# Stone Stuff



## SolidSnake03 (Aug 31, 2015)

Hey Everyone,

I've never posted a review about a stone before but thought if there was every something I wanted to write about it was this. In talking with Cris a bit it came up that he had a few stones that were some sort of american natural stone that was very hard, splash and go, didn't really dish at all and worked great on his W2 steel with RHC 64-65. Needless to say this sounded intriguing, he had a broken one that was offered on loan to me for a bit.

I've been using the stone now for a few weeks and honestly really like it yet at the same time I'm a bit confused by it. The stone has some odd properties to me in that it's super hard, splash and go, very heavy, doesn't seem to dish at all, cuts fairly fast, leaves a finishing edge and yet can remove a ton of metal if needed yet it something like a 2-4k stone. I have never ventured into the world of Japanese Naturals because the cost was always prohibitive so maybe this fits in line with those but for someone quite used to synthetics this was kinda new to me but enough about the stone itself, how does it cut and what kinda edge does it leave?

The stone cuts fairly fast, it's interesting in that I've tested it out now with FKM-8, White #2, R2, Shigefusa Steel, Blue #2 and some random junk stainless and it cut all of them well. It seemed to generate a burr quickly yet the burr was relatively small and easy to flip. I used the knife quite a bit on my Takamura R2 which was suffering from a lot of micro-chipping of the OOTB edge. The stone took out all the micro chips without a problem using only light pressure and small stropping strokes. Didn't bother using any harder pressure or even my regular sharpening technique with this thing, just edge trailing strops back and forth. Was able to flip the bur after maybe 2-3 strokes per side and the burr was abraded very quickly on some felt and balsa. It took the Takamura's edge (trouble with tomato skin and a bit chipped) back to super sharp (hair popping sharp and no issues with tomato) and took out the chips. I haven't since gone to a lower stone since this one has been able to maintain everything I've tried it on aka didn't have any really bad shape knives.

Regarding how this thing matches up to some other stones, well I've used The Suehiro Rika as well as some Gesshin stuff (Gesshin 6000, 4000 and 8000) as finishers/had knives with these edges. I vastly prefer this thing over the Rika which I never really got along with, I was never really able to get the kinda edge I wanted off the Rika, edge always seemed a bit too smooth or polished for me and I didn't like the stone feel, wanted something harder. In terms of the Gesshin, I love the Gesshin 4000 edge and that is still my favorite finishing edge BUT that stone is $110+ or something and for comparison this thing is $50. For $50 this stone performs very very well, again, I would say the gesshin 4000 edge is more to my liking (toothy and just seems to cut so well) and that stone in general was/is highly impressive but for the price I would just buy one of Cris's. The Gesshin 6000 and 8000 didn't leave enough tooth for my liking, wasn't a huge fan of these. They were nice stones but again just not my preferences.

The stone is something fairly different from most of the synthetics you see and honestly, I really enjoyed using it. Would I take it over something like a Gesshin 4000? Well no if they were both free but if I'm footing the bill on this, Cris's stone win's on value without a doubt. 

Anyhow, just wanted to post this up because it was definitely a new experience for me and something I wanted to share. Thanks everyone and sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, I'm posting at 4:41am because why not?!

Edit: Why not? I can think of a couple reasons Snake. I spent a whole pot of coffee "cleaning" here. :spankarse: Ha!


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## goatgolfer (Aug 31, 2015)

Your post really says to me that with such low dishing, and the stone came opened up as in ready to work, that it could be a one piece starter stone for any J-knife regardless of current steel hardness. Do we have a new splash and go one-stop stone for J-knives? Even super-hard ones?


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## CrisAnderson27 (Aug 31, 2015)

Real quick disclaimer guys! I believe this stone is Chinese, not American! I think when we were discussing them in PM's, there was some confusion with my Apache Red and Apache Strata stones I have, as they are both American naturals. 

Sorry for any confusion! As was said, I don't retail these stones so I'm hoping posting to clear up any confusion is acceptable!


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## SolidSnake03 (Aug 31, 2015)

Woops, yeh sorry I got confused between this stone and the Apache stuff. The stone itself isn't labelled or marked and we were discussing a few stones at the time so yes, my mistake.

