Reply To: Back to water stones
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I keep forgetting to ask, can’t these stones be stored in water so that they are always ready? I keep forgetting to ask, can’t these stones be stored in water so that they are always ready?
@ed — So the Naniwa Pro’s are like any magnesium-bound stone, you definitely cannot store them in water for any prolonged period. However, they don’t require soaking to work, they’re in the class of “splash-and-go” stones where you just put some water on them in their bone-dry state and they are ready to work. However, the SS2’s claim no binder, so maybe you’re right, and that brand can just be left to soak forever. If you’ve been doing it with no issue, I’ll follow suit and be very grateful for the tip.
Interestingly, my SS2s didn’t come with any base whatsoever, but it sounds like a nice accessory if you got it for free. “Rots and falls off”…do you mean to say your stone is somehow bound to the wooden base? I must be misunderstanding you…if your stone were, say, epoxied to a base, you couldn’t flip the stone over when one side was dished and use the flat 2nd side.
You’re right about traditional Japanese sharpening, at least as I understand it. The cambered technique you’re describing — I have been plagued by doubt in my sharpening technique, hence the jig and draw strokes, but your description is good enough to make me want to test it out.