Thread: Kiita Fan Club

Here is my okudo suita kiita nashiji:



It's a prepolisher for razor. I like it a lot.

Alex, what is your opinion on okudo stones? I read somewhere they
are worth more than usual.

Sharpman

Originally Posted by alx

Kingfish, Good Photos and a if I am not mistaken the top photo shows the relationship between the minerals found in kiita and asagi stones where the yellows and blues/grays blending to greens hues. alx

Alx, thanks for confirming my thoughts on that group. It almost looks like if you blend the kiita and the asagi you would get the color of the middle stone. Indeed, when I purchased the middle stone in that picture, the vendor had it classified as a Nakayama Maruka kiita asagi. At that time none of the description made any sense to me and sounded Greek to me.

From the few kiitas I have tried, a consistant surface without soft spots is something to be appreciated even from my limited experience. Great thread, to me kiitas are one of the most visually pleasing stones and it is great to see what other members are sharing.

Nick, what can I say but thanks and I promise not to rub it in anymore about how wonderful the kiita is,,,

Sharpman


I like Okudo stones, the good ones are very good and razor users seem to cherish them. But remember that each mine gave up all qualities of stone, some good, great and just average. So seeking out the really great stone is the challange. Great stone has a larger quantity per pound of grit as weighed against binder. More grit means faster cutting action.


For razors the size of the grit is important and although all the mines provided a certain amount of razor quality stone at one time or another, by far the greatest portion of razor (kamisori toishi) hone stone came from the few mines clustered around the Nakayama mine in the Umegahata valley. The reason for this is logical and scientifically proven, the finest of the wind blown (aeolian) material settled in this part of the Tamba Terrane during the original volcanic event that belched forth the materials that make up the sharpening stones as we know them. Logically the "closer to the source" and coarser material settled first in the area of the terrane that now is on the map as apparing farther to the west near Kameoka City or beyond, while the finest particles traveled farther while suspended in the easterly blown wind and settled closer and near to what is now thought of as Kyoto. Of course as you may know, the Original Event took place during the late Permian or Jurassic Periods while the infant hitch hiking Tamba Terrane form resided on the Pacific tetonic plate in the area of the globe now known as Hawaii. Evidently it took over 2,000,000 years to transport piggyback style to Japan as the Pacific Plate moved west while diving under the various Asian Plates.


So yes, Okudo are worth more than usual if you are comparring against the more remote mines to the west, and yes, some Okudo, if they are made up of super fine grit, are worth more than ususal when comparred to similarly priced but inferior stones.
Sorry for the long answer, which is about 1/3 of my first version, but it appears I have too much time on my hands. Alx

Thanks for the answer Alex!

Sharpman

Originally Posted by Gamma

I have a small Kita - and it's quite a nice stone so far as feedback, cutting power, and fine-ness are concerned. The scratch pattern it leaves is a little disturbing in the sense that it's very very hazy but the shave is alway really good. So - I don't know what to think there.. I'm still working with it and the two Tomo Nagura - so perhaps I've not yet released it's true potential for polishing. The final edge's sharpness and smoothness are both there though. It's softer than my Asagi and not quite as fine - but apparently - it's more than fine enough.
It's a hair more yellow in real life.

GAMMA. Really nice looking kiita stones, the larger one looks very pure. The photos below may help to answer some of your questions about the hazy look to your blade after the kiita.

Ahhhhh.
I am humbled by the simplicity of this answer... Makes perfect sense but I never would have come up with this on my own. Thank you.
The larger stone there is about 5 "long, it's so very smooth and consistent across the entire top it's mind boggling.

My Kiita is called
Kiita koppa Narutaki

As I understand it now Narutaki is the mining area ??
but what does the koppa mean ?

thx
Hans

Hi Hans,

Koppa literally means 'bits and pieces' but is a term used for an irregularly shaped stone, usually a smaller one. It's the Japanese equivalent of the term 'bout' used in the coticule world.

Cheers, Steve

Thx Steve. What surprises me is that the stone is rather soft. Thought these JNats were so hard.

Originally Posted by HiFuMi

Thx Steve. What surprises me is that the stone is rather soft. Thought these JNats were so hard.

Yellow kiita stones are usually pretty soft. If the color goes to brownish yellow ('egg' kitta) they are usually harder.

Cheers, Steve