Regarding super hard knives, I've used it on a Takamura R2 which is around 63-64 and a Shig which I believe is fairly hard as well. No problem with either so I doubt hardness would be an issue. Regarding a one stop stone, not sure about that, I didn't need any major work or had to sharpen especially dull edges. My knives were already in decent shape so this worked as sort of a medium grit and finisher all in one.


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## goatgolfer (Aug 31, 2015)

CrisAnderson27 said:


> Real quick disclaimer guys! I believe this stone is Chinese, not American! I think when we were discussing them in PM's, there was some confusion with my Apache Red and Apache Strata stones I have, as they are both American naturals.
> 
> Sorry for any confusion!... As was said, I don't retail these stones so I'm hoping posting to clear up any confusion is acceptable!



If you're not interested in retailing them would you share your opinion of them perhaps compared to your stones and where both can be found?


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## CrisAnderson27 (Aug 31, 2015)

Honestly, I don't think I'm allowed to touch on the retail aspects of the stones at all. My status on this site is sort of weird...as I'm not a vendor and not a hobbyist craftsman...so it's difficult to know what is acceptable to post.

Edit: Back the truck up. 

The status is not weird at all. You were a vendor. Now you're not. 

You're currently a very informative, well respected member who happens to make some nice knives. But do not address your retail business here, even obliquely. Talk about rocks, even and especially North American rocks. Discuss properties, strengths and weaknesses etc. But you're not promoting them, selling them or discussing customer relations here. Thanks.


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## kohtachi (Aug 31, 2015)

LOVE that gesshin 4k also. what is this american natural stone you speak of, and where can i get it. I am intrigued.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Aug 31, 2015)

The American Naturals are sold over at http://www.naturalhones.com/. Yes, they're in Arizona, but I don't know the guy beyond getting my stones from him...and I'm in no way affiliated with him nor do I receive anything for mentioning him.

Now that that's cleared up...

They're great stones for razors...the Apache Strata (his highest level finisher) is somewhere between 10k and 14k...and does a great job of giving a super comfortable, HHT5 edge for shaving. It sucks on kitchen knives...at least ultra hard kitchen knives which are the only type I have any experience with. The Apache Red is rated from 7k-10k...and is a bit better for kitchen knives in my opinion...but is still too high a level of polish for me. I use it as a pre-finisher on my razors.


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## kohtachi (Aug 31, 2015)

umm, these stones are not 50 dollars.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Aug 31, 2015)

Removed to stay on topic. 

-Cris


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## kohtachi (Aug 31, 2015)

My mistake, there are no more stones available for 50! there are a few stones that sold for around 50.


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## goatgolfer (Aug 31, 2015)

SolidSnake03 said:


> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I've never posted a review about a stone before but thought if there was every something I wanted to write about ............ Thanks everyone and sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, I'm posting at 4:41am because why not?!
> 
> Edit: Why not? I can think of a couple reasons Snake. I spent a whole pot of coffee "cleaning" here. :spankarse: Ha!



Yellow/red emoticon action figures added by daveb.

So, do we have an urban internet legend about a superstone from Krypton [thus not American but remember Canada is in North America too] that doesn't dish, costs less than a tank of gas, can or cannot be sold, or what? I really like S.Snake's posts because he shares his inner Ninja but this one has me interested enough to ask whether I should just get the Men in Black to use the "gun thingy" on me or this stone exists. ??


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 1, 2015)

goatgolfer said:


> Yellow/red emoticon action figures added by daveb.
> 
> So, do we have an urban internet legend about a superstone from Krypton [thus not American but remember Canada is in North America too] that doesn't dish, costs less than a tank of gas, can or cannot be sold, or what? I really like S.Snake's posts because he shares his inner Ninja but this one has me interested enough to ask whether I should just get the Men in Black to use the "gun thingy" on me or this stone exists. ??



All names have been changed to protect the innocent!

Honestly my friend, I cannot talk about any retail aspects of this stone. I had answered your questions previously...but if you'd like to know any more about it please ask specific questions and I or Solid Snake will do our best to reply. It really is a cool stone. I sharpened a Yoshisomethingorother suji on it today...which is some form of stainless (I know nothing of stainless Japanese knives, honestly...and very, very little of Japanese carbon knives), and it sharpened even more easily than carbon stuff I've dealt with. Is the stone perfect? No...but I don't think any one stone is. That said, I do use it as my only kitchen knife stone without any issues whatsoever.


