Japanese Natural Whetstone Yaginoshima Suita 1760g from Kyoto

This is Shohoniyama Yaginoshima Suita from Kyoto, for finishing knives and carpentry tools. Yaginoshima - 八 木 ノ 嶋 - This grinding mine is located east of Ohira and is known for producing very good Suita. The lines on the sharpening surface, this is not the Suji line (toxic), but the Kesuji line, do not interfere with the normal sharpening. Medium hardness, cutlery can be sharpened stably, you can certainly make a good sharpening of the blade. Excellent abrasive power - sharpens quickly and easily. Apart from the working plane, sealed - opened with varnish. The working surface is ground in and ready to work - see the last two photos.

Dimensions: 80mm × 211mm × 40mm (approx.)

Weight: 1760g

- Grain size: 6000-8000

- Nagura is unnecessary, but using it will definitely speed up the process!

- Excellent finishing stone for knives and tools.

- Hardness: 4.0

The grain size of Japanese lapping stones is quite relative, in any case it is thinner than synthetic stone # 8000. This will give the famous Kasumi coating (cloudy) and prolong the life of the blade. Finishing sharpening is done on natural stones, and a smooth, sharp cutting edge is obtained. Japanese natural stones have such properties, because the quality is influenced not by the size of the abrasive particles, but by the shape. A study by the University of Tokyo confirms this. SiO2 abrasive particles are in the form of rounded flakes. They do not abrade, but remove steel like sod, especially on suspension. Thus, not enough steel is removed, but the steel is also removed in such a way that a jagged edge is not formed, which would be when sharpening on artificial stones.

Using natural stones will allow you to cut finer and at the same time extend the life of the edge. There is a good reason for this. In synthetic stones, the sharpening particles are equal in size, while in natural ones they are not. Therefore, a blade sharpened from synthetic stone will have an even height of serrated teeth, so once those teeth become dull, it will stop cutting completely, but ... when the height is different ... I think you understand my point. It's like shark teeth. They don't break right away.

Also, a natural stone sharpening has a hardening effect on the edge of the blade. This has been scientifically proven by the HRC testing machine, an experiment carried out by the renowned blacksmith Usui Kengo. In fact, the hardness was higher after polishing with a thin natural stone. As you can see, it's not just the sharpness of natural stones that is achieved. After you use natural stones, you will not want to switch to artificial ones.