What stone do you think this is?

[kerotan]

So someone recently sold me this stone. Is it an aoto? What do you guys think? I lapped both sides flat. It shows scratches easily. Thanks!

 

[inferno]

could be whatever. its not a coticule at least. nor bbw

 

[Barry's Knives]

Do you have any pics of the scratch pattern/polish it leaves on a knife. How about the feedback when you use it?

 

[Alder26]

pics of it wet may be helpful too

 

[kerotan]

Sorry for the late reply. Here's the stone wet. I also tried the stone with a small kanna. The bevel is not perfectly flat yet, but you can see the polish in the middle somewhat. I think it polishes the jigane too much? What do you guys think?

edit: feedback is relatively smooth. Kind of like the king 6000 more or less I guess.

 

[Alder26]

is the stone super muddy? it doesn't sound like an aoto but it really looks like one haha

 

[kerotan]

That's the thing: it's not muddy! It's so hard. However, it does show scratches easily if your angle is wrong and when you're flattening it, but it's hard to raise a slurry. I think I have to use a diamond plate first to get it going but I haven't tried that yet.

 

[Alder26]

Must be some form of asagi, I honestly don't know enough to say one way or the other at this point. I would be super interested in what type of stone if anyone else has any info too.

 

[Barry's Knives]

Am I right in thinking it turns green when wet? If so it's probably a super hard ikarashi.

 

[Barry's Knives]

....actually that might just be the light in the first picture.

 

[kerotan]

It might be just the light. I'm not that good at colors, but the stone turns a somewhat glossy black when wet and you can see a reflection on it. I tried looking at asagi jnats on youtube and the swarf they produce looks brown. This stone's swarf is more of a gray/black color. Anyway, thanks Alder26 and Barry's Knives for the input! By the way, the stone is heavy: around 2 lbs.

 

[childermass]

It could in fact be an Aoto. There are very hard examples of these stones that don’t do much for the aesthetics of a laminated blade but are great for sharpening. I have one vintage Aoto that doesn’t release any material on it’s own. It burnishes the blade road but can be used for sharpening and works really well for that leaving a nice edge with great bite. After raising a slurry it’s a nice polisher with a creamy clay like feel.
You could try to raise some slurry with a diamond plate and polish your kanna blade again. If it is really an Aoto the scratch pattern should be in 3-4k area, maybe a bit finer.

 

[kerotan]

I see, that makes sense. Thank you, childermass! I'll try raising a slurry first with a diamond plate and see where that leads me. I was under the impression that natural stones, the good ones at least, impart a better aesthetic to the demarcation between soft and hard steels. So I was wondering if what I got was a dud since this is my first natural. Re: scratch pattern, I don't have a true 3-4k synthetic to compare it with but I do have a Rika 5000 (I think I read here that it actually leaves a 3-4k finish but I haven't tested it yet). In any case, I have a King 6k which, to me, already looks like a mirror polish. So maybe I can also use that as a basis.