SpydercoFine 2" by 8" Benchstone Sharpening Stone with Light Blue Polymer Case - 302F

Review is for the entire Spyderco set:Spent a long time researching and pricing different sharpening stones, steels, ceramics, etc., the Spyderco set is the best value, and is very high quality. They won't cut as fast as the waterstones, but are a huge improvement over Arkansas stones. Unlike waterstones they won't consume you in maintenance in lapping. Many folks have reviews out there where they lapped these stones, but I disagree. They are flat enough for everything I've tried including straight razors, and lapping according to some is not beneficial for the stone. If you are pressed for the absolute flattest surface available, buy a Shapton and spend 3x as much. I am a knifemaker and I do the bulk of my sharpening with my belt grinder, however I still like to sharpen by hand, and it's nice not to have to run out to the shop to touch up my kitchen knives, pocket knife, etc. Only complaint isn't much of a complaint but the limits of the medium stone. The medium is the coarsest but is still fairly fine and is too slow at repairing a truly blunt edge. This is where I turn to the belt grinder to re-establish the bevel, however when I'm traveling or don't feel like going to the shop, a coarse DMT is a must. Use the coarse diamond to regrind the flats on the bevel, then jump to the blue medium stone to smooth out your work and progress through the UF. I finish my edges on a homemade leather bench strop with a light touch of chromium oxide. This might be overkill for most considering you will get hair shaving (arm hair w/ pressure) with the fine stone.Bottom line is you won't find a comparable range of sharpening grits in any other form for less $$$. That excludes the sandpaper system which is the cheapest but I'd rather sharpen on a stone than paper on glass, even if my stone is synthetic.

These Spyderco stones are great. I have all three, medium, fine, and ultra fine. I would say they are best for experienced sharpeners though. None of them are particularly aggressive so you can get frustrated trying to bring back a very dull knife. You will want to add something more aggressive to your kit. Do your homework, don't just randomly buy these because you want a 'good' sharpener and don't know where to start. Depending on the steel and the degree of LIGHT pressure that you use, they could load up quickly and stop cutting efficiently. I clean mine with a scouring powder before each use. You can read for weeks on sharpening and get hundreds of opinions on what is 'best'. My main kit includes four dmt diamond stones, x course, course, fine, and x fine. Between those and the Spydercos, I am covered for everything I might need. The Spyderco medium is said to be similar to the dmt x fine. I find it slightly more fine. Maybe they cut similarly, but the Spyderco leaves me with a smoother edge. Some feel the dmt xfine and Spyderco brown are redundant, I don't. Some find the fine and medium too similar, I don't, but I understand their thoughts and experiences. Some prefer the ultra fine over the fine. I only use the ultra for special jobs, others use it routinely. Do your homework, these are good stones, but you need to understand where they fit in a more complete sharpening routine and there are different paths to a great edge.

These Sypderco ceramic stones are fantastic. You can use them wet or dry. These stones stay dead flat. I've used mine for about 3 years now and loved them. NOTE: These stones are extremely fine. These stones are going to be best at polishing your edge. If you need to repair a damaged edge or remove a lot of material from your blade, These are not the stones you want. These stones remove material extremely slowly because they're so fine. But they will put a mirror polish on your blade.

I now own all three grits, medium, fine and ultra fine. For those who like to free hand putting or touching up the edges on their knives, you can’t do any better than these stones. They don’t need any water or lubricant although I’ve read reviews where some do apply a splash of water or windex before using. I’ve never done that and I’ve achieved excellent results. I don’t see any indication of wear on any of these stones which is a big plus over using water stones.