Thanks so much. The more I know about these stones the more I like! .... I wonder ... Nakayama whetstones are maybe the most famous, but I see that in your webpage you have "just" 2 of them and many more from other mines, such as Ohira and Aiiwatani. I wonder if you could share your thoughts about how these stones can compare, and the fame of Nakayama. I was at Tsubamesanjo, once to buy some stones from Watanabe. The more I explore about JNS the more confused I became. At some point I just followed the seller recommendations, and I don't regret ah!. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hello C.C., glad you liked the video! Sure. So almost all Awasedo come from the same geological seam, Hon Kuchi Naori. Not all mines have all the strata but most mines had the ones you are familiar with, Suita, Tomae, etc. Anyway, Nakayama pulled the most stone out of all the mines with Shoubudani getting close as well. Functionally, this meant that they could be more selective about which stones they put out as they had a larger pile of stone to select from. This quality control gained them a reputation as being very high quality in the days where everyone was using natural whetstones in Japan. Now adays it is a lot less important. While it is often discussed that there is a "limited supply" of these stones - which is technically true - a lot of that is intentionally spread information to play on FOMO. The suppliers almost never put out bad stones from the stock anymore or if they do they sell them as seconds at a very cheap price. Any mine can produce stones as good as a Nakayama. Nakayama stones can be stinkers. The way I tend to describe it is if you reached into a box of random Nakayama stock and random Other Mine stock, the chances that you get a "good stone" are marginally higher with Nakayama due to that QC back in the day. Really though, we are talking a very small difference - rarely worth the mark up the name comes with (and thus my ownership of very few). Uchigumori on the other hand was only really present at two mines, so that one is actually fairly unique and is in a different situation. Outside of that though, all mines on the Hon Kuchi Naori can produce fairly comparable stones.
@@naturalwhetstones thanks. In fact Watanebe recomended me a Uchigumori stone, which I did not brought back home! maybe I should! It was all very expensive, with the trip and all combined! But it was a very nice and memorable experience. Funny that I only bought stones and no knives at all! All the stones I got from him were Awasedo i belive (Suita; Tomae; Nakayama (maybe - unkown mine)). They are all finishing stones. I regret not have brought some more "coarse grit" ones. I was very influenced by the looks of them, and unable to exeriment them properly although he allowed it. Still now i mix all names, from coloration brand, mines and seller I confuse what is what. Your videos surely help getting back my interest. Please allow me to ask... is your collection a private one? for how long have you been collecting all these stones?
@@c.c.1197 Uchigumori can be very expensive and is best left for traditional uses like tamahagane polishing. It is very useful on knives still, but better to just get a soft suita where the specific characteristics of uchi aren't as necessary. I've had sharpening stones for many years. I don't find youtube comments the best for back and forth conversations, feel free to contact me directly if you want: naturalwhetstones.com/contact-me/
I love the look of that tsushima nagura. It reminds me of a khao men thai stone that I have. Have you used one of those before? how does it compare with the tsushima nagura?
How are the natural stones constructed? Like the mint chocolate one looked like it had beautiful amber wood sides and a mint chocolate frosting. When I see Finnish natural sharpening stones like phyllite, it's that grey, slightly shiny and with some patterns depending on the cut, somewhat homogenous slab of stone.
The stone you are talking about is called an Ikarashi, it is a type of igneous (volcanic) rock which is primarily silica but also has other minerals in it (resulting in the color). It has dendritic formations which are the black specs. The sides that are amber are lacquered. Sounds like the Finnish stones you are talking about are likely something akin to slate.
Hello. I just subscribed to your channel. I know a ton about sharpening from many countries. I am teaching my self about British Isle stones. However, I know very little about JNATs. I am holding off buying JNATs because of my lack of knowledge of them. I am hoping you can help😊. Thanks for sharing with us, Steve
Great! Lots of wonderful stones out there. My page here is probably the best resource I can offer as a primer. Many good channels and websites out there too in the additional resources section: naturalwhetstones.com/natural-whetstones/japanese-natural-stones-jnats/
Thanks for taking the time and effort to produce this video. I'm just tipping my toe into natural stones and I appreciate this information. I have to say, that poor nakiri must be getting seriously thin BTE and after this exercise, I'm sure the geometry is becoming right hand biased!
I can’t believe the difference between Jnat and synthetics for polishing/kasumi! I don’t own any jnats. I’ve tried to polish and kasumi finish with synths, but it always looked gross. I put it down to my technique. Ofcourse I would have technique drawbacks, but after watching this, I reckon if I had an aizu, I could get an extremely better finish. Obviously I have technique drawbacks though. Synths are super shit for that job by the looks of it!
Yeah, generally won't fight you on that. Synthetics have their place, and it is either to work up to a near mirror/mirror look (which has low contrast between them and isn't misty) or to do lower level work faster. I like to go up to about 2k synthetics and then transition to naturals for the rest of it.
Finally :) for this one i think i need to wait until the kids get to bed so i can enjoy it in its entirety over a whisky :D keep up the great work!
Thanks! Hope you find it helpful :)
Stonehenge Masterclass! Wonderful articulation and comparisons, I love the different use perspectives. best wishes Jacques
Thanks Jacques!!
Is there something wrong with me? The lineup of natural and synthetic whetstones was more appealing than any Paris pastry shop window I’ve imagined.
I think it's normal, or at least I hope it is! :P
nope, nothing wrong sir. greetings from south africa 🖖🏻 regards dapper shaves
Bro ur gold mine of natural stone knowledge ! Thank u.
Thanks, glad you like the videos!
I've got a king 800 and 6000. Really love both
Thanks for sharing. I learned a few things.
Glad it was helpful!
Excelente , gracias !!😊
Glad you liked it!
