After a dozen knives, these stones were well broken in and have much better contact with the blade as well as improved feedback. I was almost going to return them because I liked the originals more but I'm glad I didn't. They work well for removing a lot of metal quickly. As with the originals, the stones don't reach all the way to the edges (sides being more important than top and bottom imo) so you'll have to decide if that is ok for you. Check out my pictures for an example. They work great for all my kitchen knives and most of my pocket knives. Cutting ability is excellent, consistent scratch, and decent enough feedback. Comparable to much more expensive stones. recommend for sure.
I was unsure but hopeful about how these were going to perform since I've had to spend gobs of money to get quality stones in the past. I was extremely pleasantly surprised. I have worked with Vinevs, KDTU, PDT, Jende to name a few and these hold their own against their resin bonded stones as far as cutting ability, feedback and consistency. I even experienced less loading at the higher grits than I have with Vinev. The scratch pattern is excellent and I was able to get dull knives just as sharp as is possible. The grit progression is consistent and well spaced.
I will point out that they have a rather small working layer and the material doesn't reach the ends of the 6 inch base BUT they had to do something to make these affordable and I'm sure glad they did. 1mm of working material will last you a decade with regular sharpenings and I don't notice the shorter length of material when sharpening on a guided angle system at all. I would love to see a super low grit profiling stone in one of the lines like an 80 or 120 but the 200 is definitely fully capable of reprofiling, It's just nice to have extra oomph sometimes.
I have tried both this pro version as well as the premium version and I do like them both but I actually prefer the pro. It may be the feedback that I like more with the flat surface but the raised pattern on the premiums is extremely efficient and that might be your jam. It's an interesting innovation. I also appreciate the slightly thicker working layer of the pro. I hope to try all of their offerings eventually.
I also have to mention their customer service which is top notch. I don't just mean it was good at the basic level but they went above and beyond to help me with my first order, answering any questions, and even followed up after our initial chat. I was worried I wouldn't get the case, spray bottle and conditioning stone since I was mixing and matching from 3 different lines but they assured me they'd include them, adding to the value.
We don't all have $400 to drop on a set of stones even If it will last a lifetime. There was a huge hole in the market for a quality budget resin bonded diamond stone and I'm glad to see someone filling it. Maybe we'll see them expand into CBN next! I would love to see that, or perhaps hybrid bonds. I expect good things whatever direction they go. I will be spreading the word, including in the extensive yet close nit online world of sharpening, and I see that I'm not alone in that (shoutout to Lacey). I only hope we don't start seeing the stock issues we've seen with Vinev and KDTU! If you're considering these, don't hesitate. (I am unaffiliated with the brand, I just appreciate the product and the value)
Review was written after sharpening a dozen knives of varyings angles and steels, soft to super hard. I will try to post another review with some photos and updates after I use it a while longer.
This is an unbelievable value in resin. Bonded diamond stones easily the best value on the market. You get very consistent stones. They have very consistent diamond sizing for a very consistent scratch pattern. They cut quickly They wear very slowly yet they are somewhat friable so they release fresh abrasive quickly. For the money Stone set of stones is literally untouchable. They are very very good. Not just good for the money but very very good period I've got about 5 knives of sharpening on the stone so far and each knife I have been more and more impressed. The only thing that I wish they would do even if they don't include it in the set is offer a more course reprofiling Stone in say the 100 to 120 grit range that would be used for fixing heavy damage or large reprofile jobs when you really need to remove steel quickly. They really should add a 100 or 120 grit option to their lineup and that would literally make this the most perfect set of resin diamond stones you can buy for less than $300. Literally you have to spend right now around $300 350 bucks to get a resin bonded Stone set. That is this good and this capable and these sets are under $100. Absolutely insanely good value in this set of stones as it is right now with the 200 grit through 6000 grit, you are capable of doing reprofiling all the way to a full bright mirror edge and that is impressive considering the cost of these stones.
I will be making videos posting on YouTube and Instagram showing the performance of these stones over this weekend!
As someone who is a respected and well-known professional sharpener and uses many many different brands of resin bonded diamond stones I can absolutely say that these perform as good as venev resin and that is very impressive considering they are very very good Stones. One thing that these even do better is with just a little bit of water on them. They stay wet The binder doesn't absorb any water and it does a really good job of keeping swarf and load up out of the stone. Even the fine grits don't load up hardly at all. Which if you have experience with venev stones, you know that the fineer grits load up very badly. My word is very respected within the sharpening community and I'm here to say it right now. This is the best value on resin bonded diamond stones on the market bar none.
Thank you so much, Lacey! Your review is both informative and helpful. We’ve taken your advice into consideration. We've indeed received feedback regarding the finer perception on lower grit stones, which is due to the resin bond design—where the resin matrix partially encapsulates the diamond particles, reducing harshness while maintaining cutting efficiency. we will improve!😊
