MowgFace
Senior Member
I got mine from eBay. Searched the model number. Ran me around ~225USD +shipping. Came with both stones
Show Your Newest Sharpening Gear
- Thread starter HumbleHomeCook
- Start date
Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:
I got mine from eBay. Searched the model number. Ran me around ~225USD +shipping. Came with both stones
MowgFace
Senior Member
Depends on how you use them. They feel like Japanese water stones, and they definitely wear. At some point you will 100% have to flatten them.
MowgFace
Senior Member
Haha in height? Or we talking geometry too?
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
lol both
MowgFace
Senior Member
Just a wild guess, but maybe a couple hours. Including all of the scratch cleanup after thinning.
Do you have a cleaver to donate to science?
New midgrits - natsuya and aizu. Will be going full natural from the SG500 onwards from now on
I've managed to find a few knife shops in Antalya, Turkey while on a holiday. Picked up a few local natural stones, which I believe are Cretans. However, one shop owner told me they are called Girit stone (based on what I heard. Not sure hot it is spelled). They are pretty cheap in Turkey. I've paid around 15 USD for the shorter stone and around 3 USD for the longer one. They were bough from different shops in Antalya. One shop keeps said that they are oil stones.
They look pretty similar when dry, however after you wet them they look pretty different. The shorter stone looks like having more different looking elements/particles while the longer one is more uniform. The shorter stone has more grey/blue colour and the longer one is more of a blue/purple. To the touch they feel pretty similar, pretty hard and medium to medium-fine grit level. I've not had a chance to sharpen anything on them yet.
Has anyone had much experience with these stones? What are they good for? Knives or razors or both? Also, can they be used with water and not oil? I am not a big fan of oil to be honest and try to avoid using oil.
Cheers
They look pretty similar when dry, however after you wet them they look pretty different. The shorter stone looks like having more different looking elements/particles while the longer one is more uniform. The shorter stone has more grey/blue colour and the longer one is more of a blue/purple. To the touch they feel pretty similar, pretty hard and medium to medium-fine grit level. I've not had a chance to sharpen anything on them yet.
Has anyone had much experience with these stones? What are they good for? Knives or razors or both? Also, can they be used with water and not oil? I am not a big fan of oil to be honest and try to avoid using oil.
Cheers
Attachments
These are very interesting, though I'm pretty certain they're not the type of Cretan stone that is the Turkey Oilstone. They may well be another type of Turkish whetstone from Bolu, sometimes called the 'Anatolian' stone.
I've never had one, but funnily enough was talking just yesterday with another member about them, and saying I wanted to try one. Look forward to hearing your verdict!
Oh, very interesting. They may well be Anatolian. Wonder how they differ from the Cretan? They look a bit like Cretan when dry, at least from a few pictures Ive seen. On the other hand, I have no reason to doubt you and I have very little knowledge and experience in stones.
Last edited:
Knivperson
Senior Member
Natsuya, aizu, nakayama tomae
Ohhhh man hold on to your wallet/retirement fund!!!My first toe dip into JNATs.
I actually quite like the edges I get off my Uchi as well. They're slow to form for sure, but high quality once there in my experience.
That stone has me drooling...
That stone has me drooling...
One year after starting the search.. uchigumori. Thank you @nutmeg, it’s absolutely stunning. Killer edges, something less expected from uchi in general. View attachment 183397
That's pretty gorgeous eh!
Look forward to seeing the very spiffy results you'll no doubt coax out of it.
It’s the reason I couldn’t buy that okudu of yours! I do have to say I may have been shopping with my eyes with this one.. the colors and renge are wild, and the mud comes up a dark pink.
Behold, the sheer polishing power off a quick scrubbing!
And something I’ve never seen in this knife before, actual details in the cladding and core. It’s also possible I’m squinting too hard
A follow up with some more pictures of the Turkish stones which Ive recently got from a few shops in Antalya a week or so ago. I've done a bit of silicon carbide work on them and finished with 400 Atoma. One of the stones seem to have a lot of inclusions which are gold colour. I wonder what those inclusions could be and if they are toxic in the knife sharpening/polishing sense? @cotedupy do you know what could they be? A close up 40x pictures below with the gold colour inclusion at the bottom half of the picture..
The wider and longer stones seem to be a bit higher grit compared with the shorter and higher stones. Apart from that they seem to have a very similar structure.
I am yet to put a steel on them, bit intend to do so over the next few weeks.
The wider and longer stones seem to be a bit higher grit compared with the shorter and higher stones. Apart from that they seem to have a very similar structure.
I am yet to put a steel on them, bit intend to do so over the next few weeks.
Attachments
I'm really interested to hear the feedback once you get some knives on them.
Very cool looking stones! Look forward to hearing how they perform.
The gold inclusions are almost certainly pyrite, which may or may not be a problem. The top end of pyrite hardness is around the same level as the top end of knife steel hardness I believe. Though in general - it's going to be a little below that of good quality Japanese steels, so shouldn't be too much of a problem or issue for sharpening. It will though scratch softer steel/cladding.
I've had and have stones with small pyrite inclusions with no problems whatsoever. (Quartz inclusions for example can be more of an issue).
Last edited:
Hello. I picked up a Dan’s hard ark, 8x3x1, last week. They come with a pretty rough surface so I lapped it to 2000 grit SiC, rubbed it with a Tsushima nagura and sharpened two knives. There is a bit of reflection in the surface now. This is a very good stone IMHO, but a little on the pricey side.
I assume the funky colouring is in the stone itself rather than being something from the Tsushima...? Cool!
Thanks. I was planning to give them a spin tonight if I wouldn't be knackered. Will update the thread.
Yes. The stone is clean and dry in this picture. The white dot in the center is the reflection of the light above.
I was curious about SG HC vs HR, so I ordered a 4000 HC and a 8000 HC – the grey ones supposedly preferable for carbon, 50603 and 50803.
They arrived today with a usage note in Japanese. I'll share that for posterity, plus the Google Translate version.
Stones from left to right, 2000 HR, 4000 HC, 8000 HC.
They arrived today with a usage note in Japanese. I'll share that for posterity, plus the Google Translate version.
Stones from left to right, 2000 HR, 4000 HC, 8000 HC.
Attachments
KingShapton
Senior Member
I would like to do the comparison occasionally! I'm curious about your impressions when you use them...
Pikehaus
Somebody
Haven't heard much about them, good?
Pikehaus
Somebody
Ooh! What's that?
It’s something that’s become known as the ‘Fiddich River Stone’, though really its origins are still a mystery. Probably because as well as being very pretty, it’s also wildly rare - I don’t know of more than a handful of others out there.
