Thread: J-Nat club

Anyone know what this stamp is saying? It is on one of my other stones and I have not been able to track it down after researching??

Try the kanji translation thread/(sub)forum.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors/...-requests.html

I forgot to post this one here. Nice Karasu that needed a little help surgically to have a new life.

Hi
Help me please. What is written on this sharpening stone?
Thank you

The first one is a very hard thick unknown jnat
The second is a aiwiitani that's about as hard they come

Originally Posted by GreazyThumbs

Anyone know what this stamp is saying? It is on one of my other stones and I have not been able to track it down after researching??

It means good, great etc..

Originally Posted by Sanichknife

Hi
Help me please. What is written on this sharpening stone?
Thank you

Higher resolution pls, there are at least two of the characters can hardly be recognized.

Originally Posted by mrjin

It means good, great etc..

@mrjin thank you, it is true this stone really is great!

Originally Posted by DaveW

You're shaving, right?

A barber hone (that's bigger than a thuri barber hone - about as long or an inch longer, but wider and just as fine or finer) should be in the range of a c-note if you're willing to take one that's not cosmetically valuable. I would ask a seller this:
* have you shaved off of the stone that you're selling me
* is it finer than a typical tool stone
* is it hard enough that it won't self slurry, but soft enough that it's not super dead like the hardest ozuk
* can you put all of my budget in performance and none in looks
* If this were a tool stone, on a scale of 0-10 where would the fineness be in cutting speed, hardness and fineness
* on a scale of true barber stones that you've used, 0-10, where is this stone on fineness and hardness (cutting speed on a barber hone doesn't matter that much)
* how sticky is this stone on light slurry and how sticky is it on clear water after 25 strokes?
* what is the level of polish that it imparts on a bevel (it should be bright polish on clear water, only the slightest of haze to a mostly bright polish on a light slurry up through bright polish even there)
* how big is it, how thick is it, how much does it weigh, does it have any cracks, is it even thickness and will it sit (it doesn't necessarily need to sit, but if it will sit flat, it will be easy to mount to a board later if you like to do that).

These stones get picked out of barber shops in japan in droves, and while some of them are duds, the stones of less than desirable colors and less than perfect shape can be very cheap. Maybe some day, they'll stop coming out, but I've seen a lot of them and half or so are really good barber hones, most of the rest you can finish a razor, but they're not for beginners.

When you go to newer stones, the experience is less good, and they're more expensive. I don't see the point of getting a stone that's new and marked from imanishi, etc, but I've done that and you can if the seller is honest and the grading is accurate. It's not that there aren't good new stones, it's just that the duds (especially a lot of the gray stones) are stones that really are one trick ponies quite often (for example, some of the wakasa and iwatani stones that are coming out inexpensively from japan right now may be very fine, but they might not have really good feel or any cutting power on clear water).

If you ask a seller for all of the above, you'll drive them nuts, but that's better than buying a nondescript small hone from some seller on ebay for $630 because they say those are good. I see some stuff on there that just makes me shake my head.

A couple of other things:
* gray stones aren't worth anything in japan. You shouldn't pay much for them either. If you can find an honest dealer, that may present an opportunity if they have a good one to get it for a good price
* often, the very dark green stones aren't valuable, either. Like the gray, they can sometimes be prefinishers and not finishers. There are exceptions to that - a dark green true nakayama stone with hatanaka marks and perfection in appearance will bring a lot, but you can avoid those stones. They'll be 4 figures.
* I assume a stamp is fake unless there is something exceptional about the stone. It still may be then. There a lot of fake stamped stones, and now that the dealer's association has agreed that some of the stamps are public domain, who knows what the word fake even means. If I saw kitchen fat that looked like it oxidized for 40 years over parts of a stamp on the end of a stone, I might believe it's real.

Also, don't go by mine name. I've had some real turds that legitimately came from nakayama and shoubu, and I've had coarse suita from okudo and fine suita from ohira (the opposites of what you normally expect). If you see a hardware store dealer (japan woodworker, there's another dealer in berkeley that I can't remember, hida or something) don't buy razor stones from them.

Lastly, if you buy from alex or so or some of the other people, you'll pay a little extra. They have a lot of experience, so you pay for that. If you buy from someone who is not alex or so, then you shouldn't pay what alex or So's expertise costs.

For your first stone, you want capability and fineness over thickness of the stone or long length or a specific color. Spend your money there. A 1/2 inch thick barber hone that maybe started a little bit thicker, but is superb and stable, should last a lifetime. Get something of good width (70mm+). Wide stones are common in japan and narrow stones are almost valueless.

Things that bring the value of a stone down, even if it has decent performance:
* bad color
* uneven bottom
* undesirable mine or suspect that an unmarked stone is not something like nakayama, narutaki, shoubu, ozaki, etc
* instability
* substantial areas relieved on the surface
* scratchy particles (if a stone has scratchy particles or a toxic line at all, it's out for razors. Someone polishing knives may not mind the gap that is left after you pick out particles, but it's not for you - I won't buy those stones no matter what)
* narrow width (huge value hit)
* very thin
* very sticky feel on clear water

Things that bring the value of the stone up, without respect to performance.
* true kiita stones that are fine. Not a good first choice
* significant blue renge on a very white stone (ouch)
* Karasu (only in the US. It doesn't seem to bring that much in japan, and I've never seen any reason why it would)
* true hatanaka stamps with a vintage box (ouch)
(i'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them)

Special mystical talk shouldn't cost you anything. A good dealer can talk about stones matter of fact without talking about blessing wood or erecting temples.

