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So I’ve been deep off the rabbit hole picking a first jnat. I’ve discerned I’d enjoy an Aizu and suita, the naming has my head spinning sometimes. Flexible budget. @ethompson would you be able to help me out? Goal is a nice Kasumi finisher primarily, with potential for edges as well.

Current stones
Atoma140
SG220
SG500
Chosera 800
Arashiyama 1k
SG2000
Chosera 3k
JNS Synth Aoto (red)
SG4k
Arashiyama 6k
Uchi finger stones / various powders

This caught my eye, as well as a few at jns and bst

https://kazsknifeonline.com.au/coll...-shohonyama-awasedo-yaginoshima-suita-b-1090g
 
ethompson said:
If you want to splurge a little, the Ohira Uchi and shobu suits from @Censere look absolutely amazing
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Thank you Edward for the vote of confidence! Yes, they are very good stones that I picked out from my many visits to top collectors, and stone shops, and mine owners in Japan

I should add that the Okudo is also a fantastic one if one wants to go a step finer (semi mirror on the core + finer, lighter kasumi clad). Okudo itself is a highly sought-after mine with fast and fine stones, and this one is a standout for having (1) high purity (most Okudo's are full of lines though they normally don't hurt), and (2) very reasonable hardness and ease-of-use for kitchen knives that are not typical of the mine

Here's the listing
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/okudo-ohira-uchi-shoubu-maruo-hideri.70351/
 
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Shobu Iromono in particular hits a certain balance between fineness, muddiness, feedback, and ease of use. You can get some really good, fairly easy results with them in general. They used to be my go to finisher years ago for polishing until I moved on to harder, finer stones.
 
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Hey folks, I could use some advice. I'm building my first progression of JNAT's for polishing and interested in narrowing down options for a finisher. I currently jump from synthetic to an Aizu and then have been finishing on a Maruyouma Shiro Suita. The finish is ok, but want something that's finer and brings out some more brightness in the core steel.

What are some stones you'd recommend as a finisher after the Maru?

Thanks!
 
jacobwilder5 said:
Hey folks, I could use some advice. I'm building my first progression of JNAT's for polishing and interested in narrowing down options for a finisher. I currently jump from synthetic to an Aizu and then have been finishing on a Maruyouma Shiro Suita. The finish is ok, but want something that's finer and brings out some more brightness in the core steel.

What are some stones you'd recommend as a finisher after the Maru?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
In my experience, relatively friable Nakayama, suita or tomae, is as good as it gets for brighting core while retaining some balance of contrast and kasumi. The jump from Maruo shiro to such a stone is usually achievable, but often an intermediate stone would speed things up. In that middle ground there are oodles of options.
 
ethompson said:
In my experience, relatively friable Nakayama, suita or tomae, is as good as it gets for brighting core while retaining some balance of contrast and kasumi. The jump from Maruo shiro to such a stone is usually achievable, but often an intermediate stone would speed things up. In that middle ground there are oodles of options.
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If you don't mind sharing, what are some examples of intermediates for after the Maruo? I'm putting together a wish list and not in a rush so may just go this route first before jumping to a true finisher.
 
jacobwilder5 said:
If you don't mind sharing, what are some examples of intermediates for after the Maruo? I'm putting together a wish list and not in a rush so may just go this route first before jumping to a true finisher.
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A prudent approach most likely.

There are too many to list. Maruo shiro is in the coarser end of Kyoto awasedo (which is a strength, not a criticism) and Nakayama on the finest end, so pretty much everything will be in between.

Tomae and suita are the two types of stone you’re most likely to encounter. The very best suita are better than the best tomae, generally speaking, but on average the tomae are cleaner, cheaper, and generally a better bet most likely. I’d take a good tomae over a suita with flaws any day.

As for mines… generally for a brighter finish eastern mines are a better bet than western mines. So a narutaki or Okudo might be better than an ohira or hideri. But you can encounter stones that are too hard and just not user friendly which is counterproductive. And quite frankly almost any finer stone regardless of origin will have a brighter finish on hagane than Maruo shiro.
 
ethompson said:
generally for a brighter finish eastern mines are a better bet than western mines. So a narutaki or Okudo might be better than an ohira or hideri.
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To add some further (hopefully useful) colour to Edward’s steer, I tend to broadly compartmentalise comparably refined finishes into either ‘bright and crisp’ or ‘smoky and pearlescent’ when I’m differentiating between similar levels of refinement between stones.

This is separate from contrast or the level of mirror on the polish, or how much detail is present etc.

I had a slow day today so thought I’d take stock of my current polishing stone collection, and test out a few new additions.

Coarsest to finest shown L to R:
IMG_2013.jpeg

IMG_2011.jpeg


I’m pretty happy with this set up as tight-ish progression featuring only a little bit of redundancy (you definitely don’t need to go through each stone here to get from coarsest to finest).

How pretty are these new stones from @k4mino

IMG_2100.jpeg

IMG_2040.jpeg
 
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OkayMode said:
To add some further (hopefully useful) colour to Edward’s steer, I tend to broadly compartmentalise comparably refined finishes into either ‘bright and crisp’ or ‘smoky and pearlescent’ when I’m differentiating between similar levels of refinement between stones.

This is separate from contrast or the level of mirror on the polish, or how much detail is present etc.

I had a slow day today so thought I’d take stock of my current polishing stone collection, and test out a few new additions.

Coarsest to finest shown L to R:
View attachment 321034
View attachment 321035

I’m pretty happy with this set up as tight-ish progression featuring only a little bit of redundancy (you definitely don’t need to go through each stone here to get from coarsest to finest).

How pretty are these new stones from @k4mino

View attachment 321046
View attachment 321047
Click to expand...
Hey! friendly reminder to show us some results of that PA stone!
 
NickMinton said:
Hey! friendly reminder to show us some results of that PA stone!
Click to expand...
I haven’t done that much polishing recently, but I do have a few projects lined up which I’ll try to get started on very soon!

I did get the chance to test it with my kiri yesterday though, and can confirm it’s a little bit bonkers.





I would say it gives a step up in refinement from the Nakayama, but with some loss of detail. Kind of like a hyper refined Uchi or something.
 
Finally joining the club with some cheapies.
Shohonyama Kozaki Aoto from Ikkyu Ave, and a Aiiwatani awasedo kopa from Bernal cutlery.

The aoto has a sand inclusion that runs throught the stone, which probably acounts for it's pricing, but for chisiles and plane irons I think digging it out will work quite well for a sensual sharpening sesion (read: not after causing massive tear out with your smoothing plane in the middle of a project).

The Aiiwatani kopa is just hard enough to require a diamond plate to start a slury in a reasonable amount of time, which seems convient for edge work. This seems like a really nice finishing stone for thoses comfortable on smaller stones, but I am still in the honey moon stage with these two!

So, what's the secret handshake?
 

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