alex gilmore instead, and got a small asagi stone after making a request for performance over pretty (not a collector, pretty stones are nice, I'm on a moderate budget this go around). After buying a lot of woodworking stones and being happy with few, I like alex's guarantee that if I don't like this stone, no problem, just try another one. The suita stone I got from him is my favorite of my woodworking stones, though, so I'll probably not have to exercise that with a similar experience on this.

Since I can step to the razor stone from various woodworking stones that are probably in the 6-10+k grit range, I don't need a razor stone to do a lot other than be able to finish off an edge.

Still, at the time I asked this question last week, just had to check. If someone would've said "similar to the asagi stones for razors" and had experience, I might've been tempted to buy the big one from CKTG and try to make it pull double duty. AT this point, though, I already have a lot of semi-finishers in my drawer that i am stuck with because i can't in good conscience sell them to someone else as a finish stone like folks did to me - even for woodworking.

Anyone considering any kind of high end J-nat should do themselves a favour and go with a knowledgable, reputable seller who offers a full exchange or refund policy, and ideally uses the stones themselves. I would also be wary of anything too cheap as these usually fall into the too-good-to-be-true category. I may be a bit old school about this, but better safe than sorry.

I might also add that you do not have to trade-off (at least, not to the degree you might think) fineness and cutting speed with high-end J-nats. I have an asagi that developed renge over time that gives very, very fine edges very, very quickly indeed!

With J-nats you get what you pay for, unless you are very, very lucky.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

I might also add that you do not have to trade-off (at least, not to the degree you might think) fineness and cutting speed with high-end J-nats. I have an asagi that developed renge over time that gives very, very fine edges very, very quickly indeed!

Dude, your magic Asagi got even more magical? I bet that's why you were away from the forum for a while - sitting around rubbing your Asagi for 23 hours a day.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Dude, your magic Asagi got even more magical? I bet that's why you were away from the forum for a while - sitting around rubbing your Asagi for 23 hours a day.

Well, I don't know whether the speed can be directly attributable to the renge or not, but it is certainly a cool development that I think would have upped the asking price if the seller knew it was lurking half a mil under the surface

James.

only one more thing for the record:

The term Asagi has been used in this thread as if it were a type of stone. It is not.
Asagi referrs to the colour of the stone being blue(ish). Any kind of (japanese) stone might be called Asagi
and not necessarily even remotely useable for razors. The word Asagi can be used to further describe a stone.
Like in "I have a Nakayama Asagi, your Nakayama is Kiita".
When there was a time that J-Nat was equal to Nakayama b/c it was a bit hyped the quarry was simply left out.
Now we have to specify the type of stone since we came upon a couple of different mines.

Concluding the Asagi does not exist

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

only one more thing for the record:

The term Asagi has been used in this thread as if it were a type of stone. It is not.
Asagi referrs to the colour of the stone being blue(ish). Any kind of (japanese) stone might be called Asagi
and not necessarily even remotely useable for razors. The word Asagi can be used to further describe a stone.
Like in "I have a Nakayama Asagi, your Nakayama is Kiita".
When there was a time that J-Nat was equal to Nakayama b/c it was a bit hyped the quarry was simply left out.
Now we have to specify the type of stone since we came upon a couple of different mines.

Concluding the Asagi does not exist

This is yet another reason I asked about the CKTG Asagi, because that's what they call it "asagi". nothing else, no mine, no nothing, so it's hard to tell what it is. And while it's not expensive in the world of large japanese stones, it's not cheap to buy and find out you don't really like it.

My story right now, and I'm going to stick to it for until it's convenient to change it, is that I don't want to learn everything in the world about a razor finishing stone, I just want one that works.

The stone I bought from alex is labeled Ozaki Asagi. I like using a stone dealer in the world of natural stones, all I have to do is say "I'd like a hard stone that I can shave off of".

Got the stone from alex in the mail yesterday. Really a nice stone, much finer than anything I have for woodworking and much much finer than the chinese 12k, which is what I was using to soften the edge of my razors. But it still has a smooth feel (like a cutting and not skipping feel) without being soft at all.

I requested a "budget" stone of sorts, performance over looks + size (two things that can always take a stone at a similar level of performance and triple+ the price) if that could be the case, and what I got was toishi #70 from alex's razor page.

Exactly what I was hoping for - a stone that's very fine and does not release particles too quickly, but one that will still cut without a slurry. I'm glad now I didn't shop for an unknown or a "something for nothing" stone (a big pretty stone that doesn't cost that much). I've never gotten something for nothing with japanese stones, but I have, by trying to bargain hunt, often gotten nothing for something.