Thread: Honyama Awase Toishi

This natural Japanese stone is the sharpening stone of choice for the legendary Katana or traditional Samurai Sword. I have become aware by way of personal communication with a razor Honemeister who has an extensive collection of all the Escher, Belgian etc. stones imaginable that the Honyama Awase Toishi is his hone of choice for straight razors. I have some of these stones due to my interest in sushi knives which are "shave ready" in their own way. Do any of the Honemeisters on this forum have any experience honing razors with this lovely stone?

Dude, every time you talk my HAD gets a little worse !! SHUT UP !!!!!!








Just kidding ..... now.... where can I go to squander money on.. er... um.......... I mean purchase one of these delightful stones?

Yes, I am curious to, where may one acquire such stones?

Matt

http://www.buildingforhealth.com/pro...=HDA_H&cat=110

it costs more than an Escher

I used an Awase stone a couple of years ago for several months. They are very, very expensive and I found them to be no better than the Escher. They are nice stones in any case.

Lynn

Wow,

Those are spendy!! I'm glad my HAD has tapered off

Here is the link to the importer in California:

http://www.hidatool.com/woodpage/stone/polishing.html

The others buy from them since they are the exclusive distributer in the USA. Lynn, being that razors have such individual souls, did you find that any of the razors you honed with the Honyama Awase Toishi stone were particularly responsive to it?

Originally Posted by padron

Those are spendy!!

How are they when you compare their finishing level to that of the Belgian yellow stone?

I've only my natural waterstones on Japanese knives as they seem to suit the pattern/haze left on the steel. Too much trouble for me I'm afraid. Variable grit and hardness along with the difficulty finding someone who will sell you a decent stone at a reasonable price. Maybe if I was very good at sharpening and had access to someone in Japan who knows these things...