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## brooksie967 (Sep 5, 2015)

Are there pictures of this stone? A video showing it sharpening said knives? Pictures of the finish it leaves? Videos showing cutting tests?


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 5, 2015)

brooksie967 said:


> Are there pictures of this stone? A video showing it sharpening said knives? Pictures of the finish it leaves? Videos showing cutting tests?



There are some videos, but I can't post them. Mostly they just reiterate what's been said here by Solidsnake anyhow. Pressure is everything in how the stones cut, and they cut surprisingly well with zero dishing. I've sharpened probably 20 knives and half a dozen razors on the one I keep here for myself, and it's still dead flat. I keep it clean (though I haven't noticed any glazing or swarf build up in the 'pores' either...maybe SolidSnake can add to that?) with a chunk of King 1k I use for slurry when setting bevels on razors.


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## brooksie967 (Sep 5, 2015)

Sounds like snake oil.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 5, 2015)

Snake oil generally implies that a person is trying to slip something past another person. That would be impossible here as there is nothing to be slipped past.

Honestly though...the only reason this thread even happened is because I wanted an unbiased opinion on the things and SolidSnake asked to try one out, so I sent him a broken one to give me some feedback. His post is the result. There was no benefit to me in him posting it (I don't retail them)...as a matter of fact he accidentally caused a bunch of drama...which you can see with all of the edits lol. That's all hashed out now, and it was probably better that it happened. 

Anyway, you can take his word for what it is or not. I think he just felt like sharing something he thought was cool...no more, no less.


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## brooksie967 (Sep 5, 2015)

Whats the something? There isn't anything here other than a post about something, out of the dirt that is apparently so secret it must have been mined by the free masons.


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## brooksie967 (Sep 5, 2015)

How about pictures of the finish it leaves after different parts of a progression?


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 5, 2015)

brooksie967 said:


> How about pictures of the finish it leaves after different parts of a progression?



What kind of progression? It's the only stone I use, from bevel cutting (meaning a 'never been sharpened' edge...with NO bevel), to final polish.

But.







This is the edge of a 65HRC AISI W2 tool steel kitchen knife at 500x. The only stone that touched it is this natural stone. No slurry, just clean water. These stones do not make their own slurry, at least not enough to be detectable. The edge it leaves, in use...is toothy enough to bite into loosely folded glossy newsprint, but still sharp enough to cleanly slice a loosely folded piece of tissue paper. The benefit for me is a one stone solution from start to finish on a knife. I keep one next to my kitchen sink, and when I'm done using a knife I splash some water on it, drag the knife lightly across it edge trailing a couple times, wipe it, and put it away.

As SolidSnake said...I'm sure there are much better stones out there...particularly for different types of knives or different tasks. Jon Brioda sells a ton of them lol. But for my needs...for kitchen knives, this stone does everything. It's also a large part of my razor progression...being the only stone I use from bevel set (usually an 800-1200 grit job), through the mid range right up to my pre-finisher.

If you have any other questions about it that I can answer...I'm more than happy to. I can take some pictures of the stone (I think)...even a 500x picture of the stone lol (which is kinda cool to look at...lots of what looks like quartz crystals). I'm more than happy to share what I've been able to learn.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 5, 2015)

Here's one more I found that I took of the edge on a 62HRC AISI W2 tool steel razor. The razors tend to have less tooth, probably due to the lack of angle change during sharpening...as the spine is resting on the hone as well.


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## aboynamedsuita (Sep 5, 2015)

Cool, I was tempted to buy a USB microscope from a jewelry supply company recently, but thought for the extend I'd use it it'd be a bad investment, but pretty damn cool :cool2:. Settled for a couple of loupes instead and a bunch of other tools I'll probably only use a couple times.


