Maruichi Nakayama

I just received my hone from OLDSCHOOL from the competition I won some time ago. (as im just home for Christmas where I told him to ship it to)

So anyway, was wondering if any of you guys can answer a few questions. Has pm'd OS but I think he's a busy man else has missed the pm and I don't wanna hassle him either.


Basically he sent me a pm saying this......

"Its a standard Maruichi Nakayama hone. Just put a film of water on the surface and use like normal hone. You "may" need to lap it first, but I never lap mine.....Yet.
Depending on your climate, you may want to coat the sides and base with a good, strong and clear lacquer."

So my questions are -

1) What grit do you think the stone is? As I wont have a chance to use it for a few weeks later. By touch it feels around 8k although I could be well off.
2) What does he mean by lacquering it? In case it crumbles?
3) Any have experience using these and if so, what order did you use it with your other stones.

Ta Gents

And HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!!

p.s. I know I aint on as much due to Uni but I still love y'all! :)
pps. It's a beautiful stone
ppps. I can't wait to use it!!!!!!

Congrats on your new hone!

I got a Nakayama Maruchi from So at Japan Tool, and he told me that it would be at least in the 30K grit range, it definitely improves the edge coming of the Shapton GS16K or the coticule. But the gritsize for your hone is impossible to tell without testing the hone in question, that's what I'm told anyway. If it's stamped, you could look for Old_school's thread about Japanese Naturals and their stamps, maybe that would give you an idea of grit range.

IIRC the laquer is used to prevent the stone from soaking water, which could cause cracking if it's stored in a cold climate.

It's a final polishing stone and should leave the edge feeling smooth without the need to use chromium oxide which is 50,000 grit. The advantage is that whilst Cr Ox is known to reduce the life of the edge between honing, the Japanese hones do not do this, but provide the smoothness without reducing the fin of the edge.

The stone is supposed to be soaked before use. Because the stone is in layers of strata, it can flake and crack if it dries out too quickly. It is recommended that a laquer is applied to the sides of the hone to stop the stone from flaking as it dries.

I have a Japanese stone called a suita and it is generally accepted to be of a lesser quality to the stone that you have. My lesser quality stone is impressive and so I am sure you will have fun using yours.

It is a special, rare and expensive item that you have won.

It is a natural product of course and as with the other natural hones such as coticules or eshers, it will take a little getting used to to get the best out of it. Enjoy it.

Hopefully you will find that water just lays on top the stone. Very Very slowly absorbed. Deep soaking is not recommended. The point of lacquering is to keep water from penetrating deep into the stone. Then never let it freeze or dry in bright sun

I would suggest Urushi, but it can be rather nasty stuff if you are allergic to urushinol, poison ivy, oak etc. You would coat every surface but the top. There are likely many products that are suitable, but none i have used personally other than the traditional stuff

Ah fantastic replies guys and thanks OS for the infos.

I'll see if I can locate some lacquer before I start to use her.

I'll write a glossy review as well. :D