Maruo Kuro Renge Suita

Size (mm)

198x74x34

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 4- / 4+

This kuro renge suita from Maruoyama has been a real eye opener for me. The last time I extensively used a stone of this type was several years ago and I found it fairly acidic / reactive and firmer than I wanted. I have heard that the kuro renge stones mined recently behaved more nicely and ordered this to try for myself. This stone is a delight to use - similar buttery feedback to Maruo shiro but with finer grain particle, very easily managed reactivity, and outstanding purity. This stone is a terrific all purpose finisher for both polishing and knife sharpening. While it can, with care, create very keen edges on tools and razors, most would likely want to follow up with a finer stone in that context. 

Aesthetics & Other Notes

The stone is extremely consistent with dark grey color and sparse black renge patternings. There are no lines or su of note through the entire stone.

This stone is sealed and is stamped on the sides.

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.