r/NaturalWhetstones

Finally, after much drama, these three stones arrived. Similar color schemes. Second one was sold as Ebisu, a neighbour mine of Natsuya. Third one as Shirosuita. First one looked to have yellow stripes, which pointed at Odori but when I had it live, in my kitchen, I dropped that thought immediately. There was one hint that got me thinking: wrapped in Shizuoka prefecture news paper. There are not that many named Shizuoka mines out there. And one that fit this one perfectly is Izu Yoneyama, if one can say perfectly with only 4 different pictures of this stone on the whole internet.
All stones are fast, self slurrying stones. Ebisu is slightly harder than my other Natsuya. The Shirosuita lines are not toxic, but there is a bit with some dark spots on the left side that will need more investigation.
First picture is dry, second wet, third has Aogami2 Kiridashi marks, directly on the bottom, with diamond plate slurry in the middle and pure slurry on the top.

I just got finished epoxy coating this stone. I realized the stamps were fading quickly after 1 use and I want to preserve them. This stone has a hint of renge, and the sides show a nice layer of it buried just under the surface. This one is slightly harder than my other one and makes a very nice polish.

A BIG koma at 235 x 80 x 40mm. Got it from a friend who got it from a sword polisher in Japan. Pretty easy to use and fast cutting.

Picked this one up amoung the many others recently. Its buttery smooth and fast as can be. A true gem!

A grouping not seen every day. Two 6”, a 7” and two 8”. Took a few years to find these five, all in the wild

I just received this lovely little 33x150mm coticule from a chap whose father, a retired barber, had recently passed on. I had a good chat with him about his dad’s history - he migrated to Australia from Italy in the 1960s, and used the stone to hone his straight razors.

It’s lovely to know the history of the stone. I’m going to make a nice box for it, and write his dad’s name inside to honour his memory.

Is there any way to learn more about the stone itself? I understand there a different grades or layers of coticule, but that’s as far as my knowledge goes.

And what’s best strategy for the dishing? I can flatten it with SiC powder, but should I just leave it?

And what’s the verdict on oil vs water for coticules?

It’s medium and fine . Relatively soft stone. But cuts quick and leaves mirror finish. I thought it was just regular India stone but after cleaning and testing it does not feel like an India stone.
Hope to find more info on the brand etc.

On the left is an Ohira Awasedo at 20.7 x 7.5x 4.8cm. Feels quite hard (about 5) but amazingly smooth feeling and fast cutting.

The other one is an Okudo Kuro Renge Suita at 24.1 x 7.8 x 2.6cm. Hardness around 4.5 but feels like a softer stone when using. Semi-mirror finish.

I made another whetstone box this arvo, this time for my vintage Yellow Lake Welsh slate. This one uses northern silky oak (Cardwellia sublimis), and finished in hard shellac again.

Hi guys , I have this Jnat that was gifted to me by a vintage Japanese tools seller, he would not have any idea of what type of stone this could be , any idea from your side ? It cuts slightly coarser than a natsuya

I was told to post this here in hopes of some clues.
I found what I believe to be a sharpening stone at a thrift store. The box seems to be hand made. There is no identifying marks or information. The (insert hat I assume to be a date) is written with pencil inside the lid.

I was told to place a flashlight against the stone and see if light would penetrate the stone. I tried and the light does not penetrate.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

For $5, it was worth the purchase for the look and conversation alone.

Update: Located in East Tennessee, US

Hey guys,

im totally new to jnats but ive gathered that there are simply no rules to follow and what to expect from stone its a buy and try method :D

But wanted to ask anyway if any of you tried this?

They just got stock and im tempted by it, its a big block ohira - for what i think a great price compared to other offers.

Im looking for a micro bevel finishing stone at around 4000-6000 grit.

https://www.meesterslijpers.nl/en/ohira-natual-stone-medium

Im quite limited with my choice since i don't want to pay 22% tax and import duties and procedure costs to purchase a stone out of EU.

Thanks for any kind of information!

Got a bit scammed on this stone. As you probably noticed it has big inclusions that need to be removed here and there and the line is toxic. On top of everything someone extensively used oil on its surface so it's kinda soaked in it.

Stone is on a softer side but not crazy mudmonster soft and the particles are rather fine so I guess it wasn't a complete waste of money.

The slurry is easily generated which prevents super crisp edge from forming, with some skill applied it gives an ok kitchen knife finish.

Unfortunately it is not suited well for polishing soft steel and leaves wide annoying scratches, on harder steel it can be managed but inclusions are the real pain.

The polishing pic is worst case - cheap shirogami knife, steel in the last pic is vg10.

In short, when a big sharpening enthusiast (Ken Schwartz) passed away he left a storage unit that was purchased by someone looking for a knife collection. Instead, he got a huge collection of japanese natural and synthetic whetstones. He didn't want them so I bought them. I'm cataloging them and listing them for sale-- but its a HUGE project.

The collection is a few hundred stones, with more than 100 being synthetic, another 100-200 being large usable whetstones and then another 100 or 200 hundred being cuts of different sizes. In the picture I included of a table covered in stones...there are buckets underneath the table with even more stones!

Obviously, I selected a few that I want to keep and the remainder will be listed for sale so others can get something they find exciting. Also, practically, I can't keep this many stones.

Measuring, photographing, researching, cataloging and listing every stone takes so long that I feel like I'm going to be doing this for weeks.

Anyways...I attached a few highlights (first two are the ones I chose to keep -- all others for sale).

Here to answer any questions. :)

The Polisher Stone, Fyfield Down. Rare example of a stone used for whetting and polishing axe heads.

One was recently found in Dorset, so that is next on my list.

An oil soaked Pike end label. Only Lily Whites came with end labels. This is a very homogeneous, even gritted stone with two good faces.

I posted earlier about a strange ozuku with limited photos. Well she came today. I think I have something really special here. I did 10 light pressure, short strokes, in the middle of the stone. It was buttery soft feedback with jet black swarf instantly produced. I only had about 5 minutes with it before I had to come back to work. I will post more updates as I learn more about it. Someone said it has "museum" grade stamps?