OLD_SCHOOL

Oh yes, I've lapped the stone. I lap all stones regularly on my Shapton GDLP. That stone is flat when I hone on it.

I've sent them to you via your email address. Thanks for looking.

I'd be glad to send you the pics. I can't send them through PM though. They'd be jpeg files. What is your email?

I forgot to mention that my quest for a J Nat was not to find one that would necessarily exceed a Shapton 30K in sharpness. I'm not looking for ultimate sharpness in a natural stone. I explained to So that I have had a Shapton 16k for quite some time and after the talk of the J Nats on SRP, I was interested in a stone that would potentially exceed the 16K in satisfaction and then ultimately quell any further desire of mine to even want to buy a 30K (I have HAD of course!). I hope that makes more sense.

Chris L

Yes, I'd say it's a Karasu. Look at this Ebay link below
CLICK HERE

Mine looks like the middle of the three pictures of "toxic" or dangerous Karasu. And it almost looks like the fifth picture on the lower set of pictures (the left most of the two pics on the red background).

I emailed the pics of my stone to Howard Schechter whom I've talked with frequently for some time regarding all types of stones. Mainly I want to get his opinion on the larger pyrite clusters and how he feels the may or may not affect honing. I'd have to examine the edges more closely for any possible micro-chipping that may be caused from grit that large being released when honing.

So is on vacation until 8.10.08. I have emailed him. So did describe this stone before I bought it as being very hard and as such he said hard stones can be prone to scratching steel. I wonder if scratching could occur when a large cluster of pyrite is released from the stone.

I did take your advice and go from hone to strop. I shaved with the razor again this morning (straight off of 50 passes on the dry Nakayama and my horsehide strop); it produces a shaving edge. However, I would consider it to be on the low end of the spectrum. I definitely made it clear to So that I would be using this stone as a final polishing stone for razors. He understood that. I told him I wanted a J Nat that would provide an all around better edge than a Shapton 30K. Really, there is a lot of debris throughout this hone. Black specks (fossilized plant matter?) as large or larger than the pyrite clusters. I'll talk to So. Thanks.

Hey Old_School:

I need your opinion on the Nakayama Asagi stone I purchased from So. I've tried it some more and have examined it closer under magnification (I should have done this sooner, but didn't). A closer look reveals significant inclusions of what have to be iron pyrite ("fools gold"). Thing is, relatively speaking, these inclusions are large. I can email you pictures for you to look at. Some are as large as 1/5th to 1/3rd of a millimeter. They're all throughout the stone. If it was a Norton stone, with a similar imbedded grit defect, it would be going back to Norton for replacement. Can I email you photos? the pyrite grit is released during both wet and dry honing and you can hear it. Unacceptable to me. BTW, I am also not impressed with this stone after further honing time. I honed wet and shaved with it this morning. Although the shave was virtually irritation free (a hint of irritation) and required no stropping during the shave, I was not impressed. The edge created on this stone was less comfortable than a coticule edge and no way was it as polished, comfortable or close to as sharp as off the 16K Shapton. I have not yet contacted So. Thanks.

Chris L