J-Nat Club
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So you just started and have a way to go yet. LOL.
shobudonnie
Well-Known Member
Well if I was a collector, then yes. This would be considered just the beginning. But I’m more of a working man. So really, I should have stopped at five.
I said the same thing years ago and now I have even more than this. Straight razors are where I started now I have a bunch of knives too. I could be doing worse things I guess.
Yeah, that's what I said 30 months ago... I've had north of 300 now
I’ve been at 10 for 6 months and feel like I’ve got bases covered for a nice progression. Maybe one more finisher…
But this particular wrought iron you knife you bought really has a fine grain structure that could benefit from something just a hair softer than your current finisher but finer than your next softest stone. So better get that base covered...
PS - sorry I got you into this mess
"I'll stop at 5." - Ethompson
30 months later.
"I'll open a store." - Also Ethompson
Yep.
"Honey, these aren't for me they're inventory for the store, buying this pile of rocks is just good business!" -me dubiously
No regrets here. The rabbit hole just wasn’t that deep for me for jnats. That said when my stones were on their vacation I wondered if I’d miss them and I really did.
And sure, I love trying to coax out a nice polish, but it’s hard for me to get too hung up on it when I know it’s just all going to get covered up by patina anyway.
You are very wise
shobudonnie
Well-Known Member
You have over 300 jnats??? You must be a millionaire.
Was. Now just a hoarder.
Nah. Vast majority were koppa or otherwise cheaper stones. Lot of mid grits and coarse stuff too. I’ve also sold a lot…
shobudonnie
Well-Known Member
I see
I have run the math and that's a new stone every 3 days!!!!
3/week sounds about right on avg - SCARYI have run the math and that's a new stone every 3 days!!!!
user 16756
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wow, even when I was buying them more regularly I think I was only doing one every other week or so.
I also havent sold a stone in a while tbh.
Maybe it would be good for to clear out a bit, but then, I dont want to lmao
Former billionaire, current Jnat collector.
That's more of an avg. For instance, the batch of 30 natsuya I am still working through skews that data. Two cases of mixed koppa at about 20 stones each, etc.
And there are still people with much, much nicer collections than me
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Stop saying things like "mixed cases of 20+ koppa"!
Just in today, 1,800g of mostly Mikawa, and mostly in good shape. There are some nice large pieces in this lot. they just need cleaning and testing.
Back row, the two cubical ones are likely koma, they cut it in cubic shapes about this size. The two center rows are mostly smaller pieces, but a couple of good sized ones.Some of these are shaped so they were likely used fro knife or sword polishing. Front row left, likely an Amakusa piece, center front, maybe the only oiled one in the lot, and right, probably a tomo nagura.
Back row, the two cubical ones are likely koma, they cut it in cubic shapes about this size. The two center rows are mostly smaller pieces, but a couple of good sized ones.Some of these are shaped so they were likely used fro knife or sword polishing. Front row left, likely an Amakusa piece, center front, maybe the only oiled one in the lot, and right, probably a tomo nagura.
Top row is cleaning up nicely. These images are of wet stone, so they appear darker. The ‘snowflake’ pattern is one that you see a good bit in vintage koma. They’re also 199g each, so those two seem to have made the lot worth it.
Initial testing of these stones were on clear water using a Takeda ko bunka to observe what the speed is and what the ji/ha looks like. I’m starting with the ones that are large enough ti get a small blade on.
Bi-color cube - fast, polished ji/ha (fine) no streaking, consistent with koma
Tan cube - slightly slower, a little more kasumi ji/ha than the bicolor, consistent with vintage koma
Irregular striped, 244g, also a little slower but just as fine according to the ji/ha polish. I’d probably call this one mejiro. Sakimoto (the Asano gentleman) says that mejiro is a little finer than koma but slower. But these are natural stones and can overlap in their characteristics a good bit.
Tiger stripe - little slower than the cubes, appears quite fine, but streaks the ji/ha. Can’t win ‘em all. Could well be fine for sharpening vs polishing. I’d call it tenjou or mejiro
Gray streaked - about like the tiger stripe, but it doesn’t streak the ji/ha. I’d call it mejiro or a good tenjo.
