I was comparing a Lily White Washita stone to a stone I purchased by Accident on eBay labeled "Washita" by the seller. The partial box leas me to believe that the stone is indeed a Norton Washita but I cannot say for sure so I figured that I would compare these two stones.

Note first of all that the Washita Stone that some of us purchased new near December of 2020 cuts faster than either of these stones.

So I was staring at this Lily White Washita stone and I realized that it was not flat, not even almost. I have never flattened a stone like this before.

So I added sprinkled some 90 grit Silicone Carbide crystals onto some float glass and had at it. This is a six inch stone and I expected to be going at this for at least 30 minutes, but, I stopped after 3 minutes; significant progress.

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This is my unknown Washita stone at 8" and it was only mildly out.

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The patterns that I was using managed to drop the high spots (the ends) in about four minutes the center was a bit higher than the ends, a harder thing to correct. Oops. I think it would have been perfect at about 2 minutes. I can not believe how fast 90 grit takes these stones down.

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My unknown stone is a very fast cutter. The Lily white is almost as fast now that I ground it down with 90 grit silicone carbide so i do expect it to be a bit courser now.

Note that I was testing by sharpening an older knife that was completely flat. The blade was in bad shape but it is sharpening up nicely on these two Washita stones. Normally I would do this level of sharpening with something faster (mechanical like a belt sharpener or at least a very coarse Silicone Carbide stone).

Oh, and who knew that Silicone Carbide is blue (ish)?