By Nathan Lee - KIRU sharpening 8.2.2022
This is my friend Ken's stone(thank you for lending it to me), I believe it was originally from Takeda, according to the label on the stone.
From what I've tried, Nakayama stones give this really bright polish on your blade, and generally are on the harder side, occasionally I see some are softer with muddier slurry, but certainly not this guy.
This particular one is no doubt one of the hardest stone I've ever tried, the first impression was: this stone doesn't slurry much(if at all) and gives bright mirror quite easily, even on the soft steel of the knife, I've only tried maybe 2 stones that's close to this hardness level and it's one of the easier one to use.
Edit: after couple more times of use, I reckon the stone warms up to me and start slurry a bit more(nah, I think it's because I rubbed this synthetic nagura on it and new surface/abrasive was exposed or whatever)
In terms of ease to use, this Tomae is at the mid range for me, for more skilled users this will be a very easy stone, I am definitely out of this category lol, I will say 3 out of 5 in terms of ease to use.
I can't say this is a perfect stone because I haven't tried that many Nakayama (that's why people spend so much money on these... because they gotta catch em' all), the fineness of it is top tier if that's what you're looking for.
And lastly, I don't think I can do justice for this stone, all I can share is my experience with it, while I do enjoy it a lot, I do feel a bit defeated with some of the results I get from it because my blades still have some deep scratches and they are being brutally exposed by this stone...hahaha, so that's that.
Stone pics
Close up details
Slurry pics
Sharpening video
Finish
Feedback
Honestly, can't comment on this department much as I didn't have much time on it and I have very little experience with stone that hard, but it's very clear to me that when I am doing work on the hard steel or soft steel.
Sharpening feel
A tiny bit grabby on the hard steel, doesn't feel glassy, very smooth feel, occasionally stone will split some crunchies but overall good feel.
Edge
Again, still prefer Aizu or Morihei 4K as my double bevel edge finisher.
However, I've been quite into sharpening my Yanagibas (been using them to cut chicken thigh fillet lol), and I can tell it finishes quite fine but still leaves a bit of teeth on the blade.
I might end up liking the stone for edge after longer use but I am only playing around with this stone for two weeks so I don't know, unless I can convince Ken to sell it to me hahahaha.
Characteristic of the stone (on a scale of 5)
Hardness - 5
Fineness - 5
Speed - 4
The next blog post I will post about my tiny $50 Nakayama Suita!