What’s next? Well, I use straight razors, so the next thing is to select a hard hone and hone a razor on the slurries, then fo the hanging hair test and shave. HHT and shaving will pretty much tell you the fineness.
Initial testing of these stones were on clear water using a Takeda ko bunka to observe what the speed is and what the ji/ha looks like. I’m starting with the ones that are large enough ti get a small blade on.
Bi-color cube - fast, polished ji/ha (fine) no streaking, consistent with koma
Tan cube - slightly slower, a little more kasumi ji/ha than the bicolor, consistent with vintage koma
Irregular striped, 244g, also a little slower but just as fine according to the ji/ha polish. I’d probably call this one mejiro. Sakimoto (the Asano gentleman) says that mejiro is a little finer than koma but slower. But these are natural stones and can overlap in their characteristics a good bit.
Tiger stripe - little slower than the cubes, appears quite fine, but streaks the ji/ha. Can’t win ‘em all. Could well be fine for sharpening vs polishing. I’d call it tenjou or mejiro
Gray streaked - about like the tiger stripe, but it doesn’t streak the ji/ha. I’d call it mejiro or a good tenjo.
What’s next? Well, I use straight razors, so the next thing is to select a hard hone and hone a razor on the slurries, then fo the hanging hair test and shave. HHT and shaving will pretty much tell you the fineness.
YG420
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Nice write up! Glad to see you over here now, I enjoy your content over on b&b!
Thank you sir!
I have been having a conversation with a very knowledgeable gentleman on B&B, and apparently a few of these are actually not Mikawa nagura, but Goju/Gifu. Being new here, I’m not sure what I can link to. His descriptions are consistent with a good bit of my experiences with some of these stones. I also have Gifu nagura from Alex Gilmore. Alex tended to not like them as much as Mikawa because they tend to be slower, but my ‘cubes’ are not slow, and I have another that I suspect is Goju that is fine enough to use as a tomo nagura for razors.
Bottom line is that these are natural stones and vary a good bit.
I have been having a conversation with a very knowledgeable gentleman on B&B, and apparently a few of these are actually not Mikawa nagura, but Goju/Gifu. Being new here, I’m not sure what I can link to. His descriptions are consistent with a good bit of my experiences with some of these stones. I also have Gifu nagura from Alex Gilmore. Alex tended to not like them as much as Mikawa because they tend to be slower, but my ‘cubes’ are not slow, and I have another that I suspect is Goju that is fine enough to use as a tomo nagura for razors.
Bottom line is that these are natural stones and vary a good bit.
Thanks to a friend in Japan I finally got hands on a brick from one of the legend- Maruka. I'm waiting the sealing to dry and it's gonna be fun testing tonight 
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Beautiful stone @dragjp !
Won this one this morning. According to my Japanese-speaking friend, the stamps say
"White plum" 白梅 ”haku-bai"
"Pure Main Mountain" 純本山 "jun-moto/hon-yama"
"Classical Elegance" 古雅 "ko-miyabi"
"Best X grade" 最X級 "sai-X-kyu"
"Third cut" 三切 "san-gire/kire"
‘Pure main mountain’ means Nakayama in the old terms. I suspect that ‘third cut’ is actually ‘thirty cut’, a size. Wish yhat it was here!
Won this one this morning. According to my Japanese-speaking friend, the stamps say
"White plum" 白梅 ”haku-bai"
"Pure Main Mountain" 純本山 "jun-moto/hon-yama"
"Classical Elegance" 古雅 "ko-miyabi"
"Best X grade" 最X級 "sai-X-kyu"
"Third cut" 三切 "san-gire/kire"
‘Pure main mountain’ means Nakayama in the old terms. I suspect that ‘third cut’ is actually ‘thirty cut’, a size. Wish yhat it was here!
shobudonnie
Well-Known Member
Wow! That’s an amazing looking stone! Is it a nakayama? And where did you get it from?
Maybe my favorite extra fine suita I’ve ever used.
