Glad it works so well! Just for fun, have you tried it w/ really hard steel yet? (Thinking C135 or a Friodur as I'd like to pick both up eventually!) Would you rate the sharpness as comparable to 0.5 diamond on felt? How about an Escher when used that way Sham does it (very light slurry allowed to break down w/o diluting)? I love the smoothness of naturals, but I also love sharp! (My Nakayama used to give me that before I had to lap it--now it's nowhere near as good.)