JNat - Okudo Suita

[jendeindustries]

I just got an Okuda Suita from Ken Schwartz at Precise Sharpening. It's 10cm x 5cm and supposed to be finer than a nakayama suita....

Anyone have any experience with them?

 

[honed]

What a lovely rock!

No experience but I will follow this thread with great care.

 

[jendeindustries]

So far I lapped it a little on the Shapton DGLP, but it seems pretty flat already, so I hit it softly on the DMT Fine and Extra Fine plates.

The slurry is dark gray to blackish. Should I be dressing the stone to be as smooth as possible, then create a slurry?

 

[mainaman]

As far as I know Okudo are very rare to find, congratz on a great looking stone.

Saying Okudo Suita is finer than Nakayama Suita is a generalization, each mine produces a variety of qualities of stones from variety of strata so no direct comparisons can be made.
Using suita is not the best for razors because you can't use different slurries on them because you will contaminate the su of the stone, I personally see that as a drawback. You can use a DMT for slurry although there is a chance loose diamond gets lodged in the su too.

The slurry is dark gray to blackish

I think your stone is wearing on your DMT, or at least reacts to the metal somehow. I have one stone that does that with my Atoma.

 

[Woodash]

As far as I know Okudo are very rare to find, congratz on a great looking stone.

Saying Okudo Suita is finer than Nakayama Suita is a generalization, each mine produces a variety of qualities of stones from variety of strata so no direct comparisons can be made.
Using suita is not the best for razors because you can't use different slurries on them because you will contaminate the su of the stone, I personally see that as a drawback. You can use a DMT for slurry although there is a chance loose diamond gets lodged in the su too.


I think your stone is wearing on your DMT, or at least reacts to the metal somehow. I have one stone that does that with my Atoma.

I've heard that Stefan, and it makes sense. I've also heard that the Su can actually trap the swarf and may actually be beneficial. Also, don't some suita come without Su?

Definately a nice looking stone you've got there...

 

[jendeindustries]

Thanks guys!

I played around with it a little. From an extremely preliminary point of view, I think I'm going to like this stone - once I figure it out.

My first experiment: I made a slurry using a Shapton 30K Pro stone, but it was mostly purple, so the slurry was the 30K.

Mainaman - I'm thinking of having a slurry stone cut from this piece to get the "true" slurry. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

 

[mainaman]

I've heard that Stefan, and it makes sense. I've also heard that the Su can actually trap the swarf and may actually be beneficial. Also, don't some suita come without Su?

Definately a nice looking stone you've got there...

yes there are suita with no su, I have one.

Tom,
I think what your plan is the right plan. The minimum is to cut a piece of the corner, or if you can live with a shorter stone a 1cm wide piece off one of the sides will last even longer.

 

[ouch]

Please tell us how much it cost, so I'll feel better about not having one.

 

[professorchaos]

That is a fine looking rock! One of these days I'll pick up a Suita (with Su). I'm quite interested in trying one.

 

[jendeindustries]

Please tell us how much it cost, so I'll feel better about not having one.

Surprisingly, not that much (in my mind) - I got this one for US $150.

FWIW, Ken is the official North American Importer of Tanaka stones, so he's getting an expertly selected inventory, not just crates of rocks.

Mainaman, I was contemplating a 5cm x 1cm piece "off the top" so that the full cross section of the surface would be represented in the slurry. I'm thinking that if I take one from either side (10cm x 1cm) it would be easier since I wouldn't lose any stone length, but there would be less variation/representation in the slurry?

If not, it might be most ideal to take a corner 1cm wide x 2cm long....

 

[mainaman]

Tom,
I do not think the slurry will be different.
Also now that I checked the size out again, this is pretty much what people use for tomonagura on a bigger stone. I have few nakayamas in that size range.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I think your stone is wearing on your DMT, or at least reacts to the metal somehow. I have one stone that does that with my Atoma.

