Thread: J-Nat club

Hello all.
I'm not sure this is the right place for this post - I'm very new to this forum - but here it is. An acquaintance of mine came into possession of J-Nat he doesn't need and I've suggested to buy it from him. The problem is neither of us have any experience with this type of stones, and we have absolutely no idea what its price should be. We both would like to be fair with each other, so I suggested we'd ask a qualified bunch - which I guess is present right here on the pages of this forum.
The stone is Narutaki Asagi, looks beautiful, its dimensions are 178 x 65 x 33 mm (7 x 2.56 x 1.3 in), and it weights 1085 gr (2.4 lb) with the plastic base it attached to. The plastic looks flimsy enough, so I guess without it it would weight not a whole lot less.
The stone bears a stamp of Kyoto association, and two writings saying "This is Narutaki awasedo", and "The highest grade product". It's also numbered.
It comes with small yellow nagura cube with no stamps on it.
The stone is mint new and has never been used.
Any hints on its pricing will be very welcome and appreciated.

Originally Posted by dimab

Hello all.
I'm not sure this is the right place for this post - I'm very new to this forum - but here it is. An acquaintance of mine came into possession of J-Nat he doesn't need and I've suggested to buy it from him. The problem is neither of us have any experience with this type of stones, and we have absolutely no idea what its price should be. We both would like to be fair with each other, so I suggested we'd ask a qualified bunch - which I guess is present right here on the pages of this forum.
The stone is Narutaki Asagi, looks beautiful, its dimensions are 178 x 65 x 33 mm (7 x 2.56 x 1.3 in), and it weights 1085 gr (2.4 lb) with the plastic base it attached to. The plastic looks flimsy enough, so I guess without it it would weight not a whole lot less.
The stone bears a stamp of Kyoto association, and two writings saying "This is Narutaki awasedo", and "The highest grade product". It's also numbered.
It comes with small yellow nagura cube with no stamps on it.
The stone is mint new and has never been used.
Any hints on its pricing will be very welcome and appreciated.

Sorry to say, but stone appraising is one of the greatest taboos here, even for the more "fair" cases like yours. You might even get banned for this. PMs and mails to people who know about stones is the easiest way. Mine is the no 617th post for the thread, you can check for vendors or sellers and send them a PM from previous members' posts on this thread.

Nice Stone But I Dont Think They Allow Appraisels On Here,,, Somebody With A Little More Experience Will Chim In,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ty

The forum I believe, does not permit appraisals. You're also very limited in that you cannot tell the quality of the stone for razor honing by looking at it or by the stamps. It may be a great knife hone. However, the stone appears to be good quality: it has all 4 corners, is a perfect or near perfect rectangle, and does not appear to have lines or other undesirable inclusions.

The plastic base is a bit unusual, normally they are wood. The gray color is not desirable, but it makes no difference as far as the quality of the hone goes. The nagura is impossible to see, it may well be a Mikawa nagura (coarser grit) or it could be a tomo nagura (finer grit used as a final finisher).

Hope this helps a little.

Cheers, Steve

Thank you guys for the prompt replies! Like I said, I'm very new to this forum and didn't know appraisals were a no-no here. Sorry, and I promise it's not a scam or an attempt to reduce somebody's prices. We are honestly trying to understand what do we have on our hands.
If posting a price is prohibited by forum rules (sorry again for raising the issue), I'd suggest a PM. I could also send a PM to vendors or other specialists here, but I'm still unfamiliar with forum members, so any suggestion on who to address would be appreciated.
Thanks ahead!

Came into possession of a stone & doesn't know the price ?
Excuse my suspicion but in spite of our "no evaluations rule" as linked below, you will have a hard time getting a price from pictures.

SRP rules of conduct - Straight Razor Place Library

We don’t allow appraisals, because “Value” is subjective, especially on something like a stone, were really all that counts are performance, but things like where it was mined, which layer, size, color, pattern, hardness, age and any number of things that may be important to one, not to another can/will affect value to the buyer.

Quality Jnat vendors test and stand by their stone, which by itself, is a huge value. As said, you cannot rate a stone from a photo.

You might try PMing some of the more active members in the Jnat/Hones forum for a ball park idea.

Also check some of the Jnat vendor websites to get a general idea, but for both you and the seller, it will be a gamble as to value.

Let me tell you a story - i go today in the post to send a something for Cristmass to a frend in Germany and the girl there tell me - you have package . No way i said , i dont expect anything = Well i was amazed by this beautyfull stone - stamped kiita and an old stock boxed koma .
Thank you my frend - you surpise me , realy , realy nice . Outstrandin , fine and fast stone . God bless you . Stone is perfect and the hardness is just like i whant it .
Thanks again - i didnt see that coming .

Got in some odds and ends today, a nice hard dull egg Hatanaka kiita, pretty and fine, and a hunk of uchigumori for fingerstones and knife/razor polishing. I tested the uchi on the side of a Masahiro Virgin Carbon gyuto and it does not scratch and the polish is pretty high. I also tested it on a laminated Takeda and the ji/ha was excellent. It slurries purplish from the renge.

Cheers, Steve