DMT W250FCNB 10-Inch DuoSharp Bench Stone Fine / Coarse

I researched quite a bit before buying a stone & a steel and I am glad I did.Oil Stones? forget em they are messy and not nearly as good as the Japanese water stones they wear down and they are slow.Have a hardness of around 6.5-7 on the Mohs scale and on good knives that have a Rockwell hardness 56-60 and up to 66 they just dont cut it.Water stones? these are good do a fine job, need to be soaked in water for a few mins, no mess but a good quality Japanese water stone will cost just as much if not more as this diamond stone and most are single grit, they also wear down rather quickly and become useless until you flatten them back out and what do you flatten them with? A big Diamond stone! or Aluminum oxide sand paper like maybe 120-220 grit glued to a piece of glass, which BTW makes a fairly decent sharpening stone on its own (in finer grits 800-2000) that are better than the oil stones.These are made of Aluminum Oxide in a resin bond, aluminum oxide has a hardness of 9.2 (Mohs) these work better on good knives. These also need to be dried before storing them or they will deteriorate much quicker.Ceramic Stones? These are good, dont need to be soaked and wont wear out as fast as regular water stones as they are in a "ceramic bond" instead of resin, these are either aluminum oxide or silicon carbide, the carbide is slightly harder at 9.5These stones will still wear down just not as fast as the regular resin bond water stones.Both resin bond and ceramic water stones rarely if ever come larger than 8X3" (I have yet to see one, if they exist they would be even more expensive).This is the only non-diamond stone I would recommend and even then just for a super fine 5000-8000 grit to hone & polish the blade.Diamond stones? Well this is the only way to go as far as im concerned, no mess at all and if you use water on it the water fills in the pockets and the blade just glides over the stone and stays constantly lubed and cleaned.These stones cut faster than any other stone have a hardness of 10 (Mohs) and stay flat these are perfect for good steel knives especially the 60-66 (Rockwell) hardness.The 2 best features of these stones are they stay flat and they are 10X4" which you just cant beat, it gives you nice long easy strokes.Properly taken care of by the average home kitchen user just sharpening his/her small quiver of knives and in between using a fine steel this stone should last decades.Using a fine steel everytime you use your knife you should only need to use your stone just a few times a year.I would suggest this stone DMT 4"X10" Extra Fine & Fine with the Duobase holder which makes it easier to use, then a fine steel like the "F. Dick 11" Multicut Sharpening Steel" which I got here at Amazon also, using this steel makes a HUGE difference and keeps my knife razor sharp.If you want the perfect polished razor sharp edge also get a Global Ceramic Whetstone, Fine Grit (5000grit) then finish it off with a "Leather Strop" glued to a wooden paddle with a bit of very fine metal polish like white jewelers rouge or flitz and you will have a truly razor sharp and long lasting edge.

I have used various stones for sharpening knives for (too) many years. In fact, I have reviewed two of them here on Amazon.com. I stand by my positive reviews of the stones, but this 4x10 diamond stone takes it all to a new level. I wanted to try the latest in whetstones, and this one caught my eye because it is LARGE, and has two grits built in. It is also very expensive.That being said, using this tool will leave you speechless. It is that good. First of all, it is large enough to handle anything from a penknife to a 10" slicer with full coverage in a single stroke. Every whetstone should be this size. It is also thin, and isn't consumed during sharpening. The non slip pad provided with the stone works like a charm. Water is the only lubricant used, and cleanup is a snap.Don't be fooled by the "fine" and "extra fine" rating of it's surfaces. The fine side will fix a badly worn kitchen edge in a few strokes. My guess is that the knife will also be better than new when you are done. The extra fine side will turn good steel into a razor in just a few more strokes. After years of taking time and care to acheive a perfect edge with natural and man made stones, this was an epiphany. The job was so easy, and the results so fantastic, that I went on a sharpening binge and turned over 15 well used knives into razors in little more than 30 minutes.I also bought the Global sharpening guides for a couple of bucks. They are not needed for small knives, or for an experienced pro, but they make the fine edge look very uniform on longer blades. They give the "factory" look with the custom edge.This is an incredible tool. By the way, when you are done, you just rinse it and put it away. I doesn't get any better than this!

I purchased this item to sharpen woodworking planes and chisels. Good quality item. Works just as advertised. The larger size allows me to use a Veritas roller jig to keep the blade angle steady (although the jig is not worth the money for other reasons). Water wash off and easy cleaning. The plastic base is worth the extra money IMHO, but the antistick plastic mat works pretty well.I also used the "scary sharp" system to put a razor sharp edge on the blades. This is a automotive sandpaper on flat plate glass. The DMT fine whetstone is about a 15 micron equivalent where the "sandpaper" goes down to 0.5 micron. The chisel edge shines like a mirror.My only disappointment was in flattening the backs of old chisels. A coarser grade of diamond is needed for this higher metal removal technique. I tried coarse grade sandpaper, but it wore out quickly. The finer sandpaper grades do not because they only recieve 5-10 strokes after the diamond stone.For knives and general sharpening utensils, this diamond plate is great. For woodworking, I would buy the coarse / x-fine combination whetstone. Use the coarse side for the one time flattening and the fine or x-fine side for the intermediate surface grinding. Keep one 9"x12" glass plate of really fine micron sandpaper for the final polish.