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## Dardeau (Sep 6, 2015)

Try not to bait Cris, he isn't a vendor here and is limited in what he can post.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 6, 2015)

tjangula said:


> Cool, I was tempted to buy a USB microscope from a jewelry supply company recently, but thought for the extend I'd use it it'd be a bad investment, but pretty damn cool :cool2:. Settled for a couple of loupes instead and a bunch of other tools I'll probably only use a couple times.



Mine cost me $15 shipped. It's not insanely great...but it gave me a whole new insight into the edges I was making. Not so much for kitchen knives...but on the razors for sure.



Dardeau said:


> Try not to bait Cris, he isn't a vendor here and is limited in what he can post.



Thank you . It's nice to be able to post here...and I love the discussion/conversations. I just have to be careful what waters I dip my toes in. It's really helpful when the people I'm having the conversations with understand that and can help nudge the flow of things in the right direction.


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## brooksie967 (Sep 6, 2015)

Dardeau said:


> Try not to bait Cris, he isn't a vendor here and is limited in what he can post.



Anyone can google Cris Anderson or look on youtube and figure it out. There's some awesome stuff out there but the China Rock thing is what it is I suppose. I see too many stones like these today that are out there that are veiled in mystery that make people want to buy them when in reality they aren't anything special. I am VERY happy that his claims aren't as outrageous as some of the other ones with natural stones being imported from places like China, africa, the USA etc that are hyped to a level that people think they can finish straight razors on him. I've got a problem, mostly, with the "it doesn't dish" thing. Even translucent arks will dish and you'll be hard pressed to find a harder rock out there. Either way, good on you for finding something "new", just want to make sure there is real info out there before people want to spend cash on it.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 6, 2015)

brooksie967 said:


> Anyone can google Cris Anderson or look on youtube and figure it out. There's some awesome stuff out there but the China Rock thing is what it is I suppose. I see too many stones like these today that are out there that are veiled in mystery that make people want to buy them when in reality they aren't anything special. I am VERY happy that his claims aren't as outrageous as some of the other ones with natural stones being imported from places like China, africa, the USA etc that are hyped to a level that people think they can finish straight razors on him. I've got a problem, mostly, with the "it doesn't dish" thing. Even translucent arks will dish and you'll be hard pressed to find a harder rock out there. Either way, good on you for finding something "new", just want to make sure there is real info out there before people want to spend cash on it.



I agree completely...on all points. 

Except the 'doesn't dish' thing...lol. I mean...will it dish over ten years? Absolutely...if used frequently enough, and by that I mean more than once a week. I happen to have three other stones that I would say don't dish as well. The first two are US naturals...the Apache Red and Apache Strata. The other is a Guangxi 12k. I have translucent Arkansas stones, and I would put all four of these stones right with it, if not above it...and this one close to the top. Literally...if you polished it high enough it would probably look like a green/grey shimmery granite.

I did find a picture you might find interesting. When I got my first stones they were both broken. But you can get a feel from how the look of the break just how hard they actually are. After I cleaned them up I put them in some water to soak a bit and snapped the picture.






The actual stone SolidSnake used is on the left in the dish.


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## aboynamedsuita (Sep 6, 2015)

CrisAnderson27 said:


> Mine cost me $15 shipped. It's not insanely great...but it gave me a whole new insight into the edges I was making. Not so much for kitchen knives...but on the razors for sure.



That's a pretty good price, that's probably about what I paid for the loupes, never mind a USB microscope. The one I was looking at was more expensive by several orders of magnitude, around $500CAD, but there were also some in the $150-200 range iirc.


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## Ruso (Sep 10, 2015)

Interested. Where can I buy/try one? PM perhaps? 
Thanks.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 10, 2015)

Ruso said:


> Interested. Where can I buy/try one? PM perhaps?
> Thanks.



I cannot in any way discuss the retail aspects of this stone or anything else on this site. Thanks for understanding.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 10, 2015)

tjangula said:


> That's a pretty good price, that's probably about what I paid for the loupes, never mind a USB microscope. The one I was looking at was more expensive by several orders of magnitude, around $500CAD, but there were also some in the $150-200 range iirc.



