I chimed in on another thread:
Best coarse stone for crap steel
saying that I had some coming, but wanted to get some sessions in with them. I have the 220/1000 combo stone, along with the 8K/10K stone as well. I've had a few sessions spaced a few days apart to really let this set in, so here's what I can report back.
Speaking to the 220 grit stone specifically, I can say:
-It DOES remove material fast, and brings up a burr almost instantly on cheaper knives. I did NOT try this out on any good knives with higher quality and harder steels as I would not want to eat away that much metal and had no need to do so.
- It is hard and thirsty. I let mine soak for almost an hour while I was finishing up another project and it still needed way more water than any other stone I have as I went along. It has a very hard feel, and is loud enough to sound like you are murdering your knife on it.
- It leaves a "decent" finish, but I don't have much to compare it to other than an 300 grit Ultrasharp plate, as I have never used a stone this coarse before. It was sharp coming off the stone, but not like coming off a Shapton Glass 500.
- It leaves an almost sand-like slurry. I wouldn't even call it a mud, but it actually feels like sand. Very much a PITA to clean up.
Bottom line for me was that it worked well for hogging off metal and resetting a messed up bevel pretty quickly. I was not a real fan of using it, OR the 1K side, but your mileage may vary.
I will probably end up selling this one down the road, as I feel more comfortable using a diamond plate or a Shapton Glass 220 stone than this.
That said, this 220/1K may work well for somebody who is just using it as a fixer/1st stone, as you can work up a burr and move off it very quickly.