I thought Wakasa stones were soft; I was suprised at how hard this one is.
It came to me as a gift, but it had a few issues. The stone had split in two, and there was a nasty fissure in the top.
It's glued up solidly now, but I still need to seal the sides a bit more in a few places though.
The L-shaped fissure in the top ran 3/4 of the stone's width, then it ran 2/3 of the way down the side. Maybe it was about 1/2" in from the edge the whole way. This was the biggest challenge. After much lapping, the top is good to go.
Why bother? Why waste that much effort on a cracked and problematic hone you ask?
Well - I have this knife, it's basically a razor; it's got a 3" blade that's just a thin flexy wedge. I think it was originally intended for cutting leather but I'm not sure. Anyway, I needed to use it, but the edge was badly chipped from the last thing I wasn't supposed to use it for.
So - I set a new bevel, and gave it a short spin on this stone - the fissures and cracks were still there mind you. After maybe 5 minutes on a 1k, and another 10 minutes of Botan slurry, I finished up with 50 laps on slurry from a Diamond Nagura. I think I could have shaved with that edge. Seriously.
So - I decided to rescue the stone from becoming a bunch of Tomo Nagura. I have to finish lapping it; I started with 50x, and stopped at 320x. I think I took 3.0mm off the top; I'm too tired to finish it now - 3mm is a lot of stone to remove.
It's a Kita, with some light figuring - possibly Kan, Nashiji, and Goma. The Goma is there for sure. Whether or not the flecks are really Nashiji, or if that little ring pattern is actually Kan is speculative.
It came to me as a gift, but it had a few issues. The stone had split in two, and there was a nasty fissure in the top.
It's glued up solidly now, but I still need to seal the sides a bit more in a few places though.
The L-shaped fissure in the top ran 3/4 of the stone's width, then it ran 2/3 of the way down the side. Maybe it was about 1/2" in from the edge the whole way. This was the biggest challenge. After much lapping, the top is good to go.
Why bother? Why waste that much effort on a cracked and problematic hone you ask?
Well - I have this knife, it's basically a razor; it's got a 3" blade that's just a thin flexy wedge. I think it was originally intended for cutting leather but I'm not sure. Anyway, I needed to use it, but the edge was badly chipped from the last thing I wasn't supposed to use it for.
So - I set a new bevel, and gave it a short spin on this stone - the fissures and cracks were still there mind you. After maybe 5 minutes on a 1k, and another 10 minutes of Botan slurry, I finished up with 50 laps on slurry from a Diamond Nagura. I think I could have shaved with that edge. Seriously.
So - I decided to rescue the stone from becoming a bunch of Tomo Nagura. I have to finish lapping it; I started with 50x, and stopped at 320x. I think I took 3.0mm off the top; I'm too tired to finish it now - 3mm is a lot of stone to remove.
It's a Kita, with some light figuring - possibly Kan, Nashiji, and Goma. The Goma is there for sure. Whether or not the flecks are really Nashiji, or if that little ring pattern is actually Kan is speculative.