Maruoyama Renge Shiro Suita

Size (mm) / Weight

209x78x66 / 2,535g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 3+ / 4

This oversized 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. While one corner of the stone is slanted inwards and it lacks "perfect shape" this behemoth feels exceptionally stable in use and will provide countless hours of joyful sharpening and polishing.

Aesthetics & Other Notes

This stone is not only exceptional in its size and performance, but in its visuals as well. It is uncommon for one to find renge in Maruoyama's shiro suita, yet this stone shows prominent aka (red) and kuro (black) renge. The stone is almost entirely sunashi with no obvious layers that will need to be lapped away.

This stone is sealed.

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.