Diamond Sharp 3 X 8 inch Two 2-Sided Ultra Sharp, Continuous Sharpening Steel Whetstone & Bench Stone Knife, Tool, Chisel, Blade Sharpener | No-Slip Adjustable Base | 400-1000 Grit | FREE e-Book.

My first observation was that the sides are not labeled, not a deal breaker because you can feel for the difference. The rubber stand was nice but the diamond plate sits a little shallow so if you run the length of the plate you will feel the rubber. Your lapping fluid and buildup will accumulate at the rubber stop rather than running off. This plate had a big problem with build up. I have 3 other diamond plates (300/600/1000) and I haven't seen this issue before. My 600 grit took off material quicker than this 400 grit plate.My biggest concern and the reason I am returning this plate is the wear pattern. A wear pattern on an electroplated "monocrystalline" diamond? After about 5 minutes of use I could feel an obvious difference between the center of the plate and the rougher and less used edges. So I either have diamond encrusted hand planes or these are not monocrystalline diamond plates. This characteristic could fit a polycrystalline method which is also much cheaper to produce.I hope I just got the runt of the litter but there are some red flags that make me think otherwise

I spent quite a bit of time making this purchase. I ultimately bought the 400/1000 grit diamond stone and a 5000 grit ceramic stone. Wow! After years of sharpening on oil stones this is a real treat. It just takes a few minutes with the 1000 followed by the 5000 to get a knife sharp enough to put an edge on that matches my best attempts with the oil stones. I have only had to use the 400g a couple of times. It is great for putting a good shape and starting point on the edge of most knives. If a knife is too far gone, I will still use a file to shape it.So far I am very pleased and highly recommend this set as a great starter to be followed up by a 5000-8000 grit stone.

I use this sharpening stone to sharpen chisels and plane blades. It's my first purchase of a diamond stone, and I definitely like it better than the sandpaper method I've used in the past. However, I don't see much difference in the grits on the stone. One is supposed to be coarser for resetting a bevel, and the other finer for refining the edge. The grits are not marked on the stone, and I feel I should be able to tell which is which simply by look and feel, but I definitely cannot. There is also not an obvious difference in the scratch patterns left on the tool I'm sharpening. I've found myself using the stone as a first step sharpener, and then I go back to my water stones for edge refinement. I also use this stone to flatten the water stones. The plate seems to be durable, so ultimately it was worth what I paid for it, even if it isn't what I expected.

Like the title said, this is a great stone. I primarily use it for sharpening tools outdoors or I clean it well to use on products that will be inside the house (kitchen knives, scissors, etc). As of now I have resharpened 10 tools or so and there is no wear that I can feel on the stone, and yes I mean feel because with these stones appearances can definitely be different.Pros:- Came flat, no need to level-Seemed to wear in quickly. By this I mean that the stone seemed to begin cutting better and leveled off relatively quickly, as if there was a thin protective coating that wore through fast and didn't overly impede the cutting.- came with a free stand/base that fit perfectly (and is adjustable for other stones to fit as well!). This one I had seen a review that the stone was not proud of the base so there were issues with the tool/knife cutting into the material, but that was either fixed or the tolerances on it are so sloppy that every one might be different. I'd like to assume that it was fixed though.Neutral:- Can be used with either water or oil (I'll come back to this in negatives, which is why it isn't a positive)- 400 grit does not really cut heavy enough to thin steel or repair heavy chips. This might be an issue with the tool/knife steel, or just a factor of the grit not being heavy enough. It isn't good or bad, just is. If you are looking for a stone to repair really damaged blades, look elsewhere. It IS good for minor repair work like fixing small nicks or sharpening a premade bevel.- This sucker is fairly heavy. It is a good thing when working, because it won't move around much on you however some might see this as a negative. All I have to say is deal with it, that comes with the territory of buying a metal plate. In a positive note, because it is metal, it isn't likely to break nearly as easily as other types of stones.Negatives:- It should be used with only oil or non/low water containing fluids. The surface does rust, and while I believe it is only cosmetic there is the chance it isn't. Buy a lapping fluid, use mineral oil, or make sure you dry it off REALLY well if you do use water.- Back to the grits, again it isn't a super heavy cutting abrasive. I had a tool with a large chip, and there was no using this to remove that...well I could have, but I'd rather drag out the grinder for that kind of work since what would have taken a few hours on this plate only took a few minutes.As of currently, I'm not knocking stars off for the negatives, as it might have been listed. I think it should definitely be a larger notice to use oil/lapping fluid, but overall I think that I'm happier with this than some of my other stones at the same grit. I'd certainly buy it again if I lost/broke it and am considering it anyways to replace my synthetic water stones due to ease of use and low maintenance.

I really liked the deal altogether, i really don't use the two sided plate for sharpening knives at all, that's why i got my Japanese stones. I only need the plate top use it as a lapping plate to flatten my stones since others are expensive and this one has two sides seems it works great to flatten my stones. The rubber base is a plus and a big one, i have one but this one helps with my other stones without the need to be changing stones from the single rubber base. Now i have two rubber bases for my stones. Great buy, i would not it again. Thanks!!

The diamond Steel whetstone is solid and of a good working size. The rubber/locking base works well with it.