# JKI Synthetic Natural and Jinzo Aoto



## CiderBear

Hi everyone,

I want to start a mini passaround of @JBroida's Synthetic Natural and Jinzo Aoto stones.

(If you read my latest WTS post, you'll learn that I've been dealing with some annoying stuff lately, and I don't think I'll have a chance to really work on my knives for a month or two, so it's best to use this dead period for a short passaround)

*Rules:*
1) any participant keeps the stone for no more than 2 calendar weeks (14 calendar days) or 10 business days. *If you need more time, let me know. 
*
2) *when you receive the stones, contact me. *I will give you the name and mailing address if the next person on the list.

3) when you do ship them out, *ship both stones at once, with full value ($205) insurance and tracking. Send me the tracking information. *

4) let me know when you receive the stones or if any problem arises.

*5) I want to hear your opinion. *I have never used a real natural stone begore
I bought these 2 stones because I believe* that they could fill in the "one jnat to rule them all" role (also I love Jon & Sarah and want to support their business in anyway I can). However, I still have no real experience with real jnats. I want to hear how these compare to your jnat, in terms of finish & edge. (also I love Jon and want to support his business in anyway I can).

*Selection:*
If you want to participate, please send me a PM. I am biased, and I will prioritize people whom (1) I've actually talked to; (2) have been contributors to the community or (3) whose posts I recognize as helpful and not annoying.

*I'd like to keep the list short* since this is my first passaround.
*
I absolutely cannot guarantee any transparency in this. I won't even publish a full passaround list because I am going to micromanage everything. *

Cheers


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## Garner Harrison

I assume this is within America. I wont be participating but cant wait to hear what people say about the stones, I've been considering buying the Jinzo Aoto stone and this just came up. 

Wish you luck in this pass around and hopefully we get to see some nice reviews of the stone!


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## M1k3

Very cool offer! I don't have any natural stones (yet) to compare them to, but, do have access to an iron clad Yanagiba to try finishes on.


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## CiderBear

Aight, I've got 5 participants, so I'm closing the list now.


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## Malcolm Johnson

I was wondering where the feedback from this went? I’m curious about those stones.


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## labor of love

I’m currently in possession of the stones. Already owned them both before lol. But it’s nice to have a refresher. Anyway, I guess I could say a few things.


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## Malcolm Johnson

labor of love said:


> I’m currently in possession of the stones. Already owned them both before lol. But it’s nice to have a refresher. Anyway, I guess I could say a few things.


Yes please. Yeah I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to know how these are. Thanks a bunch


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## panda

CiderBear said:


> whose posts I recognize as helpful and not annoying.


i just wanted to like this part


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## labor of love

My thoughts just off the top of my head: JKI synth nat is a gigantic stone. Might be worth looking at the measurements on the product page, but’s like double the size of any synth I own. Feels like a synthetic stone that imitates the feel of of a jnat in use. Edge is 4K ish, slightly above what I perceive as 4K or atleast what’s marketed as 4K stones but maybe not quite as refined as rika (maybe?) a week or 2 ago I lined up 6 gyutos and finished them all on the synth nat, I was impressed that the stone didn’t load. Water management is great.
Personally, I prefer the gesh 6000s for edge sharpening. Actually I prefer just the jki stone set-love the way these 3 stones work in conjunction to each other. And I’m not the kinda guy that’s chasing really nice feeling stones or anything, nor do I really put in much time polishing stuff either. So take that in consideration.


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## labor of love

The Jinzo is awesome for a guy like me because even after all these years my polishing skills have never quite arrived I guess. Which isn’t to say I can’t do it, I just haven’t put in the practice to make wide bevel blades as pretty as they can be.
Jinzo is like training wheels in this regard. Builds up mud easily, and as long as you do things like consistent angles, light pressure, stop and check your progress to make sure you’re hitting all the areas on the road-it’s a very quick, enjoyable and easy stone to use. 
finish is medium grit I believe? I dunno, but it makes for a quick even finish. I really like this stone a lot.


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## Malcolm Johnson

That’s quite helpful. What Specifically about the 6000s edge do you prefer?


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## labor of love

I like the edge quite a bit, stone is creamy feeling. Hardly loads at all for a soaker. Really enjoy it with conjunction w gesh 2k, seems just fast, comfortable, low maintenance.


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## CiderBear

labor of love said:


> The Jinzo is awesome for a guy like me because even after all these years my polishing skills have never quite arrived I guess. Which isn’t to say I can’t do it, I just haven’t put in the practice to make wide bevel blades as pretty as they can be.
> Jinzo is like training wheels in this regard. Builds up mud easily, and as long as you do things like consistent angles, light pressure, stop and check your progress to make sure you’re hitting all the areas on the road-it’s a very quick, enjoyable and easy stone to use.
> finish is medium grit I believe? I dunno, but it makes for a quick even finish. I really like this stone a lot.


I'm glad to hear it! You're a much more suitable owner for it than me lol


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## labor of love

Here’s how the finish looks from Jinzo. Clearly I have more spots to work on but you get the idea.


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## ian

I can also weigh in here. Mostly, I agree with @labor of love, so if you've already read his posts you can go have a beer now.

*Synthetic Natural: *I really loved this stone. I hear it's best permasoaked, but I just used it as a splash and go since I didn't want to deal with drying it out before sending it on to the next person. Great feeling, nice and creamy. Really great edge. I liked that the edge had more teeth than the Gesshin 6000s, which is one of my usual finishers as well. And yet it felt more refined than the edge I get off of my Gesshin 3000 s&g. I think it was one of the best edges I've produced so far. The size of the stone is awesome. It's just so empowering to sharpen on a huge brick. I guess it'll last a lifetime, too, if you're just using it for edge work.

*Jinzo Aoto: *Good opinion of this one too. I flattened it a bunch when I got it, and kept flattening it during use. Can't remember exactly how fast it was dishing, but for polishing work I like to keep stones super flat. It does give you a nice quick, dirty kasumi. To me, it was like a premium version of the King 800, but the feel is kinda lower grit. It felt like a cross between my Gesshin 400 and the King 800 in use. Mud comes up super fast, and the finish is definitely medium grit. I followed this stone with my uchimugori and got a really nice polish on my wide bevels. I don't think I'd be tempted to use the Jinzo Aoto as a finishing polisher, though.


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## JBroida

for what its worth, the synthetic natural and the vast majority of resinoid stones are really MUCH better when soaked

and the jinzo aoto is higher grit than the king... but also MUCH more aggressive cutting and softer. Its a medium grit stone for sure though.


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## ian

Yea, I’d love to try the Syn Nat soaked. Guess I’ll have to buy it.

@JBroida When I was talking about the Jinzo Aoto grit, I was talking about my (admittedly hazy at this point, since I used it twice more than a month ago) memory of how it felt. It think it indeed felt softer than the King, but there’s this feeling with the Gesshin 400 where I think I can feel the individual abrasive particles (but in a good way, like with an exfoliating massage), and for some reason I thought the Jinzo Aoto felt like that, but in a medium grit stone like the King. Plus, it’s super fast. Didn’t mean to imply it was a 600=Avg(800,400) grit stone or something.

Let me know if this sounds like nonsense.


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