Thread: Why do some Japanese stones cost so much more than others of the same size?

Originally Posted by DaveW

If you're lucky, it's because the seller and or the miner both know that the stone costing several times as much have characteristics that would make it worth so much to a well educated and discerning user.

Any decent hard japanese natural stone can make a shaving edge that is pretty good. But the other however many % the rest is (the silky feel, the ease of use, and other non feel things like colors for rarity purposes)....that's going to cost some money.

The real reason being that the discerning users (and to some extent sometimes a prestige buyer who is just buying on price) will pay the price.

Sleek&smooth, mainaman, magpie, Dave and others.
Some of you know by now that I tend to write in volumes, but I'll just save that for my own. In short, the above fellows and a few others I think have it quite right, it really is all about quality. You cannot fake the characteristics of quality, and quality includes speed and fineness. There are some mundane looking and or some small stones out there that are just killer finishers. Quality will always be the most important aspect in a luxury top class stone and this is the main factor in my opinion why two stones can reside at on the same page, one is at the top, one is at the bottom and a whole slew are in the middle.

In 1978 I bought in Japan a 6 year old Toyota Crown sports car with right hand steering, I swear it looked exactly like a Masserati. Believe me, they keep the good ones there.

best regards, Alx