Isn't black slurry common? I know 330mate always pictures his stones with black slurry to show the "Iron Blossom" or whatever bastardized term Google translate applies to that black slurry of magnetized particles (I assume they are magnetized because they always seem to spread out uniformly (IE repel each other) much more immediately than standard solution dispersion would cause).

 

[mainaman]

Isn't black slurry common? I know 330mate always pictures his stones with black slurry to show the "Iron Blossom" or whatever bastardized term Google translate applies to that black slurry of magnetized particles (I assume they are magnetized because they always seem to spread out uniformly (IE repel each other) much more immediately than standard solution dispersion would cause).

that is metal from a chisel (I assume is what he uses to test stones with). The black stuff is swarf from the soft iron that is used to back the hard steel.

 

[SliceOfLife]

that is metal from a chisel (I assume is what he uses to test stones with). The black stuff is swarf from the soft iron that is used to back the hard steel.

Aha. Learn something new every day.

 

[jendeindustries]

I still haven't used the stone, but I was able to get the Chinese version of the Kanji (which have the same meaning, word for word).

In Chinese, On the front right, 奧 means Secret Place, 殿 means Palace 合 means to combine and 砥 means sharpening stone, so a "Secret Palace combination Sharpening stone" ?
On the right left, 巢 means nest or hive, and 板 means plate. I'm not sure what to make of that...

Kanji is simple on the back- the small ones say 京都 "Kyoto", and the larger ones say 田中 Tanaka 砥 Sharpening 石 Stone

Just an FWI, While the "Tanaka Sharpening Stone" is on every Tanaka stone, The small Kyoto stamp denotes it is exclusively for/from Ken Schwartz at Precise Sharpening.

 

[mainaman]

I still haven't used the stone, but I was able to get the Chinese version of the Kanji (which have the same meaning, word for word).

In Chinese, On the front right, 奧 means Secret Place, 殿 means Palace 合 means to combine and 砥 means sharpening stone, so a "Secret Palace combination Sharpening stone" ?
On the right left, 巢 means nest or hive, and 板 means plate. I'm not sure what to make of that...

Kanji is simple on the back- the small ones say 京都 "Kyoto", and the larger ones say 田中 Tanaka 砥 Sharpening 石 Stone

Just an FWI, While the "Tanaka Sharpening Stone" is on every Tanaka stone, The small Kyoto stamp denotes it is exclusively for/from Ken Schwartz at Precise Sharpening.

Nest plate means it is Suita. Suita is described as having holes like a hive would.

 

[jendeindustries]

Ah-hah! Thank you, mainaman!

I know I have much to learn..... despite the efforts of Google translate to curb it...

 

[Woodash]

Ah-hah! Thank you, mainaman!

I know I have much to learn..... despite the efforts of Google translate to curb it...

Tom - how much slurry are you getting off of that suita, and how are you producing it? Thx.

 

[jendeindustries]

Tom - how much slurry are you getting off of that suita, and how are you producing it? Thx.

So far none! I'm still contemplating how to make it

I've been thinking of cutting a corner off the stone, but some other people have been advocating using a DMT to make a slurry... I think that ultimately, the slurry will be finer and break down faster with a same-stone nagura (I forgot the term...)

Mainaman, what do you suggest?

 

[Woodash]

So far none! I'm still contemplating how to make it

I've been thinking of cutting a corner off the stone, but some other people have been advocating using a DMT to make a slurry... I think that ultimately, the slurry will be finer and break down faster with a same-stone nagura (I forgot the term...)

Mainaman, what do you suggest?

Have you tried a DMT 1200? Oops - just re-read your post. Everyone tells me that you will modify the hone surface, but I'm not yet fully convinced. I personally think that any particle size effect on what's being raised by nagura vs. diamond plate will be minimal - possibly negligible, but who knows.

EDIT: It just occured to me that you could possibly raise a slurry with the DMT, and then keep working the surface with the nagura to smooth it out....

The reason I asked is because I have a suita (non-Su) coming that has been described as one of the hardest and finest stones the vendor has seen. And I'm a little concerned because I want at least a modicum of slurry, not just a water hone....we'll see.