PalmRoyale
Senior Member
The first one is an Ohira suita. The hardness is HS55. How do I know this? Well, I didn't buy it from Shinichi but it took a detour to him and he sent it on to me. I told him to feel free to play around with it before sending it to me. That's what he did and he also determined the hardness. It takes some effort to get it to release a slurry so I use it with my Atoma 400 to lightly roughen up the surface. This transforms it into a very abrasive stone. It just chews through metal and the slurry is very slick. It's a very good all-round stone for knives and chisels.
The second one is also a very nice suita. The mine is unknown to me but I suspect it's a Shinden or Okudo. The weird thing about this stone is that it sounds very light when I sharpen on it, almost like it's hollow but it's a very dense stone. This one definitely benefits from raising a slurry as well and is even more abrasive than the Ohira. The rate at which it removes metal is extraordinary and it can even polish HSS router bits. At the same time it's very fine, somewhere in the 8000 range. I love this little guy.
The third one I got from Shinichi as a surprise gift. He put it in the box with another stone I bought from him. It's a tiny little Shoubudani shiro suita that measures 150x50x10mm and this is the stone I reach for when I need a very fine edge on my Japanese paring chisels. It's fairly soft at HS46 and it easily self slurries and finishes in the 10,000 and up range. It also releases a funky, sulphur like scent but it's not a strong scent so I don't mind. This little guy is my favourite of all my stones. It's just such a damn shame it's so small.
Number 4 is the stone I picked up at the neighbourhood flea market last week. No idea what mine or layer but it's a superb razor finisher. It's very, very fine. Upwards of at least 15,000 and produces a very comfortable shaving edge. I prefer to use it with an Atoma slurry.
Number 5 is a Shoubudani renge suita from Shinichi. The renge part is HS45 and the tan coloured part is HS47. This part is also a bit finer. It has no problem releasing a slurry and finishes in the 8000 range. I bought it for my chisels but it's just too grabby on the back of a white steel chisel blade. It's a very nice knife stone though.
Number 6 is a soft and muddy Monzento. I posted it for sale here but a buddy of mine wanted it so that's where it went. After using it a couple of times he found it's not the right stone for him so I bought it back. It produces a nice, toothy edge and it super easy to use because it's so soft. I let it soak for 10 minutes before using it otherwise I constantly have to splash water on it.
I have no idea what mountain or layer number 7 is from but I think it might be a Hideriyama. It self slurries very easily and the slurry is slick as snot. This one is in the 6000-8000 range and produces a frosty polish. It's super clean and I like to use it after my Atoma 1200 for a refined yet toothy edge. Definitely one of my best stones.
The last one is a super clean Aoto that I use for my chisels and plane blades. There are no lines, cracks, sandy inclusions or stray particles. It's the perfect hardness and releases the perfect amount of mud and finishes in the 2000-4000 range. I never really liked medium fine naturals but this one changed that. It's the perfect medium fine tool stone.
Last edited:
