Norton has decent fine stones, but the last several I've gotten haven't been as good as those I've gotten from Dan's.

I had another thread but lost it due to not knowing the vendor policy on here (no big deal), but the following question came up:
* How are Dan's compared to vintage nortons: My answer to that would be that they're just as good as vintage nortons. Most of the norton black stones I've seen are actually gray translucents, but I have seen some black stones that are similar to the dan's stone I showed above. There is actually a little bit of difference between the two - translucents are always uniform in my experience, but black stones from time to time will let go of a loose particle. I haven't had that happen with this dan's, but I've never pushed it, either (maybe it would be different if it was used for tools). I know most people don't like to believe that there is something as good as vintage stones, and I have seen on reddit a person or two saying they got a dud dan's stone from a third party, but what I've gotten has been very good.

That leaves the follow-up being "what about modern nortons?" I think modern nortons, at least the last three that I've gotten, are just a bit coarser than dans. Perhaps they're stronger cutting, too, but that's not something you look for in a fine arkansas stone for razors - the fastest of the bunch is sort of like a fast swimmer vs. a slow race car driver when you compare them to fast cutting stones. Still good enough for razors when you can find them, but the last one I got was 1/2 inch thick and would just pass the tiniest amount of light from a very bright defense flashlight. Its performance sort of matched that - it was more coarse and you could see a hint of pores on the surface.