Anybody read japanese???

[Wayne Jolly]

A couple of months ago I bought a PM66 table saw, and the man I bought it from threw in a bunch of wood (including a couple of nice pieces of Birdseye maple, cherry, Wenge, and others) and a couple of water stones. He didn't remember much about them and could not remember what grits they were, but for now I am guessing that they were probably 1000 and 4000 grits. One of them came in the box shown. Can anybody translate the Japanese into correct English? Maybe I can find out something about the stones.

Thanks,

Wayne

P.S. Just to be clear, the top of the box is on the left. :p

[Van Huskey]

You may try posting this in the Neanderthal forum, no more likely to get someone that can translate Japanese there BUT you are far more likely for someone to recognize the brand and know something about it.

[Chris Kennedy]

According to my Japanese speaking student in consultation with her Japanese mother:

Bottom right in the green box: quality guaranteed

Bottom center in black box: basically says it's a waterstone (no mention of grit)

Big center characters: Probably the brand (North Mountain).

Upper left in the green box: uncertain. They couldn't figure it out. Couldn't put the symbols together to make sense, so it may have been more on the brand or something.

Cheers,

Chris

[Chris Kennedy]

Update: so my student's mother did some research. By what she has found, it should be the "third stone" used in sharpening. From what she gathered, it is the extra fine in a sequence of coarse, fine, and extra fine.

Cheers,

Chris

[David Wong]

北山 - Kitayama brand. Could be the 8000 grit. $73 on hidatools site.

[harry hood]

That looks like the box the Kitayama North Mountain polishing stone comes in. The one that came in this box is kind of a pale yellow on a dark wood base. It's around 8000 grit although grit between Japanese stones isn't really comparable. I've used one for years and it's a wonderful stone that cuts amazingly fast. You have to keep it flat and you might want to buy a nagura to use with it. It sells for about $70 new.

[David Weaver]

I agree, I have the same stone and that is the box. I think Japan Woodworker may refer to it as the "north mountain stone".

It is a good stone.

[Wayne Jolly]

Wow. Looks like I may have obtained a small gloat. Harry described it to the "t". Light pale yellow mounted on a dark wood base. The nagura stone is in the box, so I have that. I have never used water stones before so I will have to do a little research on exactly how to do that.

I bought the PM66 3 HP Baldor, left-tilt, 50" fence rails on a Powermatic mobil base, plus a good quantity of wood, his home made jigs (not much there but what the heck), a Skarpaz blade, a Forrest WWII thin kerf blade, and a Freud SD508 dado set that looks like it was never used. Then, as we were loading it onto my trailer, he said that I may as well take these two water stones too. I don't think I did too bad for my $1000.

Thanks for all the info.

Wayne

[Ron Kellison]

You done real good, Son!!

Cheers,

Ron