Thread: J-Nat club

Originally Posted by Steve56

So do you guys think I should lap this one before honing razors?

Cheers, Steve

Nahh, just buy one of these.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Nahh, just buy one of these.

You know Oz, I actually thought about mentioning a Saito - Great minds think alike.

Cheers, Steve

Was gonna say, depends on what razor you're going to put on it, Steve! A Saito definitely wouldn't mind [emoji16]

Got in this lot a day or two ago, 6 stones and 2 mikawa nagura, a mejiro and an unstamped koma. Four of the 6 have black sparkly skin that means Nakayama, they're all very pure, only the small thin stone lower left has any lines at all and none have cracks.

Two are boxed and stamped and two more have stamps including a small maruka. They're all razor grade except maybe the one lower right which appears to be an akepin.

Interestingly 3 of then have dates in Showa scratched lighly on the sides or backs, the boxed shohonyama upper left 48-1 (January 1973), the shohonyama upper center, 42-4-11 (April 11, 1967), and the maruka 49-5-10 (May 10, 1974). If I remember my date conversions correctly.

When I bought the lot, I was chatting about them with a friend of mine and we both wondered if the new-looking maruka stamp might be fake. It might be but the stone is not, it has the black sparkly skin of Nakayama, and it's super pure, smooth, and fine. So the stone is maruka grade and the stamp likely legit. My only complaint is that it isn't the size of a brick instead of 4x4".

I'm just beginning to test them, but the two stones in the center, the 150x90 boxed shohonyama and the maruka, are very, very, good.

So how do I know that unstamped 'koma' is koma? Well the HHT is considerably better than the mejiro, so it's finer. In the second image which also shows two other vintage koma including the boxed one I already had, the prices are seen on the box and written on the new koma. The vintage boxed tan koma was $4.50/g and the new white koma was $5/g, so the unmarked stone is the price of koma.

Cheers, Steve

Awesome lot you got there!! They all look to me like fast, fine cutters. Your in for some shaving treats for sure!!
Enjoy!!!

Steve, you have a problem. A serious, serious problem. When you are ready to enter treatment, I will hold your stone collection. Fantastic looking stones!

Originally Posted by prodigy

Steve, you have a problem. A serious, serious problem. When you are ready to enter treatment, I will hold your stone collection. Fantastic looking stones!

Thank you Kyle, I was pleasantly surprised!

Cheers, Steve

Are those nashiji on 3 of the stones .Steve those are awesomme koopas Realy nice , realy nice
The upper left corner looks very fine and fast . Congrats

Originally Posted by RusenBG

Are those nashiji on 3 of the stones .Steve those are awesomme koopas Realy nice , realy nice
The upper left corner looks very fine and fast . Congrats

Hi Rusen,

You have a good eye! Only two have nashiji, the upper right and lower left. The nashiji are in an unusual circular pattern in the small stone at the lower left.

I'm still working with them, but the best ones are the two center stones and the two on the left. The nashiji kiita is pretty but I have not tried to get the best out of it yet. It has a stamp too, a small one on the side.

Cheers, Steve

I was looking at Kyle's nice maruka over on the honing thread, and maybe we should start the "Thick as a Brick' club (apologies to Jethro Tull).

The triangular stone is a Nakayama and very fast. I bought it mostly as an oddity or maybe to cut into nagura because of the odd shape, but it's actually a decent razor hone and at 130x150x almost 50mm, it has enough real estate.

The other one is probably Nakayama, and it's also fast. You should always be careful buying stones this thick and ask questions. I don't think they liked cutting razor hones this thick, they'd get more money from two 25mm thick stones than one 50mm thick stone, and a razor honer won't wear out a 1" thick stone in a lifetime unless you're honing professionally, and even then it would take a long time. Many thick stones are not two thin ones because there's a crack or a defect in it that would probably break along if they tried to saw it. The second stone is an example, there's a fine crack in the middle of the body that no one would live long enough to get to honing razors, but if you're in the sawing business you'd rather have one thick one than one 25mm stone and two other small useless pieces.

One nice thing about thick stones is that you don't need to elevate them off the table with a block or stone holder.

Cheers, Steve