OHIRA ŌITA

INTERPRETATION OF THE STONE

A large, clean OHIRA with good cutting speed, overall ease of use is very high with strong polishing strength.  On first testing this stone I felt its grit range was in the 4k-6k range, but as pushed it more I found this stone reaching the 8k range in polish. 

For polishing this stone gives very nice contrast with matte soft cladding and a  bright mirror like finish core steel. When the stone surface is dressed with a 600 atoma, washing away all mud and starting with fresh water the stone will produce a thick dark mud naturally, making the stone surface smooth and very easy to sharpen across the entire surface of the stone, giving a thick Kasumi finish. 

When starting the stone with a more polishing surface and fresh water the stone again easily brings up a natural mud with strong polishing strength but will bring out finer detail in soft iron, with clean separation in Damascus layers and mirror like core steel.  For edge sharpening this stone gave a very fine toothy edge. 

Overall an excellent stone with huge potential in both polishing and edge sharpening and with its large size and clean surface polishing was very enjoyable being able to work around the entire stone.  Recommended for both beginners and experienced sharpeners.