Maruo Shiro Suita

Size (mm) / Weight

207x76x50 / 1,890g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 3+ / 4

This stone demonstrates how Maruoyama built a reputation for excellent workhorse suita. It is easy to use, fast, and a very usable fineness. This stone is a practical finisher for knives and an excellent pre-finisher for tools and razors. The feedback is chalky yet smooth and the stone engages immediately with the blade. Under pressure it will yield a creamy sharpening mud and under light pressure with water form a pleasant loose slurry. It will leave an exceptionally clean polish on core steel. Most people would find the finish to be an excellent stopping point for kasumi and others would be very happy jumping to their finest stones hereafter. The edges from this stone are well balanced between bite and tooth in the 6k range. 

Aesthetics & Other Notes

This stone shows both sparse aka (red) renge on one side and dense kuro (black) renge on the other. The golden lines are benign and impact neither performance nor feel. I can see one, perhaps two, su layers that give me pause, but that is representative of less than 1mm of stone overall. The remaining lines, based on my experience with this mine, are not of concern to me.

This stone is sealed and remains fully stamped. 

Maruo (丸尾山, Maruoyama)

One of the few that continues to be operational, this Western mine is renowned for its soft shiro suita. This mine is also well regarded for its shiki uchigumori (tenjyou suita), ao suita, and aisa-layer stones. Once widely available and relatively cheap, increased demand has outpaced supply making these stones harder to get and more expensive than just a few years ago. All things considered, however, they are comparatively still quite attainable.