Ozuku?

[Pokeystotle]

I've bought some outstanding Japanese natural whetstones on eBay. I have a few things I watch for that I believe reduces some of the risk in buying these stones. However, they are by no means foolproof. Maybe this stuff is common sense to you or stuff you always do when buying on eBay but sometimes its easy to be so enchanted by the stone or whatever you are buying that you aren't paying attention. I am guilty of that occasionally.
But here is list of things I check on before bidding or buying.

1. I always check who the seller is - if they are someone that has a good reputation, or even better, someone I purchased from in the past and the experience was good, this is obviously nice to have. Last, does the seller sell that kind of product mostly? Or is this some guy with one hone he found in some estate or a garage?

2. I ask the seller a question before I bid or purchase. The reason for asking a question is to see how fast they respond and or IF they respond. Sellers who don't respond or take a long time to respond are people I don't want to deal with when it comes to spending big money on a hone.

3. I expect more than one photo. I also try as best as I can to make sure the photo isn't a generic photo used by the seller in more than one listing.

4. I read the information on the hone. I make sure it isn't generic information and is specific to the piece I am buying. If the seller is just cutting and pasting info from one hone to another this is a red flag and could prevent me from doing business with this seller.

5. Where the hone is currently located - I simply do not buy any hones listed as Japanese natural whetstones that ship from China. Especially a Japanese natural stone. There are a ton of forgery stamps and stones out there. Russia is a known hub for these scams and there is no reason why China couldn't be as well.

6. I check the price point against what the seller is claiming the product is - if it seems to good to be true it probably is to good to be true. Like a 1700g Okudo Hon Suita selling for $99. Probably something fishy there.

So if you don't want to read all of that -
- who is the seller?
- does the seller communicate readily?
- has the seller provided good photos
and information?
- where is the product located? (Pakistan, Nigeria, China?)
- Price/product ratio?

 

[ffourteen]

If you do like the edge you get off it, make sure you seal the sides of the stone…

 

[Anick]

83mmX211mm. First time ever attempting to hone and i got it to tree top. Old rusty razor with a bevel already set. Marked with a sharpie to confirm. Stone was already flat and chamfered...newb here. I marked it with pencil grids and with 5 swipes of my atoma they were all gone. I know there is a scale of hardness and i couldnt even give a guess...its a hard rock. Im happy. Ill play with a shaveable razor to see what i can get out of it.

 

[Christian1212]

That looks like a really nice stone. I think it was a good find, hope it serves you well.

 

[Anick]

So being impatient i found a Geniva razor i had laying around without a set bevel. I also purchased a Norton combo 1k that got me a bevel. My first bevel. I also picked up a coti. Watching videos and doing some guess work i think i used it as a work horse to get me to a finisher. I finally finished on the jnat then stropped.

I had a 3 day old beard. I started on my left side and there was tugging. Some passes felt smooth but not too many. I only did my left side and finished with a dovo. The dovo has about 20 shaves on it and i feel it could be sharper but thats another story. I did a second pass wtg over the geniva side and there was a little sound of cutting. The geniva was loud!

Not a perfect start but im pretty happy with my purchase. Now to fine tune and have fun.

 

[paintflinger]

How much work did you do on the jnat? Did you fully break the slurry down?

 

[Anick]

No idea. Two kiddos running around so distractions aplenty. All i do is make a slurry with my dmt and add water as it dries and the slurry thins. Zen. Not keeping track of time or passes.

Did it again today. 3 times because the toe wouldnt get sharp. The stone is plenty wide but x strokes solves that problem. O dont know what scale but i get a HHT pass from toe to heel. Shaving in a few hrs for the final test.

I dont have a linen strop. Extra passes on my hanging and paddle strop got me where i needed to be but i will get a linen strop soon.

 

[Disburden]

This is a very good point. Too many fake jnats .

One of the big reasons I stick with “name brand” stones.
No surprises with a Naniwa SS, Ardennes coticule, or Dan’s
Arkansas...guess I can put the recently discovered Coe Arkansas stones in this mix as well.
Suppose if I had to acquire a jnat, I’d focus on what Chef Knives to Go had available.

