Hones and Hone Acquisitions

Your last paragraph doesn't help.
(Nice stones, great price, but you will probably receive them broken, because she packs them poorly. But, they can always be glued back together. Oh, and you will need to spend hours lapping them.)

You're not in marketing, are you??

 

If I had interest, I would pick one up. I just got a laugh at your post, that's all.

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Here is a link to AJ's site in the UK, for a Dual Hone, Water of Ayr/Tam O'Shanter . He has several NOS stones, at a pretty good price. I've bought some Welsh Slate Stones from him, years ago, and he is an honest seller, who packs items safely.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266235683714?hash=item3dfce22382:g:jrwAAOSw4~dkSVs2

All his current items. He is easy to talk with. He might even be able to track down some stones for you if you ask.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=266235683714&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562&_ssn=aj_1002

 

I thought that I’d posted this but apparently my mind is slipping. 8 x 3 Vermont green slate, acquired from Nicholas (empire straights) who had it it custom cut from a quarry that he can’t recall. The remarkable thing about this stone is it’s density, you can feel it when you pick it up. I did a quick measurement and it’s slightly north of 2.8 g/cc, and that’s in black ark territory. My initial trial was good, but not that much different from the Black Shadow or the ‘9-ball’ slate. Which is to say it was very good. A good JNat edge still beats it though, so far. I’ve not used it enough ti really get the best from it.

 

That's a nice looking stone.

 

Thank you Scott, it is a pretty one.

 

I have had a ToS genuine old stock
I have honed on a genuine old stock WoA
I haven't touched a Dali
Tried the slates from AJ the second year they came out
Owned two different old stock Dragon Tongue

None of those found a home in my treasure chest of rocks,

I still have a Charnley Forest that I rarely use (Been over a Decade since I used it)

To be honest I am quite skeptical that most of the new stuff being sold is anything more than common slates, not that some common slates are not impressive..
I am still getting raves about the edges from the 9-Ball slate that came from a pool table of Italian Slate.. So there is some exceptional slate to be found.. I am actually going to try a Custom Wootz razor on that tomorrow, I am experimenting with getting that edge as SMOOTH to the face as possible...

Hone On

 

Some slates can be good - I do have a 9-ball slate, and the Black Shadow is of the same caliber. The green slate is close, and incredibly dense, like a black Ark, you can feel it when you pick it up. I’ve only used the green slate once, and the edge was just a bit below the 9-ball and Black Shadow, but it could be me.

Try one of the Black Shadow slates Glenn, Griffith Shaving Goods has them and they’re not that expensive. The two largest sizes will get you free shipping I think, turning postage into stone.

 

Right now, with a crazy prices on Eschers / Thuringens some of these make sense, I am still messing with a Haida Gwaii Slate also

So many of the actual good ones are only good during that first discovery point, as soon as that runs out, they reach out for a secondary source and things shift
It becomes a "New" stone...
I was rather impressed with Jeff and the 9-ball, he had no problem selling the good stuff and didn't try to chase it after that..

Reminds me of Kevin's Apache, his stone is capable of near J-nats edges, the others I tested were just Meh

The fun of chasing Naturals is like Forrest Gump said about Chocolates lol Add in the fact that 90% of the people honing have near zero real experience to be rating them anyway and we have today's market.. wooooohoooo

 

Just in today, 1,800g of mostly Mikawa, and mostly in good shape. There are some nice large pieces in this lot. they just need cleaning and testing.

Back row, the two cubical ones are likely koma, they cut vintage koma in cubic shapes about this size, q70g +/-. The two center rows are mostly smaller pieces, but a couple of good sized ones.Some of these are shaped so they were likely used for knife or sword polishing. Front row left, likely an Amakusa piece, center front, maybe the only oiled one in the lot, and right, probably a tomo nagura.

 

I have a Amakusa Nagura, haven't reached for it that much, but it works pretty well with my Base

 

I used it today to finish the bevel of a JKnife. Worked fine. I might get a bigger one, they aren’t expesive. Kind of like a Hindostan I think.

 

The hone hoarder has struck again. The translation is:

"White plum" 白梅　”haku-bai"
"Pure Main Mountain" 純本山 "jun-moto/hon-yama"
"Classical Elegance" 古雅 "ko-miyabi"
"Best X grade" 最X級　"sai-X-kyu"
"Third cut" 三切　"san-gire/kire"

Pure main mountain means ‘Nakayama’ in the old terminology, and I suspect that ‘third cut’ is actually ‘30 cut’ which is a size.

 

Also got these in a lot, 200g chunks of Gujo nagura from Gifu province. They’re softer and finer than koma, and you can use these as tomo to finish a razor On a hard stone they make a very coticule-like edge. And being soft and fine, they’re great on soft stones. They’re also usable on Arks without messing up the finish too much according to a friend of mine.

 

Nice rocks.
I use Naguras on my Welsh Slate Stones. They speed up the process.

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Yabba dabba doo - I’m ready for cashew! 4-1/2 pounds of prime wagyu beef landed this morning. A razor finished with light diamond slurry between the stamps, no flattening, smoothing etc, was excellent, very smooth and forgiving. The white plum is measuring up so far.

The first test was putting a bi-metal knife on it with clear water, the ji/ha was very bright but the stone didn’t streak the blade. This usually means a good razor stone and it appears to be so.

 

It looks like a large brick. Well done.

 

Thank you Scott!