Question about Tomae and Uchigumori.

Am I correct in thinking these are often softer, very fine stones that release some mud?

To generalize or stereotype jnats is pretty hard to do. Some of the tomae strata (48 layers remember) are getting into translucent arkansas hardness (not quite but close). Uchigumori are typically very soft but there are always exceptions. Not sure where you're getting your info from?

I will second Jeremy, and add that I have seen Uchigumori from HS45 to HS70 in Shinishi's website so there you go, not a chance u can stereotype them that much.

I did some googling and most of what came up indicated those are softer stones. Of course it could just be that a lot of people like the softer ones and that skewed the results.

I don't have any very hard Uchigumori, my hardest is HS52 but I do have tome from soft to quite hard.

brooksie967 said:

To generalize or stereotype jnats is pretty hard to do. Some of the tomae strata (48 layers remember) are getting into translucent arkansas hardness (not quite but close). Uchigumori are typically very soft but there are always exceptions. Not sure where you're getting your info from?

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I think the idea actually comes from a number of vendors who specifically state that Uchigumori typically softer. People read that and say, okie dokie. The thing is, that specific vendor might only sell softer variants of a stone but others may not. Also, there are some vendors that carry mystery Uchi...heh some of that can be very, very, very hard and slow...:lol2: Took that gamble and lost.

I have uchigumori from HS36 to HS71 so difficult to generalize..
"Soft" is often a feeling, it has nothing to do with real hardness. Grain size is another point.

The size of the stone influences the feeling too.

also, uchigumori are not particulary extra fine, they can leave nice semi mirror but no mirror. Its strenght is to reveal other aspect from steal like contrast or some other details.

nutmeg said:

I have uchigumori from HS36 to HS71 so difficult to generalize..
"Soft" is often a feeling, it has nothing to do with real hardness. Grain size is another point.

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This is a good point. I have stones that are said to be very hard but feel elastic in use. To me this makes them seem soft. Then I have stones that are said to be soft but feel very, very dense and it makes them seem hard and glassy.

So it's like with the Sigma Select II 6000 that I have. It feels soft and smooth but it's actually quite hard and dish resistant.