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Home | Natural Whetstones | #BS04 Miwotsukushi Hime Iyo Meito 'Koume Shiro' Hard Sizzly Bright Nat

#BS04 Miwotsukushi Hime Iyo Meito 'Koume Shiro' Hard Sizzly Bright Nat Stone Tennen Toishi Ehime 732 Grams

$539.53
$539.53
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A nearly pure white Shiro stone with scattered small Koume plum branch marks. Hard with a sizzly feel that makes a very fine bright finish with nice contrast. 

Fineness

3.5

Hardness

Hard Iyo Meito stones have the hardness of a 4 to 5 LV Honyama but are easier to use and a bit less fine. A LV5 Honyama would be approximately 10,000 grit or more in fineness and be difficult to use, however a hard Iyo Meito is approximately equivalent to 4000 grit and is easier to use on a variety of steels.

Hard Iyo Meito stones leave a smooth surface on wide bevels with nice food release as well as a pretty contrast between core and cladding steel. Hard Iyo Meito are a great choice for double bevel knives that need both refinement and bite or as pre-polishers on single bevel knives that want a very fine edge or for others that do best at a medium fine polish.

Hard Iyo Meito stones leave a refined but bitey edge approximately equivalent to 4000 or finer synthetic grit. Iyo Meito eges will have more bite and more refinement at the same time unline synthetic which tend to have either refinement or bite.

Cutting Speed

Ease of Use

Finish

Shiro

Shiro; white is a less poetic description of the Iyo Meito stones and generally denotes a very hard stone that makes a nice fine finish approximately analogous to a 4000 or greater synthetic stone. Shiro pattern Iyo Meito stones are typically hard and fine making a bright sub mirror finish without a nagura or fine diamond stone slurry which will be a hair darker and coarser but still fine.

Shiro Iyo stones have also been used in the production of pottery locally.

Koume

In the town of Tobe near the Iyomeito mine, there is an area called Nanaore, The road down the mountain bends seven times and where sharpening stones were transported via horse-drawn carriage. The plum blossoms that bloom there are known as "Nanaori Koume" (Seven-folded plums), and are a kind of landmark in Tobe.

The lines in this whetstone which have re-mineralized along older cracks resemble the branches of Tobe plum tree, and so came to be called "koume."

Cracks are typically of concern in natural whetstones, some re-mineralizations along them can be harder than the host stone but the Iyo Meito Koume are stable and and will not not harm blades.

Miwotsukushi Hime

Miwotsukushi Hime mine Iyo Meito from in the Ehime prefecture on Shikoku island, Iyo stones have been quarried for 1300 years and may well be the oldest stones used for sharpening on record in Japan. Volcanic Iyo stones are typically harder than most Japanese sedimentary stones (Iyo stones are fused volcanic ash) and range in coarseness from approximately 1000 to 4000+ grit, we mostly stock harder finer Iyo Meitos which are typically easy to use and work on a variety of steels.

Iyo Meito stones can be made to cut slightly with either a smaller Iyo Meito nagura stone or a fine diamond stone (400 grit) for a slightly coarser finish  and darker polish. Individual stones vary in how different these finishes will be but this is consistant with Iyo Meito stones.

 Do not soak Iyo Meito stones for longer than a few minutes, like other natural stones they can come apart with prolonged soaking.

Type/Size:
Dimensions: 120/100x 85x36/33mm
Weight: 732 oz