Thanks. That's good advice. I have considered synthetic stones in the past, but natural stones interest me more for this hobby. I'm not pursuing perfection or even greatness, just a comfortable, relatively close and even shave. I use a Coticule right now, so that tells people I'm willing to make some sacrifices--and I'm considering an Escher at a later date.

I'm curious to hear what others have succeeded at with natural stones in bevel-setting.