Bench stone prices include US shipping.
Ikarashi (225x73x71) - $95
Aizu’s less loved stepchild. This a bit softer and more aggressive than an Aizu would be and is in line with other ikarashi I’ve tried. Less great at polishing, but still serviceable in a progression. I find them excellent for sharpening and polishing stainless though. Great 3k ish edges too. This one has a low spot worn into the middle of the stone that will need to be worked out. I’m guess 10 minutes of heavy work with an Aroma 140 or a solid minute rubbing on sidewalk followed by Atoma dressing.
Maruo suita (205x75x45) - $480
Full size stone, fully rounded and flattened on all sides, sealed. This stone is as soft / coarse as Maruo come. That might not sound like a good thing, but trust me, it is. Extreme speed during polishing that will take you from 4k synthetic or nakatoishi scratches to a surface ready for your finest stones in very short order. Lines on the surface don’t touch and typically the golden lines in Maruo don’t cause issues in my experience.
Kiita nashiji (210x72x15) - $250
This is, hands down, the weirdest awasedo I’ve ever used. It’s not crazy hard, but creates the brightest mirror I’ve ever seen come off a natural stone. Just super bright core and lots of detail. Exceptional edges too. It can throw some odd shallow scratches though. The compromise that must be paid for the superlative mirror I guess. Used for this finish.
*on hold - SPF* Unknown kiita - $180
More typical performer. Hard, fast, and very fine. The spot causes no issues. Fine enough for razor duty and friendly enough to be a knife polisher. Great stone with a good surface area though moderate thickness. It feels more like really good Shobu kiita I’ve used as compared to Nakayama.
Unknown awasedo (207x76x24)- $110
Hard, fine, but usable for kitchen knives and polishing. Good for razors too. Surface has some chips hence the discounted price. Very clean stone.
Several nagura stones up for grabs. Most of these were sourced from auction lots and I’m selling at or slightly below breakeven cost. All stones have been rigorously tested and will come flat w/ prepped surfaces. These bench stones are not formally graded and I don’t want to get into too much speculation on what layer they would be as it would all be conjecture. I will give my best description of how each performs, however.
Bench Nagura #1 (198x60x40) - $225
This stone is a phenomenal upper-mid-grit JNAt. Creamy off-white coloring and very uniform. Finer than something like an Aizu and what one would typically expect form a Mikawa nagura bench stone. While the stone is rather hard, it is not glassy or grabby in the way that a lot of finer bench nagura can be. Freshly lapped or with slurry you might even call it creamy. Speed is very good. With slurry core steel will tend towards a clean matte kasumi and soft clad will darken and show a faint scratch pattern. With clean water and burnishing technique details in core and clad can be brought out and the scratch pattern will refine further. This stone is capable of bridging a 3k synthetic to a softer awasedo. Edges are extremely crisp and in a sweet spot for kitchen knives - about 5k if I had to assign a number to it. I have used this stone to clean up a razor edge that needed more than a rehoming on awasedo and it performed that roll marvelously allowing me to go to a nagura progression on my finisher. The stone is sealed in matte brown lacquer.
Bench Nagura #2 (203x63x45) - $245
This stone is weight with benign grey lines and sparse black dots. The surface is difficult to photograph but is a swirl of bright white and light grey. This stone is harder and finer than the above. While you will sacrifice speed compared to the above, the ceiling for finish is finer. Very detailed burnished finishes are possible allowing you to pull out detail you might have thought non-existent otherwise. Great for edges as well. Like the stone above I have honed razors on this stone and find it to be a great transition from synthetic to awasedo for heavier sharpening. I also tried shaving off this just for fun after using diligently using the Dilucot method and while it wasn’t great I was surprised at how close-to-good-enough it was after a bare leather strop.
Four nagura - $25, $25, $40, $50 + shipping costs
Ikarashi (225x73x71) - $95
Aizu’s less loved stepchild. This a bit softer and more aggressive than an Aizu would be and is in line with other ikarashi I’ve tried. Less great at polishing, but still serviceable in a progression. I find them excellent for sharpening and polishing stainless though. Great 3k ish edges too. This one has a low spot worn into the middle of the stone that will need to be worked out. I’m guess 10 minutes of heavy work with an Aroma 140 or a solid minute rubbing on sidewalk followed by Atoma dressing.
Maruo suita (205x75x45) - $480
Full size stone, fully rounded and flattened on all sides, sealed. This stone is as soft / coarse as Maruo come. That might not sound like a good thing, but trust me, it is. Extreme speed during polishing that will take you from 4k synthetic or nakatoishi scratches to a surface ready for your finest stones in very short order. Lines on the surface don’t touch and typically the golden lines in Maruo don’t cause issues in my experience.
Kiita nashiji (210x72x15) - $250
This is, hands down, the weirdest awasedo I’ve ever used. It’s not crazy hard, but creates the brightest mirror I’ve ever seen come off a natural stone. Just super bright core and lots of detail. Exceptional edges too. It can throw some odd shallow scratches though. The compromise that must be paid for the superlative mirror I guess. Used for this finish.
*on hold - SPF* Unknown kiita - $180
More typical performer. Hard, fast, and very fine. The spot causes no issues. Fine enough for razor duty and friendly enough to be a knife polisher. Great stone with a good surface area though moderate thickness. It feels more like really good Shobu kiita I’ve used as compared to Nakayama.
Unknown awasedo (207x76x24)- $110
Hard, fine, but usable for kitchen knives and polishing. Good for razors too. Surface has some chips hence the discounted price. Very clean stone.
Several nagura stones up for grabs. Most of these were sourced from auction lots and I’m selling at or slightly below breakeven cost. All stones have been rigorously tested and will come flat w/ prepped surfaces. These bench stones are not formally graded and I don’t want to get into too much speculation on what layer they would be as it would all be conjecture. I will give my best description of how each performs, however.
Bench Nagura #1 (198x60x40) - $225
This stone is a phenomenal upper-mid-grit JNAt. Creamy off-white coloring and very uniform. Finer than something like an Aizu and what one would typically expect form a Mikawa nagura bench stone. While the stone is rather hard, it is not glassy or grabby in the way that a lot of finer bench nagura can be. Freshly lapped or with slurry you might even call it creamy. Speed is very good. With slurry core steel will tend towards a clean matte kasumi and soft clad will darken and show a faint scratch pattern. With clean water and burnishing technique details in core and clad can be brought out and the scratch pattern will refine further. This stone is capable of bridging a 3k synthetic to a softer awasedo. Edges are extremely crisp and in a sweet spot for kitchen knives - about 5k if I had to assign a number to it. I have used this stone to clean up a razor edge that needed more than a rehoming on awasedo and it performed that roll marvelously allowing me to go to a nagura progression on my finisher. The stone is sealed in matte brown lacquer.
Bench Nagura #2 (203x63x45) - $245
This stone is weight with benign grey lines and sparse black dots. The surface is difficult to photograph but is a swirl of bright white and light grey. This stone is harder and finer than the above. While you will sacrifice speed compared to the above, the ceiling for finish is finer. Very detailed burnished finishes are possible allowing you to pull out detail you might have thought non-existent otherwise. Great for edges as well. Like the stone above I have honed razors on this stone and find it to be a great transition from synthetic to awasedo for heavier sharpening. I also tried shaving off this just for fun after using diligently using the Dilucot method and while it wasn’t great I was surprised at how close-to-good-enough it was after a bare leather strop.
Four nagura - $25, $25, $40, $50 + shipping costs
