I am in the beginning stages of learning to hone. And up to this point, all of my stones have been synthetic. The Zulu is the first natural stone in my collection. It has elevated the edges on the blades I’ve put over it tremendously. My first attempt with it was a big fail. Using a new DMT to raise slurry, I think I destroyed the edge on the blade in question with loose DMT particles. At the time I didn’t know why the edge was getting worse not better. Stupid mistake. Since then, I have broken in the DMT and smoothed the surface again. I took some expert advice and approached it much more cautiously and slowly doing 20 laps on it and then testing the edge with a shave (water only). In most cases its taking about 100 laps to show some benefit but the edges are quite nice and extremely sharp. HHT? Pass. Today’s shave was with a Friodur I honed from bevel set through the Zulu. Wow. Best edge I’ve ever been responsible for. Great, smooth, close shave. With the DMT broken in, I will be attempting to see how I do working with slurry. Long story short, iIf I was able to achieve this as a novice, I’m sure the pro’s are loving this even more than I. If you’re new like me and considering adding a natural, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Just do yourself a favor and break in that DMT first.