Thread: J-Nat club

Originally Posted by mainaman

Depends on the individual stones, Maruka is just a stamp that means the stone is indeed a Nakayama.

Does it follow then, that the harder the stone the better finisher it will be and does colour play any part at all?
Cheers

Originally Posted by JOB15

Does it follow then, that the harder the stone the better finisher it will be and does colour play any part at all?
Cheers

Not always, there are some very hard coarse stones out there, as well as some very soft fine stones.
What determines the quality of the finisher is , speed (higher abrasive concentration), how fine the stone particles can break down, hardness. Color is just aesthetics, however Asagi colored stones tend to be harder than Kiita colored stones, but there are exceptions always.

Right. Because they are natural stones, you get ideas of what colors and hardness might produce. It's never actually known until the stone is tested. The old hard kiita stones, especially ones stamped maruka, tend to be of very high quality. Mine is undergoing a 4th coat of shellac. Once that is dry I'll try to lap out more of the gouges and see how it performs. I did a quick test run pretty lapping, and it showed some real promise.

Also, kiita stones tend to cut very fast. They also have a different feel to them than say a hard asagi. Again it's hard to say things like color and hardness will be an indication of a great stone, they come in all varieties of hardness and fineness.

So what does Karasu mean?

A mixture of colours?

cheers

Originally Posted by JOB15

So what does Karasu mean?

A mixture of colours?

cheers

Karasu refers to "flying crow" patterns. It's usually on asagi stones with black splotches. Good ones tend to be hard stones, but again they can be soft too.

I know that the synthetic stones line the flattening stone after wear.
And how come the Japanese natural stones, also align flattening stone ? For example Naniwa 220 Flattening Stone.

Originally Posted by maximuslt

I know that the synthetic stones line the flattening stone after wear.
And how come the Japanese natural stones, also align flattening stone ? For example Naniwa 220 Flattening Stone.

Hard to understand exactly what you are asking, but yes natural stones need to be flattened too. This stone I just received has some small gouges in it from what I'm assuming were carving chisels. The seller had a large assortment of the highest quality Woodworking tools for sale from the same estate my stone came from. The norton lapping stone is not very good, and I doubt it would do anything to my stone. I use a well worn dmt325. Even with this, it takes a long time before I start to see any slurry build up.

Originally Posted by prodigy

Karasu refers to "flying crow" patterns. It's usually on asagi stones with black splotches. Good ones tend to be hard stones, but again they can be soft too.

This is karasu, or 'crow' pattern. The base color is usually gray, khaki, a shade of brown, or even yellowish.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by maximuslt

I know that the synthetic stones line the flattening stone after wear.
And how come the Japanese natural stones, also align flattening stone ? For example Naniwa 220 Flattening Stone.

Although possible, I doubt anyone is using synthetic lapping stones on their naturals. It is much more efficient to use sandpaper or diamond plates which I think are the best option.