WTS (Price-Drop) Rare Ozuku Karasu & Atagoyama

[eggistentialist]

Part 1:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/some-stones-for-sales-2024-middle-grit.73353/

Part 3:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...024-misc-finger-stone-koppa-and-cashew.73357/


Hello guys, it has been a year since my post. I hope you all are doing well!

Last summer, I visited my wholesaler friend’s in Kyoto and purchased a considerable amount of stones from him, and we were having a good time chatting and eating in some local restaurant and bar. After that trip, I had remotely (through telephone) ordered a few more stones from him during fall and winter and had them picked up by my friends.

And now, it is summer again, and so I decide to visit him again in Kyoto and make another huge purchase there.

For this reason, I will sell some of the stones that I purchased from him last year to gather enough funds for my next visit.
That being said, the stones I that listed for this post were all purchased directly from the Kyoto wholesaler, and so I have absolute confident on their authenticity, quality, and performance.

Due to the length of the post, I will split the poster into three sections, including middle-grit, finishing, and miscellaneous.

For shipping rate and options, or any other questions, please feel free to pm me. Thank!

(Please check out the google drive link for demonstration video, finishes, and more photos~)

**As always, due to the text limitation, I will post the remaining in the comment section**

 

[eggistentialist]

1. *Very Rare* Ozuku Karasu Aiza

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ShEHOiq4ST37qHv0XRpsXfLGTTf0be9V?usp=drive_link

Dimension: 205x75x25mm (60 size)

Weight: 895g

Price: $725USD 690 USD

It is one of my favourite stones and it was also a stone that was previously showcased on the wholesaler’s personal collection shelf. And it is an antique green-coloured Ozuku Karasu Aisa. This stone was stamped with the no.341 and sealed by the wholesaler with yellow cashew. The back side retains part of the skin (kawa) and has a very intriguing colour pattern. It is still very common to see Karasu patterned stones circulate in the market, mostly from Nakayama, Shobudani, and Takashima. However, it is nearly impossible to find Karasu that are mined from Ozuku. Even when they do, no one can authenticate it, or the quality just simply below average. Last time when I asked the wholesaler whether he still had any Ozuku Karasu in hand, he showed me two of them, one with grey, and one with green. Just by judging on the appearance, it may seem like the grey one is more valuable than the green one. But turns out the green one is double the price of the grey one. The wholesaler told me it is because green Karasu from Ozuku is classified as the highest quality among other colours. Therefore, even though there are visible aesthetic flaws (in my taste) present on the stone surface, the price is still very high, which helps explain how the extraordinary rarity and performance of the stone have outperformed its mere appearance.

But, you may ask me, why am I willing to let go of this rare stone?
Then my answer is, because I finally found a perfect green karasu in the warehouse last year~

This tiny guy was buried at the top corner of a random shelf, and was mined in 1956.

And this thing hurts my wallet...

(Written review continue in the next comment)

 

[eggistentialist]

Back to the topic,

This ozuku karasu demonstrates a high cutting power even after I just finished polishing the blade on the Akapin. Even though this stone does not produce any self-slurry, it does provide a fair amount of grip power for holding the knife in place and allows it to sharpen through the entire surface without creating any unpleasant glassy, or bumpy feeling. Therefore, the high cutting power accompanied by the refined grit particles allows the stone to push the edge condition to an extreme while managing to achieve a relatively scratch-free cosmetic finish for both cladding and steel. Meanwhile, sharpening it with a raised slurry can provide an extra buffer cushion that enhances the overall tactile feeling and further eliminates any tiny scratches on the blade. And it also adds a thin layer of haziness (cosmetic finishes) on both cladding and steel. As you can see from the final result under natural sunlight after a 15-minute sharpening session, the contrast between cladding and steel is achieved without leaving any visible scratches, and the detail on hazakai (the dark line between cladding and steel) is brought out, and the ura side is polished into a scratch-free hazy white finish.

 

[eggistentialist]

2. Shobudani Akapin

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yqcKp376Ja6cScr6BeEn_SZjaKg0r-yl?usp=drive_link

Dimension: 210x80x40mm (40 size)

Weight: 1355g

Price: $685USD (SPF)

Next, it is a Shobudani Akapin, hand-picked by the wholesaler in his warehouse. It has a very consistent rose color and a serial number (no. 032977) stamped on the back (But now it is faded out, unfortunately). On the sharpening surface, there is a shallow line on it. I asked the wholesaler about it, and he told me it was a common thing in finishing stone and so it will not cause any functional problems (it will disappear after flattening out 2-3mm, so it will go away in the future). Other than that, the stone was heavily sealed with cashew by the wholesaler.

Speaking of performance, it is a very soft finishing stone, it is very thirsty and I can feel the suction happening when putting my wet hand upon it. The sharpening feeling is smooth, and the gripping power is moderate. But since it produces a great amount of self-slurry, and so water management is needed to maintain a suitable slurry concentration WHEN you are sharpening it with a Ni-mai knife that has both cladding and steel.

In fact, this finishes it gives helps explain why this stone is known to be the “king for sharpening honyaki knife”. On one side, the soft cladding has been polished into matte white with a unique “smear-like” scratch pattern that can be easily removed by a harder finishing stone. On the other hand, the hard steel is polished into semi-matte white. And due to the extremely soft nature of the stone, scratches that are made by the middle grit stone on the hard steel can be quickly erased by this stone. And the stone is capable to produce self-slurry even when you are sharpening the ura. That being said, the stone hardness changes from soft (3) to a medium hardness (3.5-4) WHEN you are sharpening it with mono steel knife. In this case, you don’t need to pay specific attention to water management anymore. In addition, you may, optionally, raise a slurry using atoma when you are sharpening it with a honyaki knife to give the knife a final touch on both cosmetic and edge fineness.

 

[eggistentialist]

3. Atagoyama (stamped box included)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CtcsWpeqxuUV-3Ws13DQGmwL4ee2TqKs?usp=drive_link

Dimemsion: 215x83x55mm (24 size)

Weight: 2240g

Price: $370USD 340 USD

This is a vintage 24-size atagoyama recommended by the wholesaler during my last visit. The back side has preserved the hand-chisel marks while the four sides are lightly lacquered by the wholesaler.

In fact, there are a few hairline cracks on the surfaces, but since they do not affect the sharpening experience or final finishes, most of them will disappear after flattening the stone for 2-3mm, and so it is not a big problem.

In terms of tactile feedback, it is a medium-hard stone, by which a moderate amount of creamy slurry is generated during the sharpening session. And so sharpening it with raised slurry is not necessary as both options provide nearly identical feedback and results. Water and pressure management is, therefore, easy to handle. As the stone does not create a heavy mud-like slurry (like the akapin), and so you don’t really need to add extra water during the sharpening session to dilute the slurry. Moreover, the mild hardness of the stone provides a smooth and uninterrupted tactile feeling no matter how light or hard you are pressing your knife against the stone. In terms of cutting power, unlike okudo suita, atagoyama is not specified in this regard (that’s why it is way cheaper than other high-end suita).

And so don’t expect it will clean everything for you if you jump straight from a coarse stone to atagoyama. But still, if you are transitioning from a pre-finishing stone (like mikawa nagura) to atagoyama, then I think it will allow the stone to shine. In terms of finishes, the stone gives the

 

[eggistentialist]

Shobudani Akapin SPF

 

[eggistentialist]

Prices dropped

 

[eggistentialist]

Shobudani Akapin SOLD

 

[eggistentialist]

Bump