Natural Stone Sampler

[dehory]

So I’m definitely not going down the J-nat rabbit hole, but suppose I had a, uh, friend who was interested, how useful would they find a natural stone sampler set like this one?

https://hitohira-japan.com/products/aafzw-001
https://karasu-knives.com/en-de/products/aafzw-001
Is it at all helpful to see and feel the actual difference between rubbing some steel on, say, a shobu suita and an ashitani suita? Or is there so much sample by sample variation within what’s nominally the same kind of stone that you might as well just spend the money on one bench stone that you can see with demo video/photos was used for a nice polish?

 

[jedy617]

Personally I would grab a medium-soft suita, and maybe a harder koppa like a nakayama to start off with. Suita are a good do everything stone usually from my experience. But yeah stones will vary quite a lot. I was going to recommend a shobu at tennen toishi but looks like it's gone...

Maruoyama suitas are great too for a a quick, easy, kasumi: Maruoyama Shiro Suita No.118

 

[dragjp]

is there so much sample by sample variation within what’s nominally the same kind of stone

yes, the mine and strata would give you the typical profile but it would also vary inside the spectrum, odd ball stones exist and you never know until trying or seeing the polishing pics/vids. I hope your friend dip in toes first with soft tomae or suitas as suggested, and then possibly diving into the abysmal.

 

[Pie]

Unfortunately, it’s hard to draw conclusions about a particular mine/layer due to the possible huge variations from stone to stone.

Smaller stones or koppa that have been tested, or from a trusted source make up most of my current collection. They’re cheaper and you can actually collect enough to learn what you do and don’t like.

If you do have the moneybags tho, probably go for one good stone that you trust over the sampler. Gotta really trust the seller in this case.

 

[ethompson]

Those stones are going to be extremely small - likely not even big enough for a Kiri to be sharpened extensively. Really cool little display though.