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SOLD (AU) Aiiwatani, Shobu, Aizu, Natsuya, Akapin, Aoto, Takashima

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4phantom

4phantom

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Hi all,


2023-04-07-07-31-14-jpg.235900



Looking to offload the following koppas/stones:


Honyama Akapin $200 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 150 x 89 x 38mm

Weight: 1170g


An easy to use, medium hardness akapin. Has a lovely red colour, easily self slurries and is a great choice for those who want a first natural stone - the size of the stone is plenty enough to use for polishing and sharpening alike, and it's plenty thick. It is on the coarser side of a finisher.


Aiiwatani $150 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 173 x 72 x 19mm

Weight: 562g


Slightly harder than the akapin described above, it has a slightly darker slurry and is leaves a bit finer of a finish. Although it is harder, it's still plenty easy to use.


Aiiwatani $50 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 155 x 75 x 14mm (14mm of stone, 23mm including epoxy base)

Weight: 450g (with epoxy base)


Another medium hardness stone - it's a touch softer than the other aiiwatani and a bit less fine, it has an epoxy base so the weight is not indicative of the amount of stone you'll receive - hence why it's the price it is. There is one line near the top of the stone but from my testing it doesn't release any scratchy particles and is safe to sharpen over


AIzu(?)/Ikarashi $200 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 198 x 65 x 53mm

Weight: 1380g


This was sold as an aizu and I think it's an aizu? The only thing that makes me question that is how easy it is to lap compared to my other aizu. Aside from that, it gives edges similar to my other aizu and has a similar smell and feel. Lovely edges and a decent inbetween to help bridge a synthetic to a finer natural.


Aizu $250 USD SOLD

Dimensions:m 210 x 67 x 36mm

Weight: 1120g


One of the harder aizu I've used, purchased from @TRPV4. It's a great stone, only selling as I've obtained a larger one. A bit more difficult to use for polishing as the stone is more prone to burnishing more quickly than my other aizu, but feels very solid in use and was one of my favourite edge stones.


Aizu $250 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 210 x 64 x 37mm

Weight: 1044g


The embodiment of an aizu - gives a lovely bitey edge, is a touch softer(?)/ less 'solid' the the aizu mentioned above and has the typical speckled brown spots seen on many aizu.


Aoto $150 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 212 x 60 x 64mm

Weight: 1890g


Typical example of a soft tanba aoto. Leaves a bitey edge, not quite as refined as an aizu. Best strength is it's ability to blend out synthetic 1k scratches to produce a fairly uniform finish.


Natsuya $200 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 210 x 81 x 65mm

Weight: 2440g


One of the harder natsuya I've tried - this one burnishes, so you can use it to reveal details in cladding after the surface stops cutting. Best used when the surface is conditioned with a 140 grit atoma plate, or pre-slurried.


Shobu $140 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 153 x 80 x 21mm

Weight: 547g


A similar hardness to the finer aiiwatani mentioned above. Very smooth, fine enough to leave a slightly reflective finish with a dark-ish slurry. Not as easy to use as the akapin, however leaves (imo) a nicer finish.


Takashima $60 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 148 x 78 x 21mm

Weight: 430g


Best for those that love mud monsters - this one is ridiculously soft. I personally dont like it for benchstone polishing, but those that enjoy softer stones might, alternatively would be a great candidate to make fingerstones to use as a loose abrasive. Is missing a chunk out of one of the corners


Takashima $30 USD SOLD

Dimensions: 140 x 65 x 22mm

Weight: 371g


Same description as the above, however I'd highly recommend using this for fingerstones because of the small and awkward size which makes it uncomfortable to sharpen on.


Shipping within Australia included for free - international i'm happy to cover the first $20 AUD and offer discounts for multiple items purchased together (feel free to check out my knives for sale as well)


Currently a bit too busy to make separate polish/swarf videos for each stone - but can provide them for those wanting them.


Thanks for looking!
 

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Many stones no longer available - Honyama akapin, aizu/ikarashi, natsuya and fine aiiwatani still available
 
Some quick & dirty polish videos -

Natsuya, typical natsuya scratch pattern - should probably follow a 1k grit synthetic



Aizu(?) - Can see it's definitely a bit finer, with less wide scratches. The feedback on this is actually super nice once you get the right ratio of water on the surface, and it cuts very well. This only took 1-2 minutes from the natsuya finish.



Akapin - this is where I'd say it's starting to edge into awasedo territory. It's not exactly a finisher in it's own right, but it's a great stone for blending out midgrit nakato scratches in preparation for a finer finish. Again, a pretty fast stone, only took 2-3 minutes to get here from the aizu finish, and you can see scratches on the iron, but they're pretty small and not visible unless you look really closely.



Aiiwatani - This is definitely in finisher territory. As you can see in the video, the cladding is starting to become reflective. It's really smooth right off the bat, even without any slurry built up. Again, this was only a quick 2minute test from the akapin finish, and it can definitely get finer with a bit more use and breaking down the slurry. I'm also not sure if it comes across in the video, but it's also starting to expose a bit of banding that's present in the iron of this gyuto.




All these tests were done pretty quickly as I only had a bit of time - but with a bit more refinement and time on each stone they are capable of finer finishes than what I've shown here - this was just to give any prospective buyers an idea of what the stones are capable of.
 
Some extra polish videos - this time on a wrought clad petty. This more active cladding helps show what the stones are capable of!


As a baseline: this is the knife after a 1k synthetic finish




Natsuya:
This came right after an SNE 1k synthetic, and after the natsuya was lapped with an atoma 140. I find this stone cuts really well after being lapped with an atoma 140, and is a bit slower otherwise.

After a bit of use, the stone surface burnishes as well, and lets you bring out some lovely detail in the cladding while erasing the 1k synthetic scratches fairly easily.



The following 2 stones were tested after resetting the bevel to a synthetic SNE 3k finish, which can be seen below:





Akapin:
Like i said above, definitely a creeping into finisher territory here. Gives a nice, shinier finish compared to most nakato, and is on the medium-hardness side of stones. Easily self slurries, but doesn't burnish at all. It likes a bit of water, otherwise the surface dries out, but if you keep it hydrated its really easy to use. My favourite use for this has been a pre-polisher to bridge between this and a finer finishing stone. This was lapped to an atoma 600 surface before use. I believe it could be a faster stone if you chose to lap it with atoma 140 but with a coarser finish.




Aiiwatani:

A nice, easy to use finisher, that is well within actual fine stone territory. On the medium-hard side of things, still self slurries very easily and leaves a lovely reflective finish that doesn't mute the details in the cladding. This was also lapped to atoma 600 before use, and the bevel was reset to a 3k synthetic finish before use.


 
Forgot to do one for the remaining aizu:

Has a nice burnishing effect too - it cuts well and the edges off it are great!

 
Akapin and Aiiwatani sold :) Just the Aizu left now - would really recommend it for anyone who wants to try a natural for a nice bitey edge
 
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