Yes...they get much nicer than mine lol. But what I need to see on mine...which is the condition of the actual edge...is pretty clear with this one, and I can take pictures to document my procedures that gave me a given result. Again...for the kitchen knives it's not much of a benefit...either it cuts a tomato cleanly or it doesn't lol. For things like straight razors though...the straightest line of edge is just the start, and it's a mandatory start. If you have ANY visible tooth at 500x, you're going to feel it on your face after your shave. Refinement starts there.


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## CrisAnderson27 (Sep 16, 2015)

If you guys are interested, I could share some pictures of the stone in use for setting the bevel on a straight razor. I know some guys had some interest in seeing the stone being used.

Also, in doing some research, it appears to be a form of novaculite or chert, or possibly a slate with a high quartz content...similar to the Arkansas stones...yet subtly different. I've been looking deeply into the structure of natural stones lately in pursuing the razor hone thing, and the sheer amount of variation nature has, even in one 'form' of stone...is staggering. For example, most Japanese natural stones are of siltstone or slate origins...yet, the same conditions elsewhere on the planet failed to produce similar stones. Belgian coticule stones were formed in a very specific manner, the same manner as the coticule formations here in the US, as well as in...I believe, Argentina. Yet only the Belgian coticule formations seem to produce stone that is suitable for a hone/waterstone. Chert, and other quartz based stones are probably the most common, and most consistent, but are actually the least utilized...probably due to the difficulty of working it.

For example, here's a natural piece of quartzite I polished up one side of:











The surface quality is what is left by a 600 grit diamond plate, and the scratch marks it leaves at this level of refinement are roughly 8k. It will slurry with a diamond plate. It will also generate swarf on 65HRC W2 tool steel. It's an incredibly hard and tough stone. In order to get it to this state, it took me over an hour on various grinders (belt, angle, etc), and then almost two more hours starting with a 200 grit diamond plate. I still have a bit more to go to get it truly smooth, but the divots in the surface don't seem to effect its honing abilities, nor do they have an impact on edge quality. I was really, really surprised that a random rock of basically quartz could be turned into a surprisingly nice hone. It made me curious so I did more research which caused me to order a piece of green quartzite off of eBay, as it apparently has a very high chromium content, and might produce an even better finisher.

Here's a few pictures to show its current level of refinement versus my Apache Red and Apache Strata US natural hones:





The quartzite hone.





Apache Red, which is a US natural rated at between 8k and 10k.





Apache Strata, which is again a US natural, but is rated between 10k, and 14k. The 'grit' rating on these stones is a complete guess. My Apache Strata is mirror polished, as you see, and finishes at what I would consider a 16k or better level.

Anyhow...I just thought I'd spark up some more conversation about stones in general. It was suggested to me that people might be interested in the US naturals as well, and I'm more than happy to discuss my experiences with them.

~Edit to add:

I also ordered this really cool piece of fortification agate. Total cost was $15 shipped lol. It should produce results similar to the quartzite piece above I'm hoping, if not better:






So much interesting stuff to explore when it comes to natural stones!


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## aboynamedsuita (Sep 17, 2015)

Your post makes me regret not paying so much attention in university geology, maybe one day I'll venture over to the world of natural stones, but my synths are serving me well in the interim


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## Cheeks1989 (Jan 22, 2016)

I just picked up a stone from Cris Anderson and it is awesome! Here is a picture of some knives from my kit I did real quick.




I don't get excited for stones but I had to post and share how great it was. I don't know if he has any more stones for sale but its well worth the price if you can snag one.


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## daveb (Feb 20, 2016)

orveusz said:


> I have the same stone and it is fantastic! I strongly recommend it!



I call ********


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## mikedtran (Feb 20, 2016)

daveb said:


> I call ********



+1 agree 100%


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## brooksie967 (Feb 20, 2016)

It's a chinese natural for sure


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## psfred (Feb 20, 2016)

Any high silicate stone will abrade steel, but to get a good stone for sharpening it needs to be comprised of quartz granules/needles of appropriate size and shed them readily enough to keep a fresh surface. Arkansas stones don't shed particles fast enough, they "blunt" very quickly, and while they stay flat, they are a real pain to use on very hard or abrasion resistant steels.

