Yaginoshima

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Badgertooth

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Got this in today and put it through its paces. I really didn't know what to expect as I've heard these described as everything from soft to hard, pre-finisher to ultra fine. The seller information is notably absent on anything such as strata and colour or hardness. It's not necessarily a bad idea to have no preconceived ideas and no confirmation bias in play.

Very pretty box



Beautiful looking stone. My white balance is out under artificial lighting. This stone isn't even a little bit green its gunmetal, slate grey. Would love it if someone could give a run through of the kanji



First few strokes



Slurry breaking down and mud building. No nagura. Sensation is super smooth, and super easy stone to get to grips with. 6.5 hardness. No particles or grit and leaves a very, very sharp edge that feels refined but still wangs through pepper and tomato skins.



Haze for days



And about the best I've ever done on the reverse side of a knife



Am I impressed. Very, and more so by how enjoyable it is to use and the level of refinement such a soft stone is capable of.
 
I got mine at Morihei. A caveat though: A company called Epsilon handles the electronic payments part of their website. Your credit card will be docked the converted amount correctly to Morihei. Epsilon will take the same amount again and you will spend several hours trying to explain this via Google translate and several hours on the line to your card company.
 
Nice looking mud and nice looking stone. Score! You seem to be amassing a collection. Does anyone sell this sort of stuff in Auckland?
 
I got mine at Morihei. A caveat though: A company called Epsilon handles the electronic payments part of their website. Your credit card will be docked the converted amount correctly to Morihei. Epsilon will take the same amount again and you will spend several hours trying to explain this via Google translate and several hours on the line to your card company.

Did you buy it in person.
 
Nice looking mud and nice looking stone. Score! You seem to be amassing a collection. Does anyone sell this sort of stuff in Auckland?

Chefs Armoury in Aus has a few bits sometimes and a fella near Auckland who sells coticules - that's it. Got a mate who sells synths and there's a woodworking shop with some Kings. Would be nice if James at K&S ever listed his treasure trove that he posted on IG.
 
Interesting for me to see. By no means definitive, but I have a nagura that has the exact same look about it but have never known its origin.
 
Xoom and Asteger, would you mind having a go at the kanji on Yagi if I post a clearer photo?

This one's a cinch. No surprises:

八木ノ嶋合砥 - Yaginoshima gotogi (合砥 gotogi - layered stone)
最高級品 - top grade
四十型 - it's a 40-gata or 'type 40' which is the size it was cut at (ie. good thickness but pretty normal eg. around 205×75x30mm; 30-gata are thicker, 24-gata are bigger and very thick and will cost a lot more)
アサギ - asagi
 
Interesting for me to see. By no means definitive, but I have a nagura that has the exact same look about it but have never known its origin.

Does your nagura have a tonne of black 'goma' in it? You can just about make it out in the photo.

Thanks for the help on the Kanji, very cool to learn a little more.
 
A little different than memory, as I just checked on it for the first time in a while. The 2 main colours are what caught my eye on yours, the greyishness and yellowishness. I see your goma, but turns out mine has more renge instead. Maybe will post a picture for fun if I can get a daytime shot.
 
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