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SHIRO SUITA AWASEDO #53
220 - 79 - 50mm
From the top right in smaller kanji SAIKOKYUHIN
(very best quality)
Reads on the stone top from the upper left down in
kanji in larger letters SHO HONZAN SUITA (correct original mountain finish
suita strata stone).
And down the middle right again SAIKOKYUHIN
This shiro or white suita stone is a true grade
#24 stone at 220mm by 79mm by 50mm. It is big and beautiful and being
white, very rare. It came from a store in a small town in Japan that
closed in the 1970s containing stock dating back to the 1930s. The awasedo
has not been used other than to test the quality at one edge of the stone
as you can see in the photos and it is considered to be New/Old Stock.
Weighing in at about 5 1/2 pounds, this stone has
a historic aspect. Grade #24 true awase toishi are exceedingly hard to
find even in newly mined stones of any proponent quality. This is a
genuine early 20th century awasedo from the pre-war 1930s era.
Shiro Suita awase toishi are known to be from the
deepest layers of the mines. Even deeper then Hon Suita. This shiro suita
is very pure in its composition and very hard and represents the highest
quality suita stone you can buy. The fine mineral induced lines you see in
the photos on the top of the stone are millions of years old and are
composed of highly compressed mineral deposits, they are not
cracks.
This is a deep strata Suita, it is very hard (see
close up photo) and will cut steel but it does not develops it own paste
easily and requires the user to be advanced in technique. But after using
a diamond plate to develop a slurry the tremendous speed qualities are
unlocked and the stone cuts very quickly. Just a finger tip of water will
quickly draw up a rich black off the blade with this stone.
This is a very fine grit stone that produces
a mirror like finish to the hard steel hagane that you can see in the
photos while leaving the soft iron jigane bright with soft contrasts
allowing the details of the jigane to be visable. With a paste this is not
a difficult stone to use. My indicators suggest that the grit base to
be well above 38,000 and with compression the grit particles will crush
down into the lower 40,000s range.
Hardness Grit
Speed/ Strength Price in U.S.
10 10- 9++/10 * SOLD
*If a diamond plate induced slurry is
used.
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