I meant the photo of the cutting edge. But even on a macro photo, scratches are visible. Do you think this is the finishing stone? For razor? Compare - These spots on the razor do like this -
Part of the take from a trip to visit Alex Gilmore in Sonoma, a coup,e of kiita that look like sticks of butter, and a nice green asagi. Good stuff indeed, and I have another small iro that I should be receiving in a couple more days.
The last stone from the field trip arrived this morning, Nakayama iromono (multiclored) about 6” long by 1-3/4 wide. Beautiful stone, pale rose, blue, and yellow, just right for hand held use. It’s surprisingly fine for being a softer stone. The stone is wet in the image.
An Hokuto stamped Wakasa finally arrived yesterday after quite an eternity in the shipping channel. Time to break out some razors and give this lovely hunk of rock a test drive.
Another ‘hoard’ stone from Alex G., bought second hand. Nice small Nakayama iromono (multicolored) koppa, very fast and fine. These older stones had the benefit of being quite fine yet they are not hard stones, very easy to use.
That's a lesson I have been learning lately. Softer stones that give amazing comfortable edges. There is a reason why these old school kiitas cost what they cost.
Yep, an old school kiita is a thing of joy for sure. The really good ones bring the bucks though unfortunately. But sometimes you luck out and get one when you didn’t really know what you bought.
This poor chap was acquired 3-4 years ago, and was such a train wreck that I never did anything with it. It was badly glued into it’s fitted stand, complete with a fillet around the stone, with a hard glue like epoxy, that had begun turning loose from the base as many glues will over time in unfinished wet wood. It was a fugly thing to behold. But extra time has caused me to try and salvage a potentially fine stone. Like most of the stones on fitted bases that I encounter, it’s very pure. It’s a very light grey with a yellow-green cast to it. I began by taking a cheap wood chisel and tiny hammer, carefully wedging it between the base and the glue fillet where it had begun to separate. The glue was as hard as glass almost, no plastic nature at all. That approach worked, so I worked my way all around the stone chipping the glue off with the chisel. Once that was done, the next task was to try and remove the stone. Apparently there was some glue under the stone, and eventually I just had to pry up the big end of the stone and apply pressure until it gave. I lost a little strip of stone that stayed in the base, but I’ll call this a success at this point. Next came chipping the glue off the back with the little hammer and chisel, and remarkably lost no more stone, the glue split off cleanly. Then clean the glue off the recess in the base, and take a wire brush to clean out decades of caked slurry, and wash. Then lap the stone flat, it was dished, but not too bad. I think that I’ll do a light sanding of the base when everything is dry and see how that looks. But I am not that far from finished with it.
8.5 x 2 x 1 1/8 Lily white Washita Not as dense as #1 pike norton washita Like new, no wear, no coat of oil/ grease
I was super skeptical it was a washita, No wear, no big dip in middle, not covered in oil/ grease, virtually no wear, less dense than my other washita. and felt coarser than my other washitas. I have a feeling this stone never got used. In came from someone picking in Pennsylvania. it self slurried and raised a swarf in no time..... It’s a washita!! It is less dense, and slightly coarser than my others and it doesn’t finish quite as high, but I am super happy to have it. C.G. Took good care of it. chatted with ark expert says it a lily white, from higher in strata, possibly 1930’s
since setting out on my journey in the world of JNATs I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire nearly a score of stones. JKnives have been, and remain a lifetime passion. I just barely regret waiting until 2019 to include razors in my studies. In all that time, yesterday was my first day with a Maruichi stamped Nakayama. I think I’m in love. This example is not as hard as advertised, but very fine and exceedingly easy to use. Feedback is “Level X,” where X=Xanadu.
Union Cutlery "Special Spike Hone" Olean NY-rare find in this condition Hi, I found this brand new Union Cutlery straight-from-the-factory 4" hone but I am having trouble finding its type of model 'Special Spike Hone' anywhere. Could someone please give me a URL to click on so I can get some comparative pricing info. for past sales of this particular stone? And I'd like some details about this model, company and approx. year of manufacture. Any guesses on what this hone (with box) might be worth would also be appreciated. Thanks
This is a stone I been waiting patiently for many years. A Charnley Forest aka Charnwood. Charns are a type of Novaculite, and one that is a good finisher, will give a very good shaving edge. It is hard to date, but I put this stone to early to mid 1800’s due to the red/orange cement and white plaster used to bed in the walnut box. It took some effort to restore but I have a great finisher that can deliver a edge as good as other top tier finishers As found in the wild before restoring After a lot of elbow grease and sweat on a lapping plates
Deep strata liita koppa in from Alex, one of the last thick ones that he had. Light yellow dry but the color really pops when wet. Wickedly fast, very fine, ant that pointy nose will work a treat on warps, frowns, twists, and other types of wonky geometry. Test shave tomorrow.
I forgot to post this one when I got it, a huge deep strata Nakayama koppa from Alex G., very, very fine and a great razor finisher. I’ve christened it ‘big ugly’ - I have a ‘little ugly’ too!
