Japanese hone recommendations ?

I am in the nice position that my girlfriend's uncle, who is japanese, has offered to buy something for me in Tokyo next time he goes back there in a few weeks. I have been trying to decide what hone to ask him to look for, but I am not entirely sure.

The Chosera line is tempting, particularly the 10k, but I am also attracted to try the natural hones. I have a 1200/6000 japanese artificial waterhone, and a dark-grey Escher/Thüringen already. I guess it would make sense to get a mid-range hone, about the 8k, but I do have an affinity for the very high-grit hones also.

He will try to find a razor if I can print a picture for him, and I have as one requirement that the new hone should be useful for a japanese razor, if I should be lucky enough to get my hands on one. When seeing a picture of a Tosuke straight he told my girlfriend he could probably find one like that - I haven't talked to him myself as I don't speak japanese, but he is in his seventies and I think he has lived in Tokyo most of his life, so he may just know where to look.

Any thoughts on what to get ? Preferably something that isn't too hard to locate as I don't want him to go out of his way to get this. Also, I don't want it to be *too* expensive as I'm not sure he'll let me pay for it.

i am not the best person to guide you in this but this is what i know.i just bought 2 NAKAYAMA hones and used one.it is fantastic.
i am sure OLDSCHOOL WILL GUIDE YOU BETTER.

If you can afford one (about $250+ minimum and up), definitely try to get a Japanese natural stone. Talk to OLD_SCHOOL, then slip your girlfriend's uncle some extra bucks, and have him pick you up a nice Nakayama stone right from the motherland. They are truly special. You'd probably even pick up a notch or two of respect from your girlfriend's uncle for your fine taste, to boot. :cool:

If you don't like it, you can sell it for what you paid for it. If you buy it from OLD_SCHOOL, you might even be able to resell it for more than you paid for it, as he has great prices on hand-picked-class Japanese stones. I recently got one from him, and am deeply impressed by it. If you like honing and natural stones, Japanese naturals are a sure thing. Good natural stones unfortunately cost a pile (Coticules, Eschers, Tam O' Shanters, Japanese, etc.), but at least you can get them now. It wasn't that easy for many years. That's how I look at it, anyway. The window is open now.

What part of Tokyo will he be visiting?

I can recomend a few shops to visit if he is in a certain area.

Most stores do not carry the Chosera line. The SuperStone is more common with King stones even more so.

Many places have natural hones, but to be honest very few would be appropriate as a finishing hone (the ones that are, may cost in the thousands of dollars range). Also most knife store proprietors are not very knowledgable about what is good for a razor anyway.

I live near and work in central Tokyo so if you can be specific about where he will be going I can give you a few places he can go.

The stones that Old_School has are all from the 1950's and would be more common around Kyoto and Osaka. I have been to many many knife shops all over Tokyo and have yet to see one like what he offers in a retail shop.

Also with the yen/dollar exchange rate I am not sure that things will be cheaper here at all. Prices are ussually already jacked up and with a poor exchange rate...

I would see if he can get you a nice strop made my the Kanayama Strop Company. They are a little hard to spot but are nice horse leather strops.

Drop me a line and I can forward you some info.

Seth

I second buying from OLD_SCHOOL. I have a Nakayama from him, and it's a really nice stone.

As seen in this thread here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...pic-heavy.html

Thank for you replies !

I think that given the price range and difficulty of finding a good Nakayama in a retail shop I will go for a Chosera hone instead. (ZethLent, I PM'ed you about this).

I'm also intrigued by the strop but I recently bought two 3" strops from TM as well as a paddle strop, so I think I'll prioritize the Hone/Razor first.

I got my hones from So: very much recommended. His father lives in Japan and found the hone I have been uisng as a finisher ever since I recieved it.

Here's the site:

http://www.geocities.com/soatoz/index.html