# Whetstones Shigefusa uses



## DrNaka (Apr 22, 2011)

Shigefusa and his Whetstones









Iizuka-san,his wife,two sons, me




I visited Shigefusa Hamono on 15th. I talked with Iizuka-san 2.5 hrs about kitchen knife making etc.
I think one of big interest of my readers is what kind of whetstones he use in his workshop. I write the conclusion at first. There was no mysterious Jnat to make the wonderful finish. It is his craft which makes the wonderful finish and not the stone!

I asked what stones he uses for kasumi finish. He said "I use whetstones suitable to make the finish." It was to me that he did not care about mines or strata. It was more like if it works it's OK.

I asked him to if I am able to take pictures of his stones and he said please.I think to show you the pictures is much better than to explain by my bad English words so here you have it:





Shigefusa Workbench

You see many stones. Many synthetic stones too.(you can click on picture to enlarge)




More Stones above Workbench	




Nagura 
I asked Iizuka-san if he uses nagura and the answer was he do not need to use nagura because his knives are clad with jigane.




Japanese Natural Stone
I think this is the natural stone he uses most. Iizuka-san did not say the mine or starta to me but I got information from the source who sold it to him that it is a very good Ohira Renge Suita. It had a big and ling toxic line and other toxic inclusions but Iizuka-san dug it out as you can see on the picture.
I felt with my fingers that this stone is medium in hardness and I think it will make very nice kasumi (haze finish) to jigane (soft steel).
It is also a stone which inexperienced customer would send back to the seller because of toxic lines.


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## goodchef1 (Apr 23, 2011)

Thank you very much for sharing. What a wonderful experience to sit across an amazing and famous artisan. I hope you share more of your journeys through Japan with us.:thumbsup2:


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## Vladimir (Apr 23, 2011)

Thank you very interesting!


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## DrNaka (Apr 23, 2011)

I forgot to write about a important fact.

*I did not see a single Jnat in his collection which had a maruka stamp.*

I think there is a lesson here.
Do not get fooled by stamps and labels.

BTW I posted bigger pictures at my blog. You can indentify what synthetic stones Shigefusa uses. Here I cannot click on the picture and make it bigger. Can someone guide me how to do it?


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## steeley (Apr 23, 2011)

wow shapton glass stones.
thank you for sharing DrNAKA.


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## Marko Tsourkan (Apr 23, 2011)

Great post. Thanks, DrNaka

M


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## Chef Niloc (Apr 23, 2011)

I think the 2 up front are a king 800 big block and a well used king 6000. I hae both of them love the 800, 6000 is a little waxy for me.


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## Chef Niloc (Apr 23, 2011)

Looks like finger stones in the top right


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## mainaman (Apr 23, 2011)

Chef Niloc said:


> Looks like finger stones in the top right


 they look like tomonaguras, too big for finger stones


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## DrNaka (Apr 23, 2011)

Chef Niloc said:


> I think the 2 up front are a king 800 big block and a well used king 6000. I hae both of them love the 800, 6000 is a little waxy for me.


 
I think so too.

Many professionals use the established king stones.


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## rahimlee54 (Apr 23, 2011)

Thanks for that, a very nice read.


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## Dave Martell (Apr 23, 2011)

I always like seeing a good stone collection.


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## Eamon Burke (Apr 23, 2011)

That's very cool. Love a workshop.


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## steeley (Apr 24, 2011)

A few more enlarged


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