Is it *really* true that coarse JNats are not worth bothering with?

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Rangen

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I know everyone says that coarse JNats are just not something one should be paying attention to. I don't think I've ever read a post here advocating for them, or even expressing a little bit of affection.

Here's the thing though. Once again, I am looking at a nice Japanese knife that is in dire need of sharpening. And once again, I'm thinking that I absolutely cannot wait until I get through those synthetics and get to the good stuff, the JNats. My affection for JNats is ultimately about results, yes, but a big part is how much fun they are to sharpen on, compared to synthetics (OK, except for the Aizu). If a coarse JNat offered some of that appeal, and was merely about as good, or almost as good, as a synthetic, I'd be up for it.

Anyone care to say that that might be the case? And, if so, any recommendations? I don't even know the names by which different kinds of coarse JNats are known.
 
Aoto (even the little mudmonster tanba aotos), Natsuya are cool. Not necessary - but cool. Also Amakusa (some are called Tora-to because they have tiger stripes).
 
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Yeah, I have a mudmonster Aoto, which I like, though I admit I prefer to use a Tsushima in its place. Natsuya, I know nothing about and will research.
 
Coarse to me is Omura. It works as a 500ish grit stone for me and I like using it when I'm playing with Nats. Inexplicably it does very well as coarse stone for abrasion resistant Germans. (Aoto is mid range and can be finisher)
 
IMLE I've never used one that I liked, but people seem to really like the ones that they like and hate the ones that they don't. There's probably more variation than in finer stones.

I only sharpen and for me a natsuya or ikarashi are the coarsest I'd go in the medium spectrum. I'd recommend finding a tested coarser example of one of these on BST (there are a few rn) and spending more time working on that stone over using an actual coarse jnat.
 
refcast said:
How fast does you omura dish? I got a cheapish natural one, and it dishes pretty quickly.. . faster than any other stone.
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We don't have a daily relationship but I don't recall excessive or fast dishing. I'll get it out over the weekend and refresh my memory.
 
refcast said:
How fast does you omura dish? I got a cheapish natural one, and it dishes pretty quickly.. . faster than any other stone.
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I have an Omura that I use a lot. It dishes fairly quickly, but no bother because mine has a lot of space to work on.
 
If you get a good example there are a number of nice JNATS in the lower midgrits, ~700 -1.5k. In addition to the stones already mentioned I would add Ikarashi, Numata, and Koshiji - perhaps some coarser examples of Tajima too. JNATS are slower than synthetics and I really don't see a compelling case for truly coarse naturals
 
Carbondx said:
The purpose of coarse stones is to reshape. How fast it cuts is the only performance indicator for stones at the coarser level in my opinion.
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That is a commendably professional point of view, one which I would probably share if sharpening were in any way connected to my profession.

But it's just a hobby, so if I enjoy sharpening on a stone more, I'm happy to give up some efficiency.
 
I don't like coarse jnats at all and I only use my aoto on knives. For tools such as chisels coarse and medium fine jnats are a waste of time because they dish too much and are too slow. Everything up to and including 6k is synthetic for me, after my 6k a nice jnat finisher is very nice.
 
Rangen said:
I know everyone says that coarse JNats are just not something one should be paying attention to. I don't think I've ever read a post here advocating for them, or even expressing a little bit of affection.

Here's the thing though. Once again, I am looking at a nice Japanese knife that is in dire need of sharpening. And once again, I'm thinking that I absolutely cannot wait until I get through those synthetics and get to the good stuff, the JNats. My affection for JNats is ultimately about results, yes, but a big part is how much fun they are to sharpen on, compared to synthetics (OK, except for the Aizu). If a coarse JNat offered some of that appeal, and was merely about as good, or almost as good, as a synthetic, I'd be up for it.

Anyone care to say that that might be the case? And, if so, any recommendations? I don't even know the names by which different kinds of coarse JNats are known.
Click to expand...

I am a huge fan of Jnats but I feel like the biggest appeal for them is feedback, while I enjoy the finish they give, I still think feedback plays the biggest part.
However, I've never used a stone that's coarser than Natsuya level.... if I have to pick in between the Natsuya and King hyper 1000(similar grit range), I will pick a Natsuya if I am sharpening my own knife and King hyper 1000 if I was sharpening professionally.
I guess at the end of the day it comes down to efficiency, Natsuya and King 1000 is a bad example, but if I was trying to fix a chip, I will go for a belt grinder/at least Atoma 140 instead of a coarser JNat.

TL;DL: Speed: Synthetic, Feel: Nats.

And why don't you enjoy your Aizu? It's probably one of my favourite stone:D
 
Rangen said:
I probably need to give it more time, then, and make friends with it. My knee-jerk answer is: it's not creamy, like my other JNats.
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Maybe try work with atoma slurry, that might fix the issue of it not being creamy :D but they are always gonna be chalky feeling I think!
 
I haven't used any for years and I remember the only thing that coarse Jnats seemed to do better than synths is keeping their flatness longer.
 
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