Large Jnat in carry on luggage

I'm currently in Tokyo and purchased a large (6lb+) Jnat for a birthday present to self. A thought occurred to me that I might not be allowed to take it home to the U.S. in my carry on bag. I always travel with just carry on and never check luggage. I was wondering if anyone has had experience taking stones on an airplane. Any advice will be appreciated.

DAMN! show us a picture of that thing. I've traveled between Canada and Japan with a natural stones in my carry-on and its been fine.

I can't see why it would be a problem. You could check the airlines baggage allowance for carry ons and make sure you don't go over though that's really more of an issue in Europe and on smaller planes.

You could send it via EMS.

I recently took a jnat (and 4 knives) on a 4 leg flight in my checked luggage without any problems. With carry-on, I would be able to envision that a heavy rock can be seen as a weapon.

My dad has bought fossils and brought them back as his sole carry on. Granted this was all in the states. Can't remember exact size but maybe a 2ft by 2ft slab? I'd just make it known that you have it before questions are asked.

I always put mine in check in. You could even just get it nicely packed in a box and check that. If I were security, I'd wonder why someone had to carry a big rock on board.

The TSA did check out my aoto in checked luggage (US->europe)...

my mate brought back a stone from the US to Australia for me. The TSA hassled him and made him check it in as it's seen as a weapon. Initially I was more concerned they thought it was concealed with drugs inside (ie, chip the rock or break it to sample with)

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jklip13 said:

DAMN! show us a picture of that thing. I've traveled between Canada and Japan with a natural stones in my carry-on and its been fine.

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First time posting a pic. Let's see if this works. Hard to visually judge the scale. For reference my shoe is size 12 wide. This is a large Aizu, my unicorn Jnat of the moment. Thank you everyone for all the advice. I think I will check my bag with stones packed inside.

Aizu ~ great choice. Make sure you get it back, then

I had a checked bag with a big stone in it opened up in front of me by TSA. Apparently these stones can look similar to C-4 explosive bricks.

If you put in check-in just hope they will not drill a hole in it to check what is inside (that did happen to some guys around here). Those TSA guys are can be very inventive when it comes to damaging the check-in items. Must be a lot of fun to be allowed to do that and carry no responsibility. The safest would be to ship the stone separately and not carry it as a luggage.

The Aizu has landed! Made it safely back home. 7lbs 225mm x 70mm x 90mm

Holy moly that is a huge stone!

wow.. that's a massive stone.. where did you get that from in japan?

Did it come with that case?

ynot1985 said:

wow.. that's a massive stone.. where did you get that from in japan?

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I purchased the stone from Morihei Co. Some of the other forum members have mentioned them. They are a wholesaler so I believe they don't ship individual purchases. They speak very little english and I speak little Japanese so comunication was difficult. Mr Akimitsu was very kind to me and showed me some incredible things. I'll post some photos later when I have time and get over this jet lag.

mikedtran said:

Did it come with that case?

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The "case" is from a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvee that I bought from duty-free on my way to Japan. The stone wrapped in bubblewrap fit perfectly. The bag that I checked in was not a hard case so the sturdy champagne box was great protection.

Thanks again to KKF for the helpful advice

This is in Tokyo?

One of my very fav stones, so hope you enjoy it. Looks like a nice specimen but they usually all are.

Yes, Morihei is in Asakusabashi Tokyo

I went through the same quandary last week in Thailand (the stone I mentioned in the sharpening section). Would they allow it in my carry on or would I end up losing it a security? In the end, I bought another suit case and carefully packed in T-shirts. I found Thai security had gone through the luggage when I got home. Like someone mentioned, it would kind of look like a large block of C-4 or similar explosive on the X-Ray.

Asteger said:

One of my very fav stones, so hope you enjoy it. Looks like a nice specimen but they usually all are.

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Thanks Astegar, I share your appreciation for mid grit Jnats. My Aoto are my most used naturals and I use final finishers mostly for kasumi polishing and micro bevels. Your comments and photos on Aizu where a major influence on my search for another mid range Jnat. It is a kool looking stone and a quick test shows it's pretty fast. Quickly raised a burr on a white-1 petty.

Doug said:

Thanks Astegar, I share your appreciation for mid grit Jnats. My Aoto are my most used naturals and I use final finishers mostly for kasumi polishing and micro bevels. Your comments and photos on Aizu where a major influence on my search for another mid range Jnat. It is a kool looking stone and a quick test shows it's pretty fast. Quickly raised a burr on a white-1 petty.

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:doublethumbsup: Flattered, thanks. And looks like you did well with Morihei, too. I remember emailing before, getting a reply 5 mos later, or not one or two other times. And then going to visit once and it being closed. He seems to be one seller that carries Aizu usually or from time to time, and that's not too common so looks like you did really well. A huge stone, but they used to be cut like that. If you can keep it in the family, you'll need several generations more who'll actually use it for it to wear down. They must have been intended for tool users with sharpening on a daily basis, otherwise a fraction of the size is sufficient.