Japanese stones have the silicates present in tiny slightly cupped plates cemented together with small amounts of amorphous silica and other materials. This produces wider and shallower scratches than the typical sharp cornered solid grit in aluminum oxide synthetic stones, and it also allows the stone to both shed particles and have those particles reduce in size as they grind against the steel and the solid stone. The stone also seems to burnish the edge itself, hence work hardens it in steels that work harden.

I'm going to get with my brother the geologist and see if I can locate some places to pick up cherts of various types (aka flint in highly re-crystalized form) -- they are quite popular with people who make arrowheads and stone tools, so the locations where they are on the surface and can be picked up easily are fairly well known. I'm assuming I will need to look at the less "vitrified" ones (as in not flints!) so they wear faster.

Not that I need another hobby.....

Peter


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## psfred (Feb 20, 2016)

Those Chinese naturals appear very consistent, but I don't think they really are. Some work better than others, and mine does absolutely nothing without a significant slurry on it. I have to raise it will a diamond stone at the moment, but another piece of the same stone will work. Produces a dull mirror on plane blades (which are in a jig). I wouldn't bother to use it for knives, it's much too slow even with a slurry, so unless you are more or less perfect at holding a bevel angle while sharpening, you will very likely dub over the actual edge before it's polished. Should work well for razors, but it won't be very fast.

It might also work well with a series of coarse to fine nagura stones, using the grit from the nagura to do the actual grinding, it's hard enough for that.

Peter


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## Asteger (Feb 20, 2016)

psfred said:


> Any high silicate stone will abrade steel, but to get a good stone for sharpening it needs to be comprised of quartz granules/needles of appropriate size and shed them readily enough to keep a fresh surface. ... Japanese stones have the silicates present in tiny slightly cupped plates cemented together with small amounts of amorphous silica and other materials. This produces wider and shallower scratches than the typical sharp cornered solid grit in aluminum oxide synthetic stones, and it also allows the stone to both shed particles and have those particles reduce in size as they grind against the steel and the solid stone. The stone also seems to burnish the edge itself, hence work hardens it in steels that work harden.



Admiring your expertise! Kind of stuff I don't know. Bravo


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## XooMG (Feb 20, 2016)

I'll be receiving one from Cris in the not-too-distant future. I have pretty easy and cheap access to many different brands and types of Chinese stones, but it's generally a gamble that I don't like to make. Cris lucked into a reasonably consistent source for midgrit stones and seems to have gotten good results from them. Several others have bought them from him and gotten decent to excellent results as well.

Some of that is likely confirmation bias and purchase justification, but it seems they're not crap. I don't think he's going big-bulk with them because there likely will be a point where the quality declines or the source changes, at which point he'll probably need to stop selling.

I'm a little skeptical but will give it a try. Like my softer Aizu/Igarashi/Binsui stones from Japan, I'm expecting no miracles. I won't be promoting them even if they're nice. But to "call BS" on someone's apparently satisfactory experience is poor form.


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## Cheeks1989 (Feb 20, 2016)

I'm not a 100% sure but I think daveb was just breaking the guys balls after padding his post count for b/s/t.

Still love my stone I got from Cris.


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## V1P (Feb 20, 2016)

Cheeks1989 said:


> I'm not a 100% sure but I think daveb was just breaking the guys balls after padding his post count for b/s/t.
> 
> Still love my stone I got from Cris.



Yes, if you check the guy's profile, he is banned and only been a member since 18 Feb.


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## mikedtran (Feb 20, 2016)

V1P said:


> Yes, if you check the guy's profile, he is banned and only been a member since 18 Feb.



Yeah I was also saying that I don't believe the guy has the stone or anything he posts really. 

I believe he was padding his post count to be able to 'scam' people. 

--------------------------------

To clarify as I think some people may have though I said I didn't enjoy the stone which is definitely not the case. 

I wasn't referencing the stone, which I actually really like a lot and have been using almost exclusively to sharpen my Shigefusas.

Also I let Josh at Bernal Cutlery try the stone (quickly as the shop was busy) and he said it cut very fast and with full/medium pressure looked around 2k (stone polishes more with lighter pressure). Also commented it was definitely an interesting stone and a great value for the price.


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## XooMG (Feb 20, 2016)

Thanks for clarification guys, and sorry to come off as belligerent.


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## mikedtran (Feb 20, 2016)

XooMG said:


> Thanks for clarification guys, and sorry to come off as belligerent.



