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I've had a chance to play with pyment's hone (thanks again), and found it to be a very nice hone indeed. Harder than my Aoto (I really did not like my Aoto being so soft), and also a consistant hone...

ygmp 567890

As with many naturals, you need a slurry to really cut; just water will only polish. It's nice that you posted photos to show the extent of the difference, Py. Thanks for sharing. How much work...

I'm not sure what you mean by links, but if there's something else I can post to help I'd be happy to. Let me know.

I've been playing with my Aoto a bit more, so I have more to report. I've just taken 9 razors from my Norton 1k to the Aoto. Using a new method I've recently learned, I did 40 circles with a firm...

Jim, depending on what your mid range stone is, the coti and Jnat finisher may be redundant. I can go straight from my BBW or Dragon's Tongue (both estimated at 6-8k range) to my Asagi without the...

Quite right Jim, which is why I included both reasons.

You're in luck, they're not all that expensive.

I'm guessing it appears finer than the rated 1-2k because it's a rating is probably in JIS, which is finer than Norton's rating system, and because it's a natural so the grit breaks down and moves...

Ok, I've done a little bit of messing around on my Aoto, so I'll share my very preliminary thoughs.

I took Wostenholm that I got off ebay with a chip in the middle of the razor. I picked this one...

I got mine. It came from 330. It looks like it may have a crack or red inclusion that runs aloung it length wise about in the middle or the stone. I can't tell if it runs through the whole stone,...

What came cracked from them? An Aoto? Which size? Did it look like shipping damage? Was it well packed? That is a major bummer...

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive.

So I just checked the tracking, and though the package arrived at JFK on the morning of the 8th, the tracking information was not updated to show its arrival...

I wonder if Hida tool has better ones that 330mate does? Maybe 330mate chooses how good a quality stone to send based on what the winning price was (or maybe I'm just assuming the worst)?

My Aoto is coming from 330mate; his website is 330mate.com. Aoto's are available from HidaTool.com with prices depending on the size. Since you are in Japan, I would suggest you check with 330mate...

Glad to hear it, cause I've got one in the mail. Mine is 65x180x35mm.

Yup, that's the one Sham. Can you tell us more about your experiences with it?

Ah, could that be an Amakusa? It looks quite different from pictures that I've seen. Olivia had mentioned to me in chat that she also had one and also found it unsuitable for razors.

I don't have any pictures of an Aoto that I've taken myself, but here are two that I found online:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/2821178509_d643714eb8.jpg...

Maybe it's just me, but it seems there has been a lot of talk about Japanese naturals recently. One that seems to come up a lot is the Aoto. Off the top of my head, I seem to recall hearing that it...