Shoubudani Iromono Koppa

Size (mm) / Weight

138x87x29 / 797g

Hardness / Fineness*

3- / 4-

Description

Shoubudani suita have an excellent reputation in Japan and abroad, but good tomae from this mine also deserve attention. At their best, Shoubudani tomae are soft, easy to use, and leave a deep matte finish. They excels at converting synthetic scratches to kasumi. The edges are also good for kitchen knives, finishing in the 5k range, a good alternative to softer suita. It is very grit consistent and fast enough to work well with honyaki knives too. It will leave a very clean core steel and a very faint and consistent scratch pattern in softer iron cladding. You can jump from this stone to your finest finishing stones during polishing without issue.

This particular example has superb patterning and color with a range of greens and purples mixed in with a bronze colored base. Though not massive, it is plenty large for any and all polishing needs - I have sharpened 300+mm blades on stones this size and smaller.

This stone is not sealed. It has a hand chiseled back and stamp on the side. The top stamps have been lapped off while preparing the stone for testing.

* Please check our FAQ for an explanation of our hardness and fineness values