Natural Stones Progression (with pics)
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 11:13 am
I've been making some headway on a natural stones progression. My goal, to get normal wear out of the steel by way of natural stones, then progressing, rapidly back up to a good polish.
My reasoning behind doing this with natural stones is so that I can avoid the soaking and constantly flattening my synthetics. I dont mind using them for grinding a bevel or something of that sort, but for everyday use I find them to be tedious. Natural stones are, for the most part, splash and go. Being how they are they make for easy use.
Diamond plates on the left, top row (green, red, white, tan) are snythetics. The natural stones are as follows;
Top left tooth-pasty green stone is an Ikarashi. This stone is a good cutter, but I found it not great for tools. It's absolutely wonderful for knives and probably just as good for swords. So a good stone to have for kiridashi and sushi knives, or anything with a hamaguri edge.
The dark grey stone is a Tsushima, this is the lowest stone I've been using in the progression for resharpening.
The yellow stone is a Shinden Suita, with Renge characteristics.
The medium grey stone is a Nakayama Asagi. I've prattled on about both of those previously I'm sure
I'm doing this freehand, for resharpening an established bevel, freehand is great.
Tsushima finish
I put a microbevel on my blades most of the time. Not a big one, but one that can be removed everytime I sharpen with the Tsushima. The Tsushima removes wear and microbevel quite rapidly. I'm using an Atoma 400 plate as a tomo nagura.
This finish is applied by the Shinden suita, all Tsushima scratches are removed. The renge characteristics of the stone leave minor hairlines in the Ji but help to work the Ha quite quickly.
Final polish with the Nakayama and minor microbevel reapplied.
The Nakayama Asagi will show minor hairlines in the Ji, same reason...it's a fast cutter, and makes the Ha nearly mirror polished. I'm not surprised that these were guarded by the state for military purpose for so many years.
Hope you guys enjoy.
My reasoning behind doing this with natural stones is so that I can avoid the soaking and constantly flattening my synthetics. I dont mind using them for grinding a bevel or something of that sort, but for everyday use I find them to be tedious. Natural stones are, for the most part, splash and go. Being how they are they make for easy use.
Diamond plates on the left, top row (green, red, white, tan) are snythetics. The natural stones are as follows;
Top left tooth-pasty green stone is an Ikarashi. This stone is a good cutter, but I found it not great for tools. It's absolutely wonderful for knives and probably just as good for swords. So a good stone to have for kiridashi and sushi knives, or anything with a hamaguri edge.
The dark grey stone is a Tsushima, this is the lowest stone I've been using in the progression for resharpening.
The yellow stone is a Shinden Suita, with Renge characteristics.
The medium grey stone is a Nakayama Asagi. I've prattled on about both of those previously I'm sure
I'm doing this freehand, for resharpening an established bevel, freehand is great.
Tsushima finish
I put a microbevel on my blades most of the time. Not a big one, but one that can be removed everytime I sharpen with the Tsushima. The Tsushima removes wear and microbevel quite rapidly. I'm using an Atoma 400 plate as a tomo nagura.
This finish is applied by the Shinden suita, all Tsushima scratches are removed. The renge characteristics of the stone leave minor hairlines in the Ji but help to work the Ha quite quickly.
Final polish with the Nakayama and minor microbevel reapplied.
The Nakayama Asagi will show minor hairlines in the Ji, same reason...it's a fast cutter, and makes the Ha nearly mirror polished. I'm not surprised that these were guarded by the state for military purpose for so many years.
Hope you guys enjoy.