Oouchi vs ohira tomae?

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Uchi comes in a wide range defined by its softness/hardness identified as either hato or jito with hato being more coarse (typically softer) and jito being more fine (typically harder) generally speaking

Hato will release material and cut while Jito will not and will burnish instead

From my experience an Ohira tomae is finer and harder than a typical hato but more coarse than a typical jito

I want to also point out that a more coarse stone can still be harder and a more coarse stone has the possibility to burnish simply because it’s so hard and does not release any material upon use

Finally, we usually find that hard stones are finer, however this isn’t a rule that can be used in general and better relates to directly similar stones from the same mine and strata

As a result the opposite can hold true and a softer stone can be finer instead of being more coarse which is more typical

In order to burnish the stone must be very hard to not release material and an atoma is needed and all material from the atoma use must be rinsed away thoroughly
 
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Thanks for the great response. I decided to cut the uchi out of my general rotation in favor of just jumping from the 2k green brick to the ohira tomae. Can always go back and revisit this if it isn't working out though.
 
Work up to 5k shapton pro, then 1) fine stone (shiro suita, ao suita, uchi hato, some dark tomae, some aka pin etc) then 2) move to a super fine stone ( nakayama Ohira etc suita, jito, nakayama etc tomae usually yellow or grey)

In this 2) part it’s a good opportunity to burnish if desired.
 
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