This is the first time I am using a Spyderco medium bench stone.
I do not have previous experience with Spyderco's Sharpmaker system.
Although that Spyderco claims that man can use a medium stone for sharpening dull knives I did my homework and at least in theory I was prepared to see slow rate of abrasion, fast load up and many, many passes.
I intend to use mine - for creating micro bevels.
About the stone:
- aluminium oxide;
- very hard;
- absorb minimal amounts of water (almost none);
- does not need to be saturated, or soaked in water;
- does not require oil;
- I use it with water because of my sharpening habits;
- loads up quickly;
- cleaning is something that I will discover how to in the future;
- gives minimal tactile feedback but the audio feedback is little better;
- good consistent quality of the stone without blemishes, cracks, nicely chamfered edges;
- really good packaging and storage box;
- for the price 40-50$ depending the retailer could be more flat - from forum discussions and youtube comments I can make assumption that often comes out of flatt bowed at one side and concave at the other - I presume due to the manufacturing methods. Mine was 0.1-0.2 mm or 0.04-0.08 inches out of flat;
- good dimensions and thickness;
- around 15 microns which is comparable to 1 200 - 1 500 grit japanese wet stone;
more test in the future