A different kind of diamond stone

So, i posted this a while back on another forum, but as i recently have been reaquainted with this forum, i thought i'd post here as well (copied and pasted from the other forum):
So, its late and i'm at work sharpening knives... i needed a break from sharpening, and i stated thinking about this. I ordered a few of these a while ago, hoping to sell them at some point. I've also talked about them from time to time on the forums. There are a few things that have been holding me back from selling them- price point (they are expensive... really expensive), mounting (they are not mounted to anything, but need to be before they can be used), free time (i have none).

Anyways, i've been using this stone all night (and quite frankly, its probably my most used stone since early 2012) and thought since i only have a few, there might be a couple people out there interested in trying these out and ok with mounting it themselves (its pretty easy... i've dont it twice now).

So here's the deal... these stones are 200mm x 75mm x 3mm (yup... 3mm... hence the need for mounting on something larger). They are 800 grit diamond stones. But unlike the other diamond stones i have, these are make more like traditional stones. They are porous, need to be soaked (they soak in seconds due to their thinness), feel like a very grippy ceramic stone, are the fastest cutting stones i've ever used (keeping grit range in mind), dish EXTREMELY slowly (i've worn through 2 of the other kind of diamond plates before i wore through one of these), and are just a joy to use. Whenever people try mine in the store, they always say its the best stone they've ever used by far.

I use this stone after my wheel (which leaves very deep 150 grit scratches), but have easily used it after stones as coarse as 80 grit. It can easily clean up scratches from those stones, and prepares your knife for a finishing stone. I tend to follow this one up with a 6k stone (either a gesshin 6k, 6k s, or one of the many other stones i have around here).

Essentially, i use it in place of a ~400 grit stone and ~1000 grit stone, as it does the work of both. I dont use it to thin (and i will explain why in a bit), but i do use it to clean up scratches after thinning. However, i use it for repairs and to speed up sharpening a lot. It works well on both single bevel and double bevel knives (with a very important exception, which i will get into in a second).

So, the one thing i have trouble with on this is that it tends to tear at soft stainless cladding (on both single and double bevel knives. That is not to say you cant use it on them, but its crazy aggressive, and the tactile feedback is significant enough that i feel pretty serious drag over the stone when soft stainless cladding is involved. Soft carbon cladding hasnt been a problem at all, but when i first started using this one, i used too much pressure when cleaning up scratches after thinning a stainless clad vg-10 blade, and the stone ripped a few very small chunks out of the cladding. Like i said, it's aggressive.

Anyways, I have 3 of them, and the run $400 each. Any interest? I'll try to post some pictures soon (both of an unused one and my well used ones).

pictures as promised... the left one is mine that is currently in use and mounted on an aluminum base. The right one is the unmounted stone.




And a quick quote from tonight:
in doing a lot of sharpening again tonight, this stone, as always did the bulk of the work. I think if i ever sell them, they will be called the Gesshin "Most Badass Stone Ever" 800 grit. Took out high and low spots and 150 grit scratches faster than my 400 stones and nearly as fast as my 220, but doesnt dish as fast as either (in fact, really slow dishing period). I can go from 150 grit to this stone, and finish on a 6k so fast its stupid. Just wanted to throw it out there.

 

A video on this stone for those interested: