Since I last posted in this thread Ive picked up some more stones.
Top -> Bottom & Left -> Right
Uchigumori from the man himself (ie Nutmeg): the post office made me wait an eternity for this one for no reason. Has red renge on it and as you might guess coming from Nutmeg leaves a beautiful finish
Ohira Shiro Suita: this stone was sold to me at a significant discount because of the lines. However, I *LOVE* this stone. Great kasumi and leaves incredible edges. The first stone I acquired from Ohira, a tiny bit harder probably between 3.5 and 4 leaning towards the former. Lots of renge. This stone is the one that really accelerated the acquisition of these things for me.
Shobudani Shiro Suita: a little harder than the Ohira but also not quite as fine. It seems to cut a bit faster as well. Im not sure what to say about this one; I use it interchangeably with the other suitas
Maruoyama Shiro Suita: this smaller stone I got from Mirua for not very much money. Like the Ao suita from this mine I posted, I really like this stone a lot. I would point to this actually a pretty great intro into natural stones; it's a bit softer than the other suitas and super easy to use. Ok so it's not the end-game level stone the larger renge laden ao suita is but for what I paid a real bargain IMO
Shobudani Nashiji: This stone was featured on the Bernal instagram account and eventually I broke down and bought it. Dont have a ton of miles on this one; I quickly touched up the edge and did a maybe 5 minute polish on my Mazaki on this and the edge seemed really, really nice. Maybe between my Aizu and one of the suitas? The polish was beautiful too; as it was on a kiridashi as well with loads of contrast. I have a feeling this stone and I are going to become good friends
Uchigumori: this one I got with the top still in chiseled form and well as you can see it's got some pretty serious inclusions, which are a bummer and reduce the usable surface of the stone a bit. Still, it's a nice stone that does make a very attractive finish. Well with stones you win some you lose some; at least the stone itself is nice other than the lines.
Ohira Suita: this is one of Maxim's nice wooden box ones that I got off BST. Distinctly softer than the other Ohira suita, instant sea of inky black as soon as you put your knife on it. The best stone I own with a price tag to match. I dunno it's basically perfect, the only thing I wish is that it were 3x as tall.
Okudo Tenjou Suita: this extremely suspicious stone was acquired from ebay for less than 100 dollars. Surprisingly, it's not so bad. It leaves a finish with a LOT of contrast and extremely dark cladding, almost like a synthetic, and a really aggressive edge. Not all that bad but Im definitely not sure about rolling the dice like this on a regular basis lol. It's definitely on the small side, to the degree where I probably wouldnt want to sharpen a 240 or larger knife on it, but it wasnt a problem for a little 150 petty or 165 funayuki
As I said - having Badger's recommendation and reading others' opinions on them here definitely gave me the confidence. Am loving my first impressions, and really looking forward to learning more.
Warning: It's a long and deep rabbit hole. I'm hopelessly lost in it, but loving every minute still.
jnat porn Haha. Great photos. Great stones
