Thread: Japanese hone

I am considering buying a Japanese hone to see what they are like.
I remember someone mentioned some time ago that one kind of stone was mined in a quarry owned by the family of Iwasaki.
This stone was supposed to be used with the blades he made.

I tried the search function but I cannot find it anymore. Does anyone remember what type of stone it was?

Any other advice regarding japanese hones?

I have a selection of man made japanese water hones which are as good as anything else I own. They are very fast cutting when used with a rubbing stone and high polishing without. All my hones get cut down to barber hone size for use at the basin and it's a 12k japanese hone I use if the razor needs a touch up. I have to add that this is being usurped by Tonys hone now which I also cut down to barber hone size....great hone.

PuFF

I don't know about the family owning a mine. I think his father was a professor and studied metallurgy or something similar. I think I have heard of the son who's the smith mentioning or recommending certain stone types but can't recall anything about them owning the mine that produces them.
A lot of the mines are closed now anyway and some are owned by people who don't actively mine them very often afaik.
Buying one is never enough as it may very well not suit you and unless you find someone very, very knowledable you probably won't get what you want. If you have plenty of money to drop on stones or are willing to work around the variable hardness and grit in different parts of a hone go ahead. You might end up with a few dozen which are all very different before you find one you really like for your razors.

Just remember I warned you not to start another collecting habit which may end up being worse than razors (for your wallet anyway).

I have the stone. As I recall the translation of the material from the auction site said he owned the quarry and mined the stones for sharpening his razors or something like that. The quarry was mined out many years ago. I found out about it on a yahoo auction site from my friend in japan who bid on it for me.

There are many different types of japanese stones by coarseness and then grade. I think the one I have was like number 2 of 12 grades. I just lucked out on that one.

You might check out http://www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp/cgi-bin/list_e.cgi#9 they sell stones and ship outside of Japan.

You might also check our procurer in Japan, let him know what kind of stone you want-finishing or medium or whatever and let him do the legwork for you.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I have the stone. As I recall the translation of the material from the auction site said he owned the quarry and mined the stones for sharpening his razors or something like that. The quarry was mined out many years ago. I found out about it on a yahoo auction site from my friend in japan who bid on it for me.

I'll check out the link.
Do you still have that information about your stone, or perhaps a hires picture of the markings on your stone?

The father did say nagura were one of the best stones for dressing and polishing blades in a japanese book if my memory serves me and the translation was correct.

Bigspender's might have been a Betsujou grade but I can't recall offhand.


Postage, duty and then tax on the total when it gets over here is the killer for me. I've got a couple of stones on the way and I'm dreading the customs getting hold of them which can knock the price way up from the few hundred dollars they cost me. It would be even worse if I had paid normal retail prices for them. I don't know if it's as bad in Belgium.

Well your in luck, I still have the link and its still working. http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp:80...tion/d72065346