Question about What makes a Naniwa Crumble

[cotedupy]

There probably ought to be some kind of legal disclaimer on the back, like with scratch cards.

Most of the time when you buy one - a couple of minutes later you've just got a bit of rubbish that you throw in the bin. But approximately 1 in 3.72 times you will end up with a useable whetstone.

 

[life2short1971]

Naniwa Crumble

Take 5 or 6 large cooking apples and cut into rough chunks. Simmer for about 5 mins with a little water, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Place in a baking tray.

Crush your Naniwa stones into a fine powder and mix in your hands with salted butter and demerara sugar. You're aiming for a breadcrumb-like consistency here.

Cover the apples with with the crumble mixture and bake at a medium heat for about 45 mins.

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You can tweak this recipe as you fancy; rhubarb makes a nice addition, or blackberries in the autumn. And indeed any other brand of useless whetstone will work just as well

FTFY

The Chosera/Pro/Finishing Stone (Snow White) are all magnesia binder stones, the Super Stones are what people call resinoid. Historically, magnesia binder stones have been prone to issues. Shapton Pro had the same problem early on but it was resolved somehow, it seems. Other brands had similar situations. There are too many theories about why to post here, but the magnesia binder seems to be a core element in the story though.
Odd thing - on the sides of Chosera and Jyunpaku, there is a recommendation to not soak for more than an hour. But Naniwa's instruction sheet (how to sharpen PDF) says differently; the Professional, Super, and Finishing Stone have a 'no soak, just spritz' recommendation.

Chosera stones seem to be in production still but only for the Japanese market and only on bases.

The Superstones, being resin, seem to not be prone to cracking, but some of them will warp.

FTFY= Thanks!!

 

[Loner16]

Naniwa may call the Professional/Chosera line "splash and go," and they may well be, but one is going to have to do a good bit of splashing before the surface is ready to hone on. These stones are thirstier than a camel pulling in to the oasis for a fillup!
At least mine are!

 

[Gamma]

They do take on water, not a lot but enough where I have to splash them often enough.
I'm guessing, but maybe the point of telling people they're splash/go, is to stop people from leaving them submerged for a too long. Like, maybe 4-5 minutes is ok but 20 is not. A 3-4 minute soak does make things easier.


This is how I dry a stones; this is a Naniwa Professional 1000. You can't tell from the pix but the bottom and 4 sides have been sealed. But I dry them on their sides like this. Helps the water leave the stone faster than if I stand them on their short ends, or lay them flat. I dry them off a bit first too. Sometimes i turn them over during the dry cycle to the other edge faces up.
In the photo, the stone is propped up on the side of the silicone lined tray. That's just for the pic - usually the stone is entirely inside the tray, with one end raised on a wood or rubber spacer.

 

[Steve56]

Here’s another good way to dry stones, a baker’s cooling rack. This Snow White has been sealed with spar varnish. FYI, the Suehiros, at least the Kouseki and the Gokumyo 20k, seem to come with the sides sealed.

 

[Lyon Heart]

Having started this thread, I gained a sense from everyone's comments that I may very well have had a stone that crumbled earlier than most. My main objective was to see if it was the result of how I was handling it and it doesn't sound like it.

With this knowledge in hand I went back to the store. I wasn't going to name names, but in this case I am incredibly pleased with their response. I have bought most of my stones through KnifeWear in Ottawa, as much for the advice as the selection. They had a record of how long I've had it and their response was that the stone shouldn't crack this quickly, but they do see some stones crack over time. There isn't a specific warranty on Naniwas but they were happy to swap it out for a new one.

A couple other notes worth mentioning:

• I did superglue the couple of pieces back on and flattened the stone with a diamond plate. That seemed to address those two pieces but not the overall crumbling.
• They did suggest that extent of soaking and the rate of drying might make difference. Given that I live in Canada and the dryness of our homes during the winter, that I might do best to drape a cloth over the stones when I have finished with them and am letting them dry out. This is certainly a practice that I will be using.

I now have a new unblemished 5000 Naniwa and will be drying it under a cloth.

Thanks again for everyones feedback.