Brasil 🇧🇷! Nice vídeo 🎉🎉sucesso para você!
Thank you!
@@naturalwhetstones I'm learning a lot from your videos thank you very much
Thanks so much. The more I know about these stones the more I like! .... I wonder ... Nakayama whetstones are maybe the most famous, but I see that in your webpage you have "just" 2 of them and many more from other mines, such as Ohira and Aiiwatani. I wonder if you could share your thoughts about how these stones can compare, and the fame of Nakayama. I was at Tsubamesanjo, once to buy some stones from Watanabe. The more I explore about JNS the more confused I became. At some point I just followed the seller recommendations, and I don't regret ah!. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hello C.C., glad you liked the video! Sure. So almost all Awasedo come from the same geological seam, Hon Kuchi Naori. Not all mines have all the strata but most mines had the ones you are familiar with, Suita, Tomae, etc.
Anyway, Nakayama pulled the most stone out of all the mines with Shoubudani getting close as well. Functionally, this meant that they could be more selective about which stones they put out as they had a larger pile of stone to select from. This quality control gained them a reputation as being very high quality in the days where everyone was using natural whetstones in Japan.
Now adays it is a lot less important. While it is often discussed that there is a "limited supply" of these stones - which is technically true - a lot of that is intentionally spread information to play on FOMO. The suppliers almost never put out bad stones from the stock anymore or if they do they sell them as seconds at a very cheap price.
Any mine can produce stones as good as a Nakayama. Nakayama stones can be stinkers. The way I tend to describe it is if you reached into a box of random Nakayama stock and random Other Mine stock, the chances that you get a "good stone" are marginally higher with Nakayama due to that QC back in the day. Really though, we are talking a very small difference - rarely worth the mark up the name comes with (and thus my ownership of very few).
Uchigumori on the other hand was only really present at two mines, so that one is actually fairly unique and is in a different situation. Outside of that though, all mines on the Hon Kuchi Naori can produce fairly comparable stones.
@@naturalwhetstones thanks. In fact Watanebe recomended me a Uchigumori stone, which I did not brought back home! maybe I should! It was all very expensive, with the trip and all combined! But it was a very nice and memorable experience. Funny that I only bought stones and no knives at all! All the stones I got from him were Awasedo i belive (Suita; Tomae; Nakayama (maybe - unkown mine)). They are all finishing stones. I regret not have brought some more "coarse grit" ones. I was very influenced by the looks of them, and unable to exeriment them properly although he allowed it. Still now i mix all names, from coloration brand, mines and seller I confuse what is what. Your videos surely help getting back my interest. Please allow me to ask... is your collection a private one? for how long have you been collecting all these stones?
@@c.c.1197 Uchigumori can be very expensive and is best left for traditional uses like tamahagane polishing. It is very useful on knives still, but better to just get a soft suita where the specific characteristics of uchi aren't as necessary.
I've had sharpening stones for many years. I don't find youtube comments the best for back and forth conversations, feel free to contact me directly if you want: naturalwhetstones.com/contact-me/
@@naturalwhetstones i agree, thanks
I love the look of that tsushima nagura. It reminds me of a khao men thai stone that I have. Have you used one of those before? how does it compare with the tsushima nagura?
Nope sorry I have not!
How are the natural stones constructed? Like the mint chocolate one looked like it had beautiful amber wood sides and a mint chocolate frosting. When I see Finnish natural sharpening stones like phyllite, it's that grey, slightly shiny and with some patterns depending on the cut, somewhat homogenous slab of stone.
The stone you are talking about is called an Ikarashi, it is a type of igneous (volcanic) rock which is primarily silica but also has other minerals in it (resulting in the color). It has dendritic formations which are the black specs. The sides that are amber are lacquered. Sounds like the Finnish stones you are talking about are likely something akin to slate.
@@naturalwhetstones Thanks for the reply!
Hello. I just subscribed to your channel. I know a ton about sharpening from many countries. I am teaching my self about British Isle stones. However, I know very little about JNATs. I am holding off buying JNATs because of my lack of knowledge of them. I am hoping you can help😊. Thanks for sharing with us, Steve
Great! Lots of wonderful stones out there. My page here is probably the best resource I can offer as a primer. Many good channels and websites out there too in the additional resources section: naturalwhetstones.com/natural-whetstones/japanese-natural-stones-jnats/
Can you post a link for that plate that you have your stone holder on? Thx.
Do you mean the blue looking frosted glass? That is something built into the counter top.
dude, I envy you guys over there , it cost the British buyer silly money to get some quality stones shipped over here,
Yeah US subsidizes shipping a lot which helps
What stone did you trade for the king stones?
It was an Aizu and some nagura with it IIRC.
Think, I'll keep my JNats for carbon steel. Synthetic stones will be used with complex steels like stainless, etc. 😊
Yeah certainly for polishing!
Thanks for taking the time and effort to produce this video. I'm just tipping my toe into natural stones and I appreciate this information. I have to say, that poor nakiri must be getting seriously thin BTE and after this exercise, I'm sure the geometry is becoming right hand biased!
Yeah the Nakiri has been seriously thinned. My earlier videos used a petty which has since become too flimsy to use :(
I can’t believe the difference between Jnat and synthetics for polishing/kasumi! I don’t own any jnats. I’ve tried to polish and kasumi finish with synths, but it always looked gross. I put it down to my technique. Ofcourse I would have technique drawbacks, but after watching this, I reckon if I had an aizu, I could get an extremely better finish. Obviously I have technique drawbacks though.
Synths are super shit for that job by the looks of it!
Yeah, generally won't fight you on that. Synthetics have their place, and it is either to work up to a near mirror/mirror look (which has low contrast between them and isn't misty) or to do lower level work faster. I like to go up to about 2k synthetics and then transition to naturals for the rest of it.