Originally Posted by
Jack Dover
I got this stone too. My experience is somewhat different.
I had to send this first stone back, because it had soft spots taking more than 75% of the surface and it seems they went all the way through to the other side. Soft spots are a problem, but not because they're scratchy - they never stay flat, always dish down. Sharpening supplies has one of the best customer service, actually, I initially reached out with a question and their representative just sent me a new stone, no extra questions asked. The second stone also had some soft spots, but they were superficial and almost gone now.
The other problem is this stone glazes over fast. It indeed stays flat longer than Nortons coarse crystolon (which is really is never flat), but it stops grinding very soon. When this happens, it stops cutting and starts polishing, producing almost a flawless bright mirror. I'm aware about this particular property of oilstones, therefore my oilstones come in pairs, one is glazed, the other is refreshed often. But this particular stone glazes over within minutes of use. In this sense it behaves like a waterstone: needs to be refreshed with a flattening stone prior usage and wants lots and lots of runny lapping fluid. Sharpening supplies recommendation is to use it with water indeed, so idk, maybe it clogs because of oil? Crushed crystals form quite thick paste quite fast, so maybe using it over a pond, constantly flushing with lots of water is the intended mode of operation?