Hideriyama Tomae Iromono Ooban Japanese Whetstone

This exceptional Japanese whetstone was selected by us and imported directly from Japan, thoroughly tested and sealed on sides and back to protect the stone for long term use. 

It measures 150 mm (5.91 inches) long × 115 mm (4.53 inches) wide × 35 mm (1.38 inches) tall, and weighs 1480 g (52.20 oz / 3.26 lbs).

Hardness: 3.5
Large, wide Hideriyama Iromono with deep, beautiful colors. Like most Hideriyama , this stone is on the softer side. It seems to be a bit more firm than the Hideriyama Suita Stones overall. The overall feeling of this stone is dense but soft and gentle. Sharpening a vintage plane was a real pleasure with the stone "grabbing" the bevel and gliding smoothly. The stone releases slurry which is abrasive and can be felt through semi dry, whispy feedback combined with a smooth, oily element. Very interesting stone in terms of feel. For knives the stone is a dream to use with maximum ease of use in achieving a flawless Kasumi polish with little time and effort. Polish is a deep, dark, smoky Jigane and semi bright, whitish Hagane. Would make a great pre polished for Honyaki blades. When used for razors, the stone will quickly remove medium grit scratches and creates an aggressive, hazy, pre - finished edge which is ready for final finishing. When compared to the Hideriyama Shiro Suita, this stone is more firm, fine and dense.

A photo of the stone's polishing ability on soft and hard steels of a Japanese kanna (plane) blade are shown.