No worries at all Robert. You didn't come off as belligerent at all. I wasn't particularly clear in my first post and without context of the "pay padder" it's very unclear.


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## daveb (Feb 20, 2016)

Yeah, Not calling BS on a positive experience with the stone, calling BS on any experience with the stone. I get cranky when my "what's new" box gets filled up by an adolescent troll.


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## psfred (Feb 20, 2016)

Ah, that's the 2k version I've seen about. Might try that when I save up some pennies again (just got a bill from the cardiologist, ugh, no toys for me for a while!)

I have the 12k version Woodcraft sells. 

Peter


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## ynot1985 (Feb 21, 2016)

I just received the stone today from my friend who brought it back from the states after countless customs delays/ checks thinking this stone block was either a block of C4 or heroin.

It is definitely an unusual stone as compared to all other stones.

still trying to learn it's properties and tricks in using it.

I can confirm it is extremely hard. I tried a King nagura on it to get some mud. It was the nagura that ended up getting eroded.


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## zitangy (Oct 19, 2017)

i tried a few cnats 10k , 6,4,3,2 K and its still an on going thing... 1 K and below... i wld go for the synthetic route



some of them are really hard and different slurry color ... white , slightly yellowish and dark grey when abraded with 1 k diamond plate. When dry some of them are grey and when black,,, really jet black

I do not think that there is magic stone out there.. It all depends on the condition of knife as to how much steel that needs to be removed to reach the ultimate apex and the 2 determinants are pressure and grit.

lately, i did notice that being a hard stone, i can use it as a base surface and i use a synthetic stone as a nagura, i can get different results with a higher and lower grit "nagura". did also sprinkle WA powder of 2000 grit ... a more aggresive edge and not that ultra smooth cut; yet still smooth enough. Also being a hradstone.. its ideal for stropping on stone.. no mud.. steel to the stone adn no slurry in between

still on the lookout. interim results.. i did observe a 3k stone that is suitable for me for a quick touch up.

and whilst at it... dont get stoned.... Z


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## zitangy (Oct 30, 2017)

*CNAT Black stone...*

I did manage to get a piece each that was rated 3k and 6k and hv been testing it over the last 30 days.. Further googling did reveal that on Ebay...some tout it as as "tsushima". Anyway... its just a name. whats more important is my quest to find 1 stone solution that is most suitable for a quick touch ups for a maintained kitchen knives ONLY ( no razors, eventhough i use one) till it gets thick behind the edge. No interest in polilshing or chasing for the perfect kasumi... ( given up)

I like the 3K but not the 6K.

They are very consistent.. no inclusions, jet black when wet . I did raise mud with diamond plate ( worn out DMT fine) and also with another piece of the same rock. I did find a crack line which i promptly injected some super glue till it oozed on both sides and clamped it.

Last test was when I had to open carton boxes and slit open the tape and thick white wrapping and only knife available then was a 180 yanagiba modified to a single bevel petty ( blade road almost gone at the front ).... i was able to get it back up to my desired sharpness with this stone

My next test on this stone wld be taking it up to a Naniwa 5K and then drop back to this black stone for i imagine that in between the 3K striations wld be the 5K striations.

FINALLY...Light green 3K stone.. not the 12k version ( No joy stone for me) headed my way... Still looking for that 1 stone wonder around 3k grit.

Wld appreciate if anyone has played with this stone as I wld like to compare observations on this black stone.

Have fun stay stoned
Z


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## Razor (Oct 31, 2017)

CrisAnderson27 said:


> Snake oil generally implies that a person is trying to slip something past another person. That would be impossible here as there is nothing to be slipped past.
> 
> Honestly though...the only reason this thread even happened is because I wanted an unbiased opinion on the things and SolidSnake asked to try one out, so I sent him a broken one to give me some feedback. His post is the result. There was no benefit to me in him posting it (I don't retail them)...as a matter of fact he accidentally caused a bunch of drama...which you can see with all of the edits lol. That's all hashed out now, and it was probably better that it happened.
> 
> Anyway, you can take his word for what it is or not. I think he just felt like sharing something he thought was cool...no more, no less.


NM


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