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SUITA AWASEDO #145
206mm x 73mm x 20mm
Reads on the stone top from the upper right down, SHO HONZAN AWASE TOISHI (chosen original mountain finishing stone)
Down the right center SUITA a particular strata in the mine.
This suita awasedo stone is NEW/OLD stock from a closed store in a small town in Japan. It has not been used other than to test the quality at one edge of the stone as you can see in the photos. It has a very fine rare light egg color, and in this color and strata no excuses are necessary as to the the size of this stone. This is a great stone.
Although marked SUITA, this stone has the type of even texture that you see in the finest tomae stones, and a hardness indicative of those found in the deepest strata of the mines of Kyoto. The "su" does appear in a few areas on the top surface but can be seen more easily on the sides and bottom of the stone. There you will see clear open su and dark reddish open tunnel su that may run to the top and sides of the toishi. I do not know what effect these dark su will have on the performance of the stone in the future but at the worst they will need to picked out, and at best may add a type of renge quality to the stone.
The stone as you can see is only 20mm thick, all of the surfaces were sanded and ground smooth at the mine, a procedure reserved for only the finest stones. The back is sanded so flat that on a table top is does not jiggle at all. A stone this thin with this much preparation indicates a unique and fine awasedo. The grit test and the reflection indicator photo at the bottom of the grouping to the left show that this stone is capable of providing the highest degree of polish to the hagane hard steel as well as the jigane soft iron while leaving the jigane with the desired soft matte contrasting finish. You will find this stone to be very, very hard and without a slurry a perception of scratchy. To use easily a diamond plate to build up a slurry is needed and this all but eliminates the scratchy feeling. Without a slurry an experienced hand is necessary but the results are rewarding. My indicators suggest that this stone falls into the 28,000+ grit realm.
These older stones tend to have a microns thin film or skin on the top surface that is a result of chemical reactions with the atmosphere and the minerals of the stone. The stones performance can be greatly enhanced the moment this skin is removed with a diamond flattening plate. I have removed some of this skin to perform the sharpening tests as you can see. You can see a grit test for this stone HERE.
A Swedish blue steel Ishido Teruhide blade was used to sample this stone.
Hardness Grit Speed/Strenght Price in U.S. $
10/10 10/10 9/10 $650