UltraSharp 8 x 3 Diamond Sharpening Stone – Dual-Sided Knife Sharpener – 300 & 1200 Grits

very good value

I’m a cutlery collector and sharpening nerd and I own all manner of Shapton splash and ceramic stones, old school Japanese full soak water stones, Arkansas black and translucent oil stones and high end and pricey JNAT (Japanese natural) stones for my cutlery and tools. I’ve been sharpening for 50+ years and I really like the Ultra Sharp stone family, but while the Atoma line is more expensive, it is the best of the pack. Why so many stones? It’s all dependent on what you want to sharpen - Japanese, German, stainless, regular steel etc. all require a different sharpening approach for ideal results. The Ultra Sharp all metal diamond coated stones excel at lapping (smoothing out the surface) of Japanese natural stones when they are new and can also be used to clean up natural stones and remove “dishing” from extended knife sharpening with JNATS. The Ultra Sharp are also excellent for chisels and planer blades that can easily gouge a even a hard natural stone. The great part about the Ultra Sharp stones is they are bullet proof, great for beginners as well as experienced knife sharpeners and cannot be easily damaged unless you do something really stupid. I have an Ultra Sharp 300/1200 combo stone and 3000 grit Ultra Sharp stone that I use weekly. That trio of stones will effectively service every tool blade and most common cutlery without additional stones for most users who sharpen a couple of knives a week or even a month. My one "con" with the Ultra 300/1200 combo stone is that when the stone is wet, it can be hard to tell one side from another (it's NOT marked) especially after a lot of use when the 300 wears down a bit. I stamped a "3" on the side of the metal stone so I could know with a quick glance which side was which. See my photos of the Ultra on the left in the stainless/rubber stone holder and the DMT on the right in the cheesy DMT plastic stone holder. The "edge shot" shows the steel Ultra Sharp steel core versus DMT plastic core. The DMT's work OK but I have them relegated to my wood shop for chisels, planes, common shop knives and my ubiquitous Swiss Army knife. Cutting wise, I prefer the Ultra Sharp over DMT because the Ultra has a solid diamond coating and the DMT uses a diamond lattice embedded in a plastic base. It’s just a smoother cut with the Ultra over the DMT but the Atoma stones mentioned earlier are the best of all three but cost a bit more. I know there is a lot of data here and I also hope that it helps!

I'm very happy with this stone as it really does perform well, in fact better than I hopedddddddddd. A lot of product promise so much and I have questioned for some time 'do I really need this'..well, it looks like it was the missing piece in my sharpening arsenal. Where I noticed it most is with my modern hard steels on the chef knives, these made the job of returning the edge so much easier, faster and sharper that I could not stop sharpener every knife I had, and then it was onto my chizels...the ultra flat surface was amazing and it doesn't wear grooves like a traditional stone. Also being wider and longer than my other stones again made it easier as I wasn't need to sharpen longer blade. The combo was a great first stone to see/judge there Grit ratings and I think they are perfect. Good value, good product

First few minutes works good after that is smoother and doesn’t cut off the material from knife and discoloured, very disappointed not much different with cheap diamond plate.

This stone and holder are top notch products, as soon as I received this set I knew I made the right choice. Right away, the weight of this stone is much more than any stone I’ve ever owned, the holder is heavy as well and keeps the stone in place easily on any flat surface. The stone itself is a joy to use and cuts very quickly and is a breeze to keep clean. Just make sure you take an old whetstone and some water and break in your new diamond stone by using it to flatten your old whetstone. There’s instructions on a few other ways to break the stone in that comes with it. They recommended diluted krud kutter as lube and so far that’s been working wonderfully. I love this stone and now all my knives are sharper than ever sad all I use is both sides of this stone and maybe a strop if I want to. Buy it you’ll love it