A Q. about a King...

[cotedupy]

Can someone tell me what the difference is between the King 'F-3' 4k, and the King 'F-3X' 4K is? (If any).

Someone's lent me this stone for a bit, and said he believed it has some natural grit in the mix. Is this the same stone as the normal F3 4k, Ice Bear or whatever people call it? It's pretty hard and unlike any King I've tried before. Also has speckles.

From what I can see online the 'X' only denotes that it comes without a base. But the stone doesn't appear to look like the King F3 either. It's quite an old stone if that makes a difference.

 

[Garm]

I've never used a 4k King myself, so I really couldn't tell. It's a stone I'm considering as my next purchase.
My 6k and 8k certainly have speckles as well, as does the F-3 in the video.

Here's another video of the F-3 in use on a carbon steel blade. Maybe you can draw some comparisons from his take on it to your own experience?

 

[cotedupy]

I've never used a 4k King myself, so I really couldn't tell. It's a stone I'm considering as my next purchase.
My 6k and 8k certainly have speckles as well, as does the F-3 in the video.

Here's another video of the F-3 in use on a carbon steel blade. Maybe you can draw some comparisons from his take on it to your own experience?

Ah yes it does have speckles doesn't it! Pictures I saw made it look uniformly off-white. Thank you for that, I'd be pretty certain they're the same stone then.

Very different stone from the lower grit King Deluxe ones.