ok finally arrived and I decided to give it a try on my (very aggressively thinned) Mazaki 240. Which looking at the picture you can see I didnt do, uh, 100% the best job on the edge bevel near the top either lol. Though it's properly even and apexed nearer the bottom at least.
Belgian Blue side is about 12mm thick, it felt (and looked) like it was cutting very quickly. Aggressive edge, more so than I typically leave knives but then Im me. I think based on some knives Ive bought off BST that's what most of you are all into. Felt Aizu ballpark? Clean cut, very aggressive.
Coticule side is more like 8-9mm, feels really nice, just what I like. Relatively hard without being glassy. This is in the range I really like for edges, feels very analogous to some of my Ohiras, but the ones that finish like this tend to be a bit harder than this stone I think.
Overall this is a nice stone that for edges seems like a really great package. Given the two sides, relatively large surface area and results, I think this was a cool pickup and Im glad to have it, but it satisfies my curiosity. From my perspective it's pushing towards being bit pricey, even though this stone isn't shaped amazingly. I think you can get a stone that will give comparable edge results but also let you polish, and be taller for not too much more. It's tougher these days, but it's doable. I think maybe if you only wanted an edge stone though, this would be hard to beat. It definitely is well beyond the point where you can get good results, it's in the realm of your results are on you. To me it seems neither better nor worse than my collection of JNats, just a bit different. I can see why folks are enthusiastic about them, at least! The sharpening feel is very good, the results are good, the only thing not to like is how hard it is to get a large stone and how much you'd have to pay, especially if you wanted a really square one.
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