OHIRA IRO

INTERPRETATION OF THE STONE

"Ohira IRO for its different colors, in this case many  dark  colors throughout the  stone. It has a very smooth buttery feel across the entire stone, producing a dark grey to almost black  slurry  after a few strokes depending on the steel and iron type.

A medium stone  with very fine grain in the 6k to 8k range that I felt could be finer. Good ease of use. Great for both single and double bevel knives polishing.

Tested on Tamahagane Honyaki, Genkai white 1 Honyaki, standard soft sanmai white 1 from Sakai, nantetsu and Kato sanmai. The stone performed well across all steels. It’s fine grain 
 texture and cutting speed make it suitable for Honyaki, Damascus and wrought iron. 

Best used with little water for both polishing and edge sharpening. I tend to start most of my stones with a surface texture from a worn 600 grit atoma, this stone gave a very clean clear contrast between soft iron and core steel, core steel getting darker and clearer with extended polishing with grain detail visible in the steel.

Over all an excellent stone for both polishing and edge sharpening but I found it excels in polishing, best suited for  those with some natural stone experience. "