Dr. Naka sent me a package...

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stereo.pete

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Well, let's just say I was inspired by mainaman's recent posts about his business with Dr. Naka so I sent an email. The reason for the email is that my birthday is fast approaching and I wanted to get something really nice this year. I explained to Dr. Naka that I was interested in a Shigefusa Gyuto and it just so happened that he had an extra one on order that was near completion. Needless to say I jumped on that wagon and sent some coinage via paypal his way.

Dr. Naka also offered to have a Saya hand fit for the knife and I said yes. Long story short I picked up the knife today from the post office and brought it home. When I unpackaged the gyuto and picked it up I could instantly tell this was a well-built knife. The handle although plain, is expertly crafted. This is also my first D handle and I have to admit it is quite comfortable. The saya fits perfectly with no need for a pin, which is quite neat.

Moving onto the blade is truly a remarkable story. I have never seen a distal taper on a knife like this before. The spine and choil have been rounded perfectly just like my Devin Thomas ITK. The blade is straight as an arrow and ground perfectly and the OOTB sharpness is remarkable. All in all this is my favorite knife and one that I will cherish for years to come.

Thank you Dr. Naka for exceptional service and thank you mainaman for inspiring me to go down the Shigefusa road.

Regards,

Pete

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Congrats on new Knife, saya and stone :)
Damn I really want a new knife my self now :)
 
Congratulations. Is that a thinner than usual Shigefusa?
 
There's something about the simplistic beauty that i really love. Congrats on your latest score, i'm sat here super jealous.

BTW, does the shig really cut as well as everbody says.
 
That's a beauty! Congrats!
There's something about such an elegant knife that just makes you stare for a while.
 
Exceptional...Dont know why but its so plain yet you can see every micron of love that was pumped into it.
Congratulations you just got yourself something better than dog :)
 
Pete san

Thank you for the kind words.

Have a nice birthday :hbday:
 
Nice score on the knife....now what's up with that stone? :)

To be honest this is my first J-Nat stone and here is what Dr. Naka had to say about it.

"It is from one of the honzan mines like Narutaki, Nakayama and many others. It is a so called rare color stone. It is a finish stone for kitchen knives. The grit is 6000 to 8000 I think but it can go over 10000. For natural stones it will depend how you sharpen."

Other than that I will have to do some research on natural stones before I start messing with it so I can avoid ruining it. I am very excited to see what type of finish it leaves though.
 
To be honest this is my first J-Nat stone and here is what Dr. Naka had to say about it.

"It is from one of the honzan mines like Narutaki, Nakayama and many others. It is a so called rare color stone. It is a finish stone for kitchen knives. The grit is 6000 to 8000 I think but it can go over 10000. For natural stones it will depend how you sharpen."

Other than that I will have to do some research on natural stones before I start messing with it so I can avoid ruining it. I am very excited to see what type of finish it leaves though.
the only way to ruin the Jnat is to use oil on it or drop it other than that it is not going to get damaged.
 
You shouldn't soak them either, right?

I've worked with Masaru san as well, and I'm glad I got a chance to be introduced to him. I have Stefan to thank for that, too. I have a 240mm Shigefusa gyuto that will be coming to me very soon, and I'll post my own thread of that and my other knife that I got from Masaru san soon.

Enjoy your knife and J-Nat and keep us updated on how you like them.
 
You shouldn't soak them either, right?

I've worked with Masaru san as well, and I'm glad I got a chance to be introduced to him. I have Stefan to thank for that, too. I have a 240mm Shigefusa gyuto that will be coming to me very soon, and I'll post my own thread of that and my other knife that I got from Masaru san soon.

Enjoy your knife and J-Nat and keep us updated on how you like them.
soaking is not going to damage the stone.
 
Really? I thought it was generally accepted that you shouldn't extensively/perma-soak a natural. You might be referring to short term soaking, though, so I'm not sure.
 
Wow, this is news to me. Don't know what made me assume that you should keep them away from soaking...
Sorry for taking the thread off-topic. Maybe the info can be of use to the OP
 
Really? I thought it was generally accepted that you shouldn't extensively/perma-soak a natural. You might be referring to short term soaking, though, so I'm not sure.

If you watch videos of katana polishers, you can see they keep natural stones in their bucket full with water.
 
When it comes to flattening natural stones, what do you guys use? Currently I have a DMT XXC but I feel as if that would be way too rough on the surface of this natural and would leave a lot of tiny scratches. What should I get to buff those scratches out once I get done flattening with the DMT XXC, or is there another method for flattening naturals?
 
I flatten mine with my stones. Start with DMT, once it's flat I polish out the surface with 500x, 1000x, 6000x, then Tomo Nagura. Works well. Once you have it flat you really shouldn't have to flatten again unless you're terrible about working high spots on the stone.
 
I would not lap a natural with synthetics.
you can lap with the XXC, then you need to take it to 600 sand paper for example if you do not have a DMT.
Then finally you need to smooth the surface further with another natural, say tomonagura or another stone that you have.
 
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