Shoubu Iromono Tomae

Size (mm) / Weight

205x75x41 / 1,440g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 3- / 4-

At their best, Shoubudani tomae are soft, easy to use, and leave a deep matte finish. They excel 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 stone is suitable for progression work for carpentry tools and razors as well but cannot serve as a finisher in these roles.

Aesthetics & Other Notes

This stone has beautiful coloring with oranges, reds, yellows, and lime greens. The lines running through the stone can be felt if you sharpen with too much pressure but will not scratch or otherwise cause issues. The back of the stone is stamped, but the surface stamps are mostly worn away now. This stone is sealed is glossy cashew lacquer on four sides.

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. Wholesale prices for Shoubu suita are some of the fastest increasing of all stones.