jnat question

What does maruka mean in regards to tennin toishi. I keep seeing it and can't find any info.

Maruka is a very high grade of quality. I believe the stone has to be 100% consistent throughout without inclusions to be Maruka

Old owned of Nakayama mine stamped they stones with Maruka stamp. The one you see on the Side of the Nakayama stones.
Old days they picked up the best of the stones so yes you probably will get some of the best quality. However i have seen some bad marukas not that often thought.
So just family Name, Brand However they are only on Nakayama stones

Unfortunately, if you go on eBay, there are many stones with the Maruka stamp for questionable looking stones (from one seller in particular)... I don't know the story there, but these stones definitely look different from the stamped Marukas of the past.

That is the seller I am thinking of.

I've also heard anecdotally that there are a fair number of fakes floating around. I, for one, don't have the experience or skill to distinguish a fake from a real one.


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Wow Man i just saw that seller on ebay that Sell those Fake Marukas i have never seen it before ;( That is sad ! They are Fake 100 %
Stamp is on the other side and it is Black. Maruka stamp is NEVER Black ! So be aware !!
From the Pictures even expensive stones is very very bad quality !

humpf
At least i did not pay much....I will post a review, when i got it. Maybe it a good fake, after all......

Greetings Benjamin

banjo1071 said:

humpf
At least i did not pay much....I will post a review, when i got it. Maybe it a good fake, after all......

Greetings Benjamin

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Lets say that a real Maruka of the size and color he sells will run in the 500 USD range at least. He is reselling, and if those were real he'd be taking massive financial hit.
Now your stone may turn out to be value, you never know till you try it, but it definitely is not real Maruka .

I am bit surprised he do it so Openly as Maruka stamp is Registered Trade mark own by Hatanaka now and Illegal to Copy.

I don't know if it's possible to lodge a complaint on a jnat stone, of all things, purchased through Ebay/PayPal/etc but could sound like a good idea. On the other hand, I've always been hesitant to believe discussions of jnat 'fakes' and 'cheats' because that kind of thing really isn't a common phenomenon in Japan at all. The 'Maruka' on Ebay do look like cheapo's though. 'Maruka-style'?

It is much bigger phenomenon then you think. I even seen some chines natural been sold as Jnats in Japan.

I bought another stone from another seller on eBay that has the same stamp. I'm pretty sure it is not real. People will rip off any thing if there is money to be made and there is a lot of money in jnats. If you can put a stamp on something and sell it for $200 instead of$50 people will do it.

maxim said:

It is much bigger phenomenon then you think. I even seen some chines natural been sold as Jnats in Japan.

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yeah... it really is a problem in japan too. Japanese craftsmen and reputable stone vendors alike will always say the most important thing when buying a stone from someone is to buy from someone you trust... because there's a big grey area in the world of japanese natural stones.

Asteger said:

That kind of thing really isn't a common phenomenon in Japan at all.

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Japan has a very low violent crime and street crime rate. It also has by far the highest percentage of people involved in organized crime of any country. To put it in perspective, at the height of organized crime in America there where around 20,000 "gangsters" in the country. The Yamaguchi-gumi has over 100,000 members and that is only one of over 80 yakuza clans. They are heavily involved in human trafficking, extortion, money laundering, gambling, the sex industry, drugs, white collar crime and counterfeiting. Among other things. I'm not saying that these stones are from the yakuza but it is a misconception to think that crime doesn't happen in Japan. It has one of the largest underground economy's in the world. A lot of people argue that the reason there isn't more street crime in japan is that organized crime groups don't let it happen. Kind of like how the mafia didn't let outsiders commit crimes on their turf in the US.

Hi
There has been a lot of fake stones around, esp. the bay. How would you rate the ones sold by Metalmaster@ebay?

Greets
Benjamin

I bought a full size stone from metalmasters website and was happy with it but I am no expert. I want to ask people to please report the sellers on ebay with blatant fakes. I have reported japanathome and even wrote him. Ebay just doesn't seem to understand that a stone can be fake. To them a stone's a stone. I also can't even leave a bad review for him because the product was bought back in august. He has a 100% rating right now. If more people report this as counterfeit they will have to take action. You don't even necessarily need to call or email ebay. There is a report item option right by the item number. By the way japanathome told me there are lots of different stamps and that this is his grandfathers collection. I responded that there is only one maruka stamp and he never got back to me.

The problem with people selling fakes is that they are often very savvy. Make like of the fact that their stamp is problematic and they simply turn around and produce a more accurate fake. As Jon says. Deal with someone you know and trust

I hear ya and I knew I was taking a risk in the first place. Also some of them aren't necessarily horrible stones for under $100. I just want to try and get ebay to acknowledge that these are counterfeit.

I Tried Many stones from metalmaster Some very good some was not but actually mostly good . He seems to be honest but Jnats is not his profession.
So you cant really blame him if stone do not meat your expectations or not for knives etc.
But you can get good deal from him for sure

Reporting Fake stone dealers i think is good idea specially when it is so openly. He could Just stated that they was Jnats and thats it. But he seems to want to sell as many as possible at low price
Maruka and Nakayama also really help on search results as they are most searched after

Exactly. If it just said japanese natural stone I wouldn't have cared. Still would have bought it. It like buying a $100 watch. You can get a good one for that price but if they slap a Rolex brand on it you feel ripped off for the same watch.

ChuckTheButcher said:

I want to ask people to please report the sellers on ebay with blatant fakes. I have reported japanathome and even wrote him. Ebay just doesn't seem to understand that a stone can be fake.

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I was thinking of bidding some stones from japanathome, but cancel the pursue after I read this thread.

:thanx:

Hey everyone
I recived my fake-yama stone today and will check it out tonight. Will post a reviw later....

Greets Benjamin

banjo1071 said:

my fake-yama stone

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:lol2:

Asteger said:

:lol2:

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Fake nakayama. Also if any one can write a review please do. I think the fact that he has 100% is what gets me the most.

Hi everyone
I recieved mine yesterday and gave it try right a away. But first one word of warning: I am in no way an expert, nor do i own high-end jnats. The only thing, that comes close is the Kitayama 8K-stone (K8K). So i will try to compare them. I am also in way affiliated with the vendor.

The stone itself is very well flattened, so no complaint here. That thing is hard, much harder then the K8K. I tried serveral naguras and was finally able to raise some slurry.
I used it to touch up some of the knives that where lying around the kitchen. Long story short: I am not totally disappointed. It leaves a nice mirror finish (as does the K8K), but with a quite aggresive, bitey edge (which i love), whereas the K8K leaves a finish, that is much more "peaceful".. IMHO this one works better on carbons than stainless..
This is in no way a must-have-stone, nor is it the holy grail of jnatism, but i am quit contend with it. But again, this is a total jnats-noobs opinion.

Feel free to PM me, if you have any questions

Greets
Benjamin

P.S. Please excuse my bad english

Thanks for the review. :2thumbsup:

I'm glad that you are not totally disappointed with the stone and actually quite content with it.

Man, the price on those fakes are skyrocketing!!

I refused to pay for one of his I won in nov.. I told ebay they we're counterfeit. They did an investigation and I got an email last night saying that they found no evidence of them being counterfeit and I now have a unpaid item against me.