Japanese Natural Whetstones, or Tennen Toishi, can be soft, hard, coarse or fine. Those known as Awasedo are usually layered, and regarded as a fine hone. Other stones are softer and coarser and better suited to the early to mid-range work when honing razors. When sharpening cutlery, a mid-range stone for razors may be an apt finisher for a knife. When referring a stone as a finisher, what matters most is the task at hand and the desired results.
Arato-ishi are the coarsest stones, Nakato-ishi are stones with mid-range capabilities and Awasedo are the finer finishers. Suita are a very special type of stone and they have their own category.