 

[Anick]

I read up on it and i will not do that again. I got lucky on this one i guess.

 

[Anick]

Update.

Finished the Geneva under running water as per Dr. Matt. Crappy HHT if you can even call it that. Tree topped like crazy though so i said why not try it out. I also honed a Dovo with a coticule which also didnt pass the HHT but reviews stated alot of guys dont get that. First time trying to finish on that stone. Used it on the Geneva as a mid range.

Onto the shave. Dovo bounced and tugged on my right side. Next the Geneva was butter. Probably best lather ive had too. So after my Geneva finished the second half i upped the anty. ATG. Lathered up again and butter. Lather began to dry on the chin and i got a tiny slice but user error of course.

So after all that and being pretty happy i cleaned up, dried off, stropped, then got my kid a drink. Hes sick. Went back for the AS. The real test for a daily shaver. Comfort. So away i went and no burn... so i put more on and nada.

Y'all hinted that this was a addicting hobby but man. Now i want more razors just to try on more stones. Need to start a honer's trade thread where people can lend razors to eachother to compare stones and skills or competition or something. Bug got me, can you tell?

 

[Mackis]

Soon you will have a ton of razors and a hole rabbit family of stones.

 

[Malthus101]

Howdy! Bumping this thread as it seems most relevant - I just picked up a nice old Thuringian stone in a box. It has scratch marks across the top from when it was used years ago, so I want to lap them out.

Which Atomo should I buy? Low grit or the 1200 grit? I'd like just one all-rounder lapping stone if possible that I can use on any future Jnat I buy or on my Naniwa 400-10,000 range stones.

Is there such a thing as one perfect all-rounder lapping plate?

Thanks!

 

[David]

For an all around lapping stone I would recommend the Atoma 400. You can lap on the 400 then condition on 600 grit W/D sandpaper. I cooked 3 Atoma 1200’s using them for lapping-they’re just not made for that.

 

[Mackis]

For an allrounder i would recomend the atoma 400 you could just buy a replacement with different grit and stick it on the opposite side. If you are going to lap a lot of stones i would recomend the 140.

 

[kcb5150]

Thuringians are so soft if you aren't buying more rocks anytime soon an atoma would be a huge waste of money. It would take almost no wet dry sandpaper to reel that in.

 

[Basil]

Would the 400 be a good bet as a slurry on a jnat?

 

[Malthus101]

Thuringians are so soft if you aren't buying more rocks anytime soon an atoma would be a huge waste of money. It would take almost no wet dry sandpaper to reel that in.

Oh really? I didn't know that. I thought Thuringians were considered very hard? Thanks.

 

[Malthus101]

For an all around lapping stone I would recommend the Atoma 400. You can lap on the 400 then condition on 600 grit W/D sandpaper. I cooked 3 Atoma 1200’s using them for lapping-they’re just not made for that.

For an allrounder i would recomend the atoma 400 you could just buy a replacement with different grit and stick it on the opposite side. If you are going to lap a lot of stones i would recomend the 140.

OK thanks guys...

 

[rideon66]

I did an all around 600 Atoma. It was a little slower lapping I am sure than the 400 but over time wore down and slightly worn is probably more like a 1200 now so is also good for slurry generation. I was mean to it though and many really hard stones spent a good bit of time on it. Still it doesn't look as bad as some I have seen. For really hard stones I now use sic powder much faster and less back breaking. For simple resurfacing and just keeping a stone flat the worn 600 is still great.

 

[Malthus101]

I did an all around 600 Atoma. It was a little slower lapping I am sure than the 400 but over time wore down and slightly worn is probably more like a 1200 now so is also good for slurry generation. I was mean to it though and many really hard stones spent a good bit of time on it. Still it doesn't look as bad as some I have seen. For really hard stones I now use sic powder much faster and less back breaking. For simple resurfacing and just keeping a stone flat the worn 600 is still great.

cool thanks... yeah I need to keep flat a 1000, 5000, 10000 synthetics.... then natural stone like the Thuringian and jnats I may buy ...