Mined in the Aichi Prefecture, Japan, these natural whetstones have been used as part of the traditional Nihonto polishing progression for centuries. In more recent years, they have become popular for many other sharp edged tools. Due to their speed and uniform particle size, these stones are highly effective for kitchen knives. Capable of producing a keen edge with a great balance of tooth and refinement, as well as a detailed and even polish. They are ideal for sharpening over medium grit scratches of synthetic whetstones. Can be useful as a pre-polisher before very fine natural stones, though we believe the Mikawa Nagura that we carry can serve well as finishers on their own for both clad and mono steel blades.
Size : This stone sits on a slight gradient, as one end is thicker than the other. Of course, it is stable and comfortable to use.
Surface: 214 x 76 mm
Longest point of the stone: 219 mm
Thickest end: 41mm
Thinnest end: 37 mm
Weight : 1380 g
This stone comfortably removes 3000 grit scratches. Very smooth and slight cushioning feeling that does not "grab" the blade. I found this stone to be up there with the most pleasurable Mikawa I have used because of the gentle hardness and speed, in combination with the fineness of the result and amount of detail enhanced. A very uniform, fine and detailed finish on cladding and a bright core steel. Fine edge, suitable for honing any kitchen knife.
This stone is sealed on the sides and back.
- The 2nd image shows the wet surface
- The 3rd image shows the swarf from sharpening - the blade material was 1.2442 core steel clad in wrought iron and 15n20. The stone was lapped to Atoma 600 and the slurry was rinsed off prior to sharpening
- The 6th image shows the back
- Before using this Mikawa Nagura, the knife was sharpened to an even 3000 grit finish using Suehiro Debado SNE #3000
For the first use, and after a prolonged period of the stone being unused, we recommend running water over the surface for about a minute before sharpening. Begin with just enough water to cover the surface, and sprinkle water as needed. A small spray bottle is useful so you can always add a controlled amount of water. The trial sharpening for our photos was done without any pre-slurry only to show the characteristics of the stone. By all means, this stone can be used with slurry generated before sharpening; this can help to improve the initial tactile feedback, cutting speed and uniformity of the finish - though the resulting polish may be slightly less bright. For only honing the cutting edge (without touching the blade road), we highly recommend sharpening with a slurried surface, lapped with Atoma 600 or higher.
Natural whetstones can have chipped corners, lines, cracks, holes, craters, impurities and other imperfections. We do our best to depict the appearance of the stone in our photos.
For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.