Dave Burnard
>I've gotten a few unusual things from Nakaoka-san as well. He is really putting a lot of effort into his website, webstore and info pages. In sword polishing I know that chu nagura precedes (is coarser than) koma nagura - and most koma nagura are white or striped like the naguras we usually see for woodwork sharpening. Circumstantial evidence though.

The really hard stones I have are very difficult to heep the bevel in contact with the stone without it "chirping" across the stone. They don't build up any paste on their own and require frequent use of nagura to cut effectively. Still they have their uses... They are also very pretty to look at which was one of the reasons I picked them - despite their hardness.

Your question about tools from the same blacksmith sharpening the same, would assume that the tools are all made out of the same iron and steel, hardened the same, had the same bevel angle, etc. I'm thinking that's what you meant, that things made from similar materials in similar geometries ought to sharpen the same. So all of the chisels in say a blue steel bench chisel set ought to be essentially the same (I haven't come across outliers in my sets) - but a fancy paring chisel from the same maker but made from watetsu and pre WWI white steel would feel different on the same stones.