Quote Originally Posted by kevint View Post
I don't know how thin skin can be, but I think we have members that could shave the fuzz off a tissue. Don't go and discount the benefits of the straight razor. You are asking questions here_ now you must try!
I mention names because if you go and ask for nakayama or the best stone; anything like that and you may not see anything to afford. But if you telling what you need the stone to do for you is a better start

It could be best to get something that is similar in hardness to what you use- or you may feel like it is time for a change.
neither too soft nor too hard is as close as i dare nail it down for you. That's what the good sellers are for to get what you need.

I have a thumb size piece of uchigumori, it would be interesting to see how it worked as a hone if it were larger. It is really quite hard.

To know why this one is a sword stone; the other for carpenters is not always easy to say. It is interesting to note that sometimes suita stones are used as replacements for uchigumori in sword polishing. Historically suita are carpenter rocks. If you can find a good suita in your budget that may be the thing. they could be 10, 20 30k hard to say.
Kevin, I might use a razor in the future! I probably am just too chicken. I have definitely a thin skin that almost always gets little cuts when I shave. And it is not my poor shaving technique which is causing it but simply a really thin skin. My barber says it to me also about my thin skin.

Kevin, when I wrote that I did not care about the names of the stones I was merely implying that I was looking for a good finishing stone and had read that Nakayama Maruka was the best. I am looking for a good stone, don't care about the name.

I hope you did not misunderstand me there as it was not written as a response to you giving some names of stones.

Found some info saying that after the suite stone, the uchigumori ha to
and uchigumori ji to are used. This is for polishing a sword.

Happy new again everybody

Kevin my 8000 Naniwa SS is a nice stone. I am looking for something harder. I am not sure how the hardness of my Naniwa stone compares to other hones.

Happy new year to everybody by the way.