A Package From Japan Pt 1

[thebigspendur]

Well I was about to get into my car this morning when up comes the mailman with a package from Japan. Inside were my vintage hone and Iwasaki Razor.

http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d72065346

The hone which was mined during the WWll era is about 8 inches by 2 inches and is about 3/4 of an inch thick. The top surface is perfectly flat and polished while the rest of the hone is pretty rough and is mounted in a wood craddle which is well worn. The stone is a very pale grey with a very few yellow spots on the surface. (the less yellow and the more uniform the grey the better the stone).

I haven't a clue what the grit size is however comparing the feel of the stone with my 12K Kitayama and the coticule this stone is way smoother and finer. I would guess this stone is a fine finishing stone between 12K-15K. I haven't really put it through its paces yet but the quick honing I did feels really different than any other stone I have ever used. The stone has this quality to it that you get this really smooth silky feeling as you hone, almost a mystical experience. Nothing at all like the coticule. There are markings on the side of the stone as you can see in the fotos and it also came with a rubbing stone which also had writing on the stone and I was trying to figure out how they used a stamp on these highly uneven surfaces without smearing the ink and then I realized the writing was all done by hand.

It appears to be primo quality. As I use it I'll report my findings.

I'll cover the Iwasaki in Pt 2 in the razor forum.

[blaireau]

May I ask what the stone cost?

[Kees]

Interesting! Are more of these stones available? Many of us will suffer another worsening of their HAD when reading all this!

[murph]

Are the sides and base lacquered at all? Sometimes pre-used ones seem to be already lacquered in my experience or some sellers offer to do this but many whetstones aren't.

[thebigspendur]

To answer the three questions. The razor is of course used and very old including the base. It was bought off the yahoo Japan Site and cost $150.00. If you go to the yahoo Japan site and use babelfish you can search for more stones. The page this stone was on contained several others. I don't know if the base was coated or not. It shows its age and is in rough shape. I have been applying mineral oil to the base to try and protect it from deteriorating any further. The stone itself does not appear to have any coating. If it did at one time I am sure that it is long gone.

And now for some real eye candy boys and girls check this out:

http://www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp/english/index.html

[steve]

And now for some real eye candy boys and girls check this out:

http://www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp/english/index.html

that site as a lot of nice products for sword care in addition to the polishing kit.

[murph]

that site as a lot of nice products for sword care in addition to the polishing kit.

It's a pity quite a few of their stones are man made but their prices for urushi are cheap, if it's Japanese and not Chinese and they seem to be one of the few places that sell it.