What is the difference between the red aoto and the aoto?

[Cyrilix]

I see both are about same price. Red one is twice the size. Why should I buy one vs. the other?

 

[Badgertooth]

One of them is actually Aoto. A mid grit from tanba. Ao means blue and it refers to the often blue hues found in its colour. It’s layered differently to other stones and cut more like a small load of bread in its dimensions. If you can find a good one it’s nearly unbeatable but there is an ocean of turds out there.
Red aoto is marketing. It is not from tanba and it is not Aoto. It’s from atagoyama and it’s a layered stone like any other Kyoto stone but much coarser and softer on account of being from a shallower layer called aka pin. Pretty decent stone and you’re much more likely to find a useable one than a useable aoto. But you could widen your search by simply looking for aka pin rather than red aoto which is just an angle on aka pin.

 

[Cyrilix]

One of them is actually Aoto. A mid grit from tanba. Ao means blue and it refers to the often blue hues found in its colour. It’s layered differently to other stones and cut more like a small load of bread in its dimensions. If you can find a good one it’s nearly unbeatable but there is an ocean of turds out there.
Red aoto is marketing. It is not from tanba and it is not Aoto. It’s from atagoyama and it’s a layered stone like any other Kyoto stone but much coarser and softer on account of being from a shallower layer called aka pin. Pretty decent stone and you’re much more likely to find a useable one than a useable aoto. But you could widen your search by simply looking for aka pin rather than red aoto which is just an angle on aka pin.

http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/jns-aoto-matukusuyama/

Do you know that grit rating of the synthetic aoto on JNS? I'm actually looking for something in the 2k-3k grit between my Shapton 1k and 5k.

Also, you mentioned that the aoto vary heavily in quality. Do the ones on JNS going to meet the cut?

 

[Yet-Another-Dave]

Pretty sure the question is about the JNS synthetic stones which use Aoto in their names and pretty sure the answer is about natural stones.

I've also wondered about the differences in the JNS stones. (But it wasn't pressing, I haven't tried the "synthetic naturals" from Jon @ JKI and those would only take a day or two to get here. Obviously YMMV. )

 

[Badgertooth]

Ahhhhh... ok. Can’t help ya champ

 

[maxim]

I see both are about same price. Red one is twice the size. Why should I buy one vs. the other?

Blue one is harder bit finer ment for razors and tools or ura works on single beveled,
Red one is much softer best for knives wide beveled etc,
Both approx 3-5grit both mixed grit stones

 

[maxim]

One of them is actually Aoto. A mid grit from tanba. Ao means blue and it refers to the often blue hues found in its colour. It’s layered differently to other stones and cut more like a small load of bread in its dimensions. If you can find a good one it’s nearly unbeatable but there is an ocean of turds out there.
Red aoto is marketing. It is not from tanba and it is not Aoto. It’s from atagoyama and it’s a layered stone like any other Kyoto stone but much coarser and softer on account of being from a shallower layer called aka pin. Pretty decent stone and you’re much more likely to find a useable one than a useable aoto. But you could widen your search by simply looking for aka pin rather than red aoto which is just an angle on aka pin.

Not quite as simple,
Red aoto is actually not really Acapin layer, it is actually even more shallower, as miner explained to me it is not really a finisher as Akapin, Akapin layer is much finer then the Red aotos i used to sell
So it is something in between Aoto layer and Akapin layer
Marketing will be if it was more expensive then Akapin, however Akapin Atagoyama layer is much more expensive and miner can take more for them, then what i call Red aoto

 

[Chef Doom]

One is red, the other is not red.

 

[bahamaroot]

We can always depend on Doom for the answer...