I have to admit that some of your points are good. I don't agree on your remaks about those Wakasa and Aiwatani whetstones.
I bought some big chunks(raw stones only faced roughly) of those named above, couple of years ago. i used them rarely with bad results, mainly because the stones released some grity particles in the slurry.At that time i tought that they were bad whetstones for straights.But after a long time 6 yerars later, my wife advised me to clear some room, and she demanded that those big chunks of rock to be thrown out of the house.I tried to sell them both as bulk pack for knife users and with a very low price.Nobody wanted them.But then again something in my heart told me to give them another chance. So i did. i laped couple of mm off the both stones, and finish the surface with 2000grit sandpaper sheet.I belive that lapping removed the surface of the stone that was embeded with sandy particles from the lapping wheel when the stones were faced by the miners.
The wakasa (a mizu asagi collor but the apearence is more like a suita due to some color streaks that runs diagonaly on the surface, no cracks ) is now my best stone, followed closely by Aiwatani(a kiita color) they are both top knoch finishers and deliver laser sahrp edge.
But most of all i am amazed by the speed of them both. I can literaly finish a straight(after i set the bevel corectly on 1k grit naniwa) in matter of strokes, and i mean strokes. 25 on each side, and under the microscope the blade is mirror or near mirror depending of the steel.Both are hard, i belive lv5 and super fast cutting with dmt slurry.I have naguras but it seems that these two won't benefit from using them.The wakasa just seems out of this world.Icy feeling on water only with no draging or skiping on the blade.I can feel the finished blade as it is gliding effortless when the steel is polished.Little stroping is needed after finish, the blade seems to fly easily on the strop after finish.Usualy i get that feeling after at list 150 passes on the strop when i finish on other stones.
I own almost 20 JNATS, ranging from 30$ copa to 500 $ hatanaka stamped bench stones, i can honestly tell you that neither of my stones performs nowere close to those 2 stones.The closest performing stone is a nakayama kiita that has beautiful color, the fine and rich grit, super fast cutting, but lacks the easyness in achieving laser sharp edge we all desire.
Maybe my other whetstones are not that good, or simply i just don't know how to get the best out of them. God knows.
For me a whetstone that can wipe all marks on the bevel and delivers a killer edge in seconds ,is the holy grail of JNATS.
I belived i paid 65$ for 3.4 kg on wakasa and 35 $ for 1.2kg aiwatanii...the shipping was more expensive than the stones themselfs.Proxy buy!

Originally Posted by heruvim01

I have to admit that some of your points are good. I don't agree on your remaks about those Wakasa and Aiwatani whetstones.
I bought some big chunks(raw stones only faced roughly) of those named above, couple of years ago. i used them rarely with bad results, mainly because the stones released some grity particles in the slurry.At that time i tought that they were bad whetstones for straights.But after a long time 6 yerars later, my wife advised me to clear some room, and she demanded that those big chunks of rock to be thrown out of the house.I tried to sell them both as bulk pack for knife users and with a very low price.Nobody wanted them.But then again something in my heart told me to give them another chance. So i did. i laped couple of mm off the both stones, and finish the surface with 2000grit sandpaper sheet.I belive that lapping removed the surface of the stone that was embeded with sandy particles from the lapping wheel when the stones were faced by the miners.
The wakasa (a mizu asagi collor but the apearence is more like a suita due to some color streaks that runs diagonaly on the surface, no cracks ) is now my best stone, followed closely by Aiwatani(a kiita color) they are both top knoch finishers and deliver laser sahrp edge.
But most of all i am amazed by the speed of them both. I can literaly finish a straight(after i set the bevel corectly on 1k grit naniwa) in matter of strokes, and i mean strokes. 25 on each side, and under the microscope the blade is mirror or near mirror depending of the steel.Both are hard, i belive lv5 and super fast cutting with dmt slurry.I have naguras but it seems that these two won't benefit from using them.The wakasa just seems out of this world.Icy feeling on water only with no draging or skiping on the blade.I can feel the finished blade as it is gliding effortless when the steel is polished.Little stroping is needed after finish, the blade seems to fly easily on the strop after finish.Usualy i get that feeling after at list 150 passes on the strop when i finish on other stones.
I own almost 20 JNATS, ranging from 30$ copa to 500 $ hatanaka stamped bench stones, i can honestly tell you that neither of my stones performs nowere close to those 2 stones.The closest performing stone is a nakayama kiita that has beautiful color, the fine and rich grit, super fast cutting, but lacks the easyness in achieving laser sharp edge we all desire.
Maybe my other whetstones are not that good, or simply i just don't know how to get the best out of them. God knows.
For me a whetstone that can wipe all marks on the bevel and delivers a killer edge in seconds ,is the holy grail of JNATS.
I belived i paid 65$ for 3.4 kg on wakasa and 35 $ for 1.2kg aiwatanii...the shipping was more expensive than the stones themselfs.Proxy buy!

Well to be fair Dave said : for example, some of the wakasa and iwatani stones that are coming out inexpensively from japan right now may be very fine, but they might not have really good feel or any cutting power on clear water

His post is from 2107 and he was referring to the situation back then and SOME stones.