Thread: Suehiro’s “DUAL STONE”

The first thing that stands out was the packaging. In the end, it might be meaningless, but I buy into first impressions. And let’s not forget, they aren’t free. So it’s a nice touch.




Speaking of cool packaging, the base for the stones is on an angle for those people who don’t hone often. It’s kind of cool. Moreover, the stand hides the “cleaning stone”, and sits on top of a skid pad that actually works! It’s really kind of cool.




INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

The first thing you’ll notice on the stone is that the 6K section is like 1/10th the size of the 800. At least I assumed that was the case because the stone isn’t numbered. I was of course proven right when I used the 500 grit diamond plate to lap the stone. The 6K side took 6 times as long to flatten. It was pretty hard! The 800 lapped pretty easy, but it felt like I was lapping a maybe uh, 2K Nani stone.

Speaking of the diamond plate, it rests on the base too and feels like it’ll hold its particles.




Ok, so here was the weird(ish) thing. I dunked the stone in a bowl of water to let it soak for a bit before lapping - right out of the box - but there weren’t any air bubbles popping out. Odd. For a wet stone. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression, i keep saying it’s hard, and it is, but it’s not as hard as a Ark obviously. Moreover, I’m not sure the 6K side is harder than my Nani 10K, but at this point, it kind of felt considerably more dense than a Nani. Odd. But whatever, the proof of the stones worth would come at the end of a knife, so that’s what I did - I sharpened my edc.




Look, I saved the best for last, with water, this stone feels awesome when you are rubbing metal over it. Just awesome. I loved my other Suehiro stones over my Nani’s, but there was a definite chalk feel. Which was ok, but this stone is all that and a box of chocolates! Very little chalk feeling, just a nice and smooth glide. Love it!

You don’t feel like you’re gouging a hollow in the middle of this stone like other synthetics. And it cut quickly! I’m really liking it! And yes, it feels like it’s honing beyond its grit rating. I’ll test that later. And using oil.

But for now, I’m stoked with my new toy!