Nubatama Stones?
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Nubatama Stones?
Is anyone selling Nubatama stones these days? Or, maybe the same stones under a different name, or a different stone you might mistake for a Nubatama? I see lots of posts on the internet about how great the Nubatama Platinum 1k Hard is supposed to be and I'm just curious. Thanks!
Sam
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Re: Nubatama Stones?
I don't think so, but will watch this space with great anticipation
Cheers Grant
Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not going to get you!!
Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not going to get you!!
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Re: Nubatama Stones?
Yes, I am looking for a 1k platinum hard though. If anyone is willing to part with one I will trade my Naniwa Pro/Choseras (400, 800, 1k).
Sam
- Jeff B
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Re: Nubatama Stones?
Nubatama was a "house brand" for Ken, a name he came up with, just like Mark uses Yahiko. There is no actual Nubatama brand or company like there is with a name like Shapton or Naniwa. Ken took the secrets of who made his Nubatama stones to the grave.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: Nubatama Stones?
That thing was trademarked by Kennard Novelty Co. How's that for creepy? Yes-Yes.
Re: Nubatama Stones?
I see. That's a shame. I never saw a comment about them that wasn't high praise. I guess somebody out there is making really good stones we don't see much of here in the States. : (
Re: Nubatama Stones?
I recall Ken saying that the stones on his videos that Nubatama were common at the Tsukiji market? See here at 3:45:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsAtiDZjd8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsAtiDZjd8Y
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Re: Nubatama Stones?
Ken was both a middle-man and a developer. While he developed a number of products (such as his many compounds and some of the nanocloths), other people made these things for him; as for the knives and stones, my impression was always that these were less proprietary in that Ken found them more than developed them, and what you point out in the video supports this very strongly. That doesn't mean that some of the stones he sold may have been special requests just for him, not unlike Mark's requests from suppliers for certain styles of blades. But it is hard to imagine this was the case with most of the stones. Mark often has to make large orders to get something proprietary, and it is very hard to imagine that Ken, on his own, could order such volume given that stones are harder to sell and - perhaps more importantly - probably much harder to set up for manufacture using a proprietary recipe.
Like Jeff said, I'm not sure we'll ever know. But if you really liked a stone that you bought from Ken, my guess is that you could find it if you looked hard enough under another name, with perhaps the exception of the platinum series (here, the price, uniqueness, limited grit ranges, etc., suggest that, of everything he sold, this might have been a special development project mostly for him).
All this is speculation on my part.
~Joe
Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and own mostly Konosukes but have used over a dozen brands.
Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and own mostly Konosukes but have used over a dozen brands.