Quote Originally Posted by jgjgjg View Post
Smooth to the finger, rough to the blade. I will shave tomorrow and report back.

About the consistency comment: yeah. With stones, I have paid too much to get bigger and thicker. What I always want, for any tool, is no less than 8" of length and width about half inch more than what I"m sharpening, and thickness of at least 1".

The point is so that with any tool, the stone can rest on a bench and I concern myself only with my motion and posture. This is a dinky little thing I have to hold in my hand and stroke to stroke consistency is real tough.
There's an entire separate thread going on, was reading it today, about how holding the stone in one hand, the blade in the other, allows important feedback from both the stone and the blade...interesting stuff!