So what did I buy

[esoo]

It was cheap, and I was ordering something else, so I ordered this "Atago Koppa"

I have no idea what I actually got other than a 145x89x27mm stone - ~770gms.

So any idea what the kanji says?

Here's a better shot of that:

And how do a approach? Some water, lap with diamond plate and go?

Only other natural I've used somewhat is a coticule.

 

[jacko9]

Take one of your knives, splash some water on it and give it a try. Let us know.

 

[esoo]

No time this weekend, so it'll be a Monday thing.

 

[childermass]

Looks like a nice clean stone!

To answer your initial question, the kanji says 愛宕砿山合砥 = Atagoyama kōzan Awasedo
= Atagoyama mine finishing stone
So not a lot of really important info unfortunately.

 

[esoo]

Looks like a nice clean stone!

To answer your initial question, the kanji says 愛宕砿山合砥 = Atagoyama kōzan Awasedo
= Atagoyama mine finishing stone
So not a lot of really important info unfortunately.

View attachment 87114

Thanks for that. It does seem quite clean - there is a bit of an inclusion on it (in the pic just under the post-it note), and a couple gouges, but quite a bit of workable surface.

I did splash some water on the stone last night and tried a blade on it. In my very uneducated opinion it does seem like a finisher - it feels finer than my Rika. With just some water, it felt very hard with a bit of grittiness. Didn't try any lapping on it to see if it comes up with any slurry. I'll have to play with it some more to get a better idea - in hindsight, it does seem "slow" so I probably didn't use enough passes to get a good idea of the edge it leaves