Shoubu Momiji Suita

Size (mm) / Weight

206x75x45 / 1,695g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 4- / 4

This stone is a perfect example of suita from Shobudani. With a fine finish in the 7-8k range, this stone leaves excellent refined edges and very nice kasumi polishes with good contrast, detail, and evenness. This stone is suitable for a wide range of applications from knife polishing to part of a razor progression. The feedback from the stone is extremely pleasant - grippy yet smooth - letting you know precisely how much abrasion is occurring. Under high pressure the stone will release some slurry without being scratchy or grabby. 

The quality of the stone from front to back is exceptional. There are no inclusions or line to worry about and you will be able to used every millimeter of this stone across its life. 

Aesthetics & Other Notes

This stone has a creamy base coloring with renge and momiji throughout. There are no major lines are su inclusions to be worried about. The momiji, which is rather rare for Shobu, is more dominant in the bottom of the stone. You could easily flatten out the back side of the stone to get to those layers faster. The stone was sealed by the wholesaler. The surface stamps have been lapped off as part of preparing the stone for use. 

Shoubu (菖蒲谷, Shoubudani, 菖蒲谷)

An Eastern mine well regarded for its suita. While this mine may not have the same caché as Ohira or Nakayama in the West, stones from this mine are generally very high quality. Wholesales prices for Shoubu suita are some of the fastest increasing of all stones.