The goofy stones thread....

[Tony Zaffuto]

You're good to go. I'd have spent the equivalent of 60 bucks on that stone without reservation. It's extremely uncommon to find stones that are that old that are bad ones.

That makes me feel real good, as I have never spent more than $15.00 on one of these! One of these days I'll have to inventory the stones, both identified and unknowns!

[David Weaver]

That makes me feel real good, as I have never spent more than $15.00 on one of these! One of these days I'll have to inventory the stones, both identified and unknowns!

You got into this at the right time. I have one stone that cost me $13 and another one that cost me $17 (a mechanic's friend and a woodworker's delight), and I guess a norton combination that effectively was about $15 where one side is washita, but other than that I've spent closer to $40 each, and it looks like those days are long gone!

Still be something that should be find-able locally every once in a while, among the throngs of india and carborundum stones.

[Tony Zaffuto]

You got into this at the right time. I have one stone that cost me $13 and another one that cost me $17 (a mechanic's friend and a woodworker's delight), and I guess a norton combination that effectively was about $15 where one side is washita, but other than that I've spent closer to $40 each, and it looks like those days are long gone!

Still be something that should be find-able locally every once in a while, among the throngs of india and carborundum stones.

Some of the best shopping is still at tool gatherings, such as Patina or the upcoming Brown sale. Last week I passed up a 1-1/4" wide by about 7" or 8" long washita (in carved box) and at least 2 or 3 other stones that I suspected of being a natural stone (fingernail and visual tests!).

[Tony Zaffuto]

More scrubbing on my new old stone. Seems to have a very consistent off white coloration and is a bit opaque!

[David Weaver]

One more set of oddballs. One of these is a finisher I've had, the others are stones I picked up.

All are natural stones from japan.

P1040309.jpg

Left to right:

Amakusa
Binsui
Iyoto Nagura
Okudo Suita

The only expensive stone in the bunch is the okudo suita, but it is a fantastic stone. Fast but very slick and smooth feeling and leaves an excellent edge for its speed. It just does self slurry, and the slurry on the top is from sharpening probably 3 dozen tools. It can be slowed down a little by rinsing off the slurry, and it doesn't go out of flat fast.

The amakusa and binsui are medium grit stones (like 800-1500 equivalent) and to be honest, they are both about the same (the amakusa is orange under the dried slurry, though, and prettier). The binsui is better for normal use.

The iyoto is a stone that fujibato mines, and I'm not that impressed with it for what it is, it seems to be lost. it's not too fast, but not too coarse, but not too fine, and it won't leave a finished edge. it's like a finer binsui. I guess that's really what a mid grit stone is, though, something that is between everything else, and is kind of unimpressive because of it.

I've used these a little bit in the last couple of weeks with vintage and carbon steel (western and japanese) and they work very well with that, cutting surprisingly fast (faster than oilstones). I'd heard not so great things about the coarse japanese natural stones, but the binsui and amakusa are cheap (about $75 for both at CKTG), and there is plenty of stone in each (they are over five pounds each). They're fairly hard for a coarse stone, but self slurrying so they stay fast.

You can tell which two I've been using, the binsui and okudo suita (they're wet), but I'd use all 4 if I were honing a japanese iron. On a hollow grind, no need. And because of the way these stones cut, no real need for stropping, either - there's no particularly organized wire edge coming off of the okudo suita.

[David Wong]

David,

It would be interesting if you started a separate thread on natural japanese stones!

I have a red amakusa that I purchased from hid a tool (~$25?). By and large, I have been disappointed with that stone. In use it has a nice musky smell, but it cuts very slowly for an #800 grit. It needs a lot of water, to prevent it from glazing over. My #800 King cuts much faster and feels better for hand sharpening than the amakusa. The amakusa does win on looks by a mile.

DSCF4313.jpg

[David Weaver]

Your amakusa definitely looks nicer than mine did! Mine's very porous, but it does shed grit fast enough to avoid loading. It's barely faster than the binsui, though, they are too close to each other to use both on a regular basis (speaking for my sake).

Maybe consistency was an issue for the older ones? Coarse stones that don't shed anything at all are usually difficult to use.

There may be other relevant details, too, like that I'm using mostly vintage steel and the japanese tools i've used so far have kamaji backing (and they are iyoroi chisels, so they are not super super hard to begin with).

Starting a thread that is japanese stones only is a good idea. I think I've sold more stones than I have remaining, though. Off the top of my head, I do have about a dozen good quality stones, though.

Between mine and yours, I think we could make a useful start.