Maruo Shiro Suita

Size (mm)

208x76x41

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

With uniform grey coloring and some golden lines, this is a very typical example of Maruo shiro suita. The golden lines are benign and do not impact performance. 

This stone is sealed and remains fully stamped as I tested only a small portion of the stone. 

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.