Natural Stones - If you could only have one

[cwrightthruya]

In a nutshell
The slurry breaks down as you work it
You should buy from a reputable seller that has tested the stone for you to make sure it will work for your purposes.
All the info about mines and and strata is just extra information that does not matter for the stone performance, but can matter for price.

+1

 

[cwrightthruya]

I would add. No 2 natural stones are alike.

 

[jgraeff]

The midrange natural does help the edge I get and helps it last longer however if you don't have the skill it won't matter. Took me a really long time to get even a decent edge as far as lasting took me even longer. Never changed my equipment really and now I get much sharper and longer lasting edges on all my knives.

I use the 400 gesshin, 1k minosharp, red aoto, takashima awasedo.

Honestly normally just use the two jnats unless I need to set a new bevel or repair work. Love the combo!

 

[Tristan]

If it was just one natural after a synthetic, might for for a 3.5-4 stone? I use only one Jnat typically after a chosera 5K, as my finisher, then I strop it for like 5 strokes per side.

 

[Cutty Sharp]

Was wondering, for you natural stone gurus out there, aside from reading and discussing on this forum, have you found any particularly good source of info on stones? The Jnat world is kind of daunting.

In a nutshell The slurry breaks down as you work it You should buy from a reputable seller that has tested the stone for you to make sure it will work for your purposes. All the info about mines and and strata is just extra information that does not matter for the stone performance, but can matter for price.

Thanks guys. Yes, I know. But what I said and meant was I'm interested in sources of info on this. Me, I actually want to know something about the location of the different mines, the names, strata, characteristics. Even the historical role of these mines and stones is interesting. There should be a book.

 

[Cutty Sharp]

http://www.japan-tool.com/tech_knlg/toishi/Natural_Stone_Mines.html

This kind of info is interesting, but there's not too much of it around.

 

[Taz575]

Some good info here:

http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/JNS-WiKi-s/1821.htm

 

[Cutty Sharp]

Tah!