ID help

[Legion]

I posted this a while ago in the mystery stone thread, but didn't get much joy. I just got around to lapping it, so I thought I would take another crack at it.

Apparently came from the estate of a barber. 17x5cm. The surface looks rough, but it isn't. Running my fingernail over it if feels about as smooth as a coticule, and lapping was easy enough, maybe on par with a softer type coti.

When I saw pics of it I took a punt thinking it might be a J-Nat, and the bottom and sides have that sort of look, but now I am not so sure. I only just lapped it, and have't had time to hone a razor on it. I was hoping to get an ID first before I potentially mess up a perfectly good edge, but that is next.

 

[Legion]

Of course it is entirely possible I paid good money for a chunk of useless rock someone dug out of their yard as well.

 

[Toro Blanco]

I think that is a suita Jnat. The top looks very busy which was throwing me off but if you looks close you can see the su in it.
I have a softer suita that still gives fairly good shaves. Very fast and pretty fine. Definately worth a shot!

 

[Toro Blanco]

If it ain't razor grade they can be great knife stones. Chef knife guys go crazy over a good suita! Lol!

 

[Toro Blanco]

Yeah the more and more I look at it I find su well dispersed on the surface. You need to zoom in a little and you can clearly see them.

Check to see how fast it is as well as fine.

One more thing I will add is just because it has su does not mean it is a suita but a good chance it is. Jnat it is though!

All in all you done good!

 

[Legion]

Yeah the more and more I look at it I find su well dispersed on the surface. You need to zoom in a little and you can clearly see them.

Check to see how fast it is as well as fine.

One more thing I will add is just because it has su does not mean it is a suita but a good chance it is. Jnat it is though!

All in all you done good!

Sorry for my ignorance. What is Su?

 

[Toro Blanco]

Su are small pinhole size holes left behind from when the rock formation was occuring. Hot gasses escaping through the mud and leaving these tiny holes as evidense as to what was happening in it's formation. As the mud hardened it left these tiny holes the Japanese refer to as Su.

If you zoom in to you picture you can see them better. Looks like pin pricks on your stone. Not the dots but the tiny holes.

On the right side near the end of your stone there is quite a few of them. Sometimes refered to as a nest of Su.

 

[Legion]

Su are small pinhole size holes left behind from when the rock formation was occuring. Hot gasses escaping through the mud and leaving these tiny holes as evidense as to what was happening in it's formation. As the mud hardened it left these tiny holes the Japanese refer to as Su.

If you zoom in to you picture you can see them better. Looks like pin pricks on your stone. Not the dots but the tiny holes.

On the right side near the end of your stone there is quite a few of them. Sometimes refered to as a nest of Su.

Ah yes. On close inspection the stone does have pinprick holes. I was worried that was a flaw.

 

[Toro Blanco]

Very rarely but sometimes harder material can be lodged in the su. If it ever comes up just lap it a little and the problem is quickly solved.

Those stones can be very usefull as they can be very fast and fine at the same time.

Worst case just sell it to a knife guy as they salivate over a softer suita and are willing to pay good coin for one.

If it cuts fast and it's in the lv3 to lv4 hardness range knife guys will fight over it. It has a good color too!

 

[cotedupy]

Well it's feckin' pretty isn't it!

I'd be 99.9% on it being a jnat, and I would probably have guessed a suita too (though I don't know so much about the intricacies of layers and stuff).

And as TB has also already said - may not be so good for razors, but likely to be very good for knives. Especially single bevels, both polishing and sharpening.

Your problem in terms of toxicity is more likely to be when hitting some of those new layers as you go through the stone. You might get to something that you just have to lap through. But fingers crossed not!

 

[Legion]

Update:

Well I just finished my first experiment with the stone, and I'm more than happy.

Started off with a razor that was pretty much shave ready, just had been unused for a year or two and needed a touchup. Started with a HHT and it did pass. Grabbed the stone and just did 40 light laps, water only. Tried the HHT again, and no go, just violin. Stropped 20 linen, 40 leather and the HHT was back, maybe a bit better than before.

One thing I noticed, with my usual coticule edges the spine and bevel usually have a very slight haze look. It's very subtle, but if you know cotis you know what I mean. The contact areas off this stone were super polished, shiny mirror looking.

And the shave... was excellent. Very sharp edge, but not bitey at all. Very comfortable and skin friendly.

So I don't think I'll be disappearing down the J-nat rabbit hole. I've always found it a bit too complicated and expensive. But it's nice to know the one example I have in my collection is a very capable finisher.

So now I better read up on sealing the sides.

 

[Legion]

I should also note, when I did the 40 laps I did it at the sink, holding the hone in my hand and rinsing it every five laps, like I do when I refresh an edge with a Coticule. I am aware this is different than I’ve seen most people do with Jnats online, but I guess it is habit. Because of this there was no slurry to speak of, and I don’t know if that had an effect one way or the other.

 

[Gamma]

Could be a Jnat. The heavy banding/layering and absence of any saw marks though, not screaming Jnat to me.
As for Su - stones from other strata have similar 'holes' aka vesicles. I've had a bunch of Oozuku Tomae with what appears to be Su, same for Shobu and Nakayama. Suita is known for Su in a hive/nest pattern, hence 'SUita. But the presence of Su does not make one of the Suita strata a given.
Could be a Jnat, sure. I've owned confirmed Jnats that didn't look or act like one so anything is possible. Where did it come from, what locality?

 

[Legion]

Could be a Jnat. The heavy banding/layering and absence of any saw marks though, not screaming Jnat to me.
As for Su - stones from other strata have similar 'holes' aka vesicles. I've had a bunch of Oozuku Tomae with what appears to be Su, same for Shobu and Nakayama. Suita is known for Su in a hive/nest pattern, hence 'SUita. But the presence of Su does not make one of the Suita strata a given.
Could be a Jnat, sure. I've owned confirmed Jnats that didn't look or act like one so anything is possible. Where did it come from, what locality?

It was bought off Australian ebay. There was basically no info except they were sharpening stones, and had come from the estate of a barber. From the blurry photos one stone looked like a Coticule (it wasn't. It was some sort of weird synth), and this one I thought looked Jnatish, so I took a punt.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Isn't there some German stone that's harder than the dickens, can apparently be used from bevel-setting to finish and looks vaguely like that? Never had one, but seem to remember it's a little similar to that patterning?


Frankonian... Sebastian's post here, "brown" example bottom left in post 11.

Bavarian-Frankonian Hones

This thread is about some very special hones from Germany, originating from the frankonian area of Bavaria. The name Frankonian is known in regard of hones and from time to time appear some new examples called that name in different forums. But in fact, I have not seen one example of these...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[cotedupy]

Give it to old Bill Ockham to try out on his razor... I expect he'd tell you it's a jnat .