NeilS
20th September 2008, 12:57 PM
Anyone want to talk about Japanese natural waterstones?
Many western woodworkers now use Japanese waterstones to sharpen their hand tool blades, as is evident from the various discussions on these forums. This has been linked partly to the introduction of readily available and relatively cheap man-made synthetic waterstones a few decades ago, and the promotion of them by a few well known western woodworkers along with Japanese woodworking tools more generally.
Before man-made stones, Japanese woodworkers all used natural waterstones to sharpen their hand tools. Many temple builders (repairers) and some other fine woodworkers still use natural waterstones to put the final polished edge on their tools. According to one temple builder:
"In my industry, there is not a person using a man-made finish whetstone. All the carpenters specializing in building shrines and temples who must sharpen a lot of edged tools use a natural finish whetstone. In addition, the sharpness lasts a long time."
So, is this just a case of hanging onto a tradition or are there fundamental differences? Our resident Japanese tool expert on this forum, Soatoz, explains the difference as follows:
"Using natural stones will enable you to plane thinner (more sheen on the surface of the wood) and at the same time it will make the edge last longer. This has a good reason. The sharpening particles of the synthetic stones are even in their sizes, whereas the natural one's are not. Therefore blade sharpened by synthetic stone will have even height of serrated teeth, so once those teeth gets dull it stops cutting altogether, but... when the height is different... I think you see my point. It's like the shark's teeth. They don't break all at once.
Also, the natural stone sharpening has a hardening effect on the tip of the blade. This has been proven scientifically by the HRC testing machine experiment done by renowned plane blacksmith Usui Kengo. The hardness was actually harder after being polished by a fine Nakayama stone."
So, why aren't we waterstone users all using natural finishing stones? Well, if there is a darkside to the darkside art of woodworking it's Japanese natural waterstones. They are almost incomprehensible when first encountered. The names, the classifications and the complexities are daunting, not to mention the cost, particularly if you get it 'wrong' early on.
I have searched the WWF forums, but found little to nothing on this topic.
Is there anyone else who would like to share their journey into the darkside of Japanese natural waterstones... good, bad or indifferent? If so, I will add a posting of my own experience. I'm thinking of an elementary discussion along the lines of what stones you have, what you like/don't like about them for what you hoped to achieve with your tools/woodworking, and, if relevant, how they compare with your synthetic stones.
Neil
Many western woodworkers now use Japanese waterstones to sharpen their hand tool blades, as is evident from the various discussions on these forums. This has been linked partly to the introduction of readily available and relatively cheap man-made synthetic waterstones a few decades ago, and the promotion of them by a few well known western woodworkers along with Japanese woodworking tools more generally.
Before man-made stones, Japanese woodworkers all used natural waterstones to sharpen their hand tools. Many temple builders (repairers) and some other fine woodworkers still use natural waterstones to put the final polished edge on their tools. According to one temple builder:
"In my industry, there is not a person using a man-made finish whetstone. All the carpenters specializing in building shrines and temples who must sharpen a lot of edged tools use a natural finish whetstone. In addition, the sharpness lasts a long time."
So, is this just a case of hanging onto a tradition or are there fundamental differences? Our resident Japanese tool expert on this forum, Soatoz, explains the difference as follows:
"Using natural stones will enable you to plane thinner (more sheen on the surface of the wood) and at the same time it will make the edge last longer. This has a good reason. The sharpening particles of the synthetic stones are even in their sizes, whereas the natural one's are not. Therefore blade sharpened by synthetic stone will have even height of serrated teeth, so once those teeth gets dull it stops cutting altogether, but... when the height is different... I think you see my point. It's like the shark's teeth. They don't break all at once.
Also, the natural stone sharpening has a hardening effect on the tip of the blade. This has been proven scientifically by the HRC testing machine experiment done by renowned plane blacksmith Usui Kengo. The hardness was actually harder after being polished by a fine Nakayama stone."
So, why aren't we waterstone users all using natural finishing stones? Well, if there is a darkside to the darkside art of woodworking it's Japanese natural waterstones. They are almost incomprehensible when first encountered. The names, the classifications and the complexities are daunting, not to mention the cost, particularly if you get it 'wrong' early on.
I have searched the WWF forums, but found little to nothing on this topic.
Is there anyone else who would like to share their journey into the darkside of Japanese natural waterstones... good, bad or indifferent? If so, I will add a posting of my own experience. I'm thinking of an elementary discussion along the lines of what stones you have, what you like/don't like about them for what you hoped to achieve with your tools/woodworking, and, if relevant, how they compare with your synthetic stones.
Neil