Have a bench stone, an axe puck and an extra large version of those Viking stones from them for a few years.
The salesman in me wants to tell you they’re the greatest thing on earth like their videos will make you think so I can sell you mine at a large discount for a set. Luckily, I’m an engineer and the idea of being a salesperson makes my introverted soul wither.
The good, they are very, very pretty stones. They’d be fine sitting on a desk for display. The claims about them not dishing is definitely true. Any form of removal on these things is a bear, god help you if you need to flatten them without power tools like I tried to do with float glass and silicon carbide grit.
The bad: Craftsmanship is hit or miss. The Viking stone has a side that wasn’t fully flattened. The bench stone was left with the same finish on both sides versus the combo finish they always recommend to “let you do anything”.
They aren’t really sharpening stones. They’re burnishing stones. The abrasive that’s in nephrite is pretty soft stuff, but the matrix is hilariously, incredibly wear resistant. The result is the first few minutes after conditioning you get ok cutting action on softer steels like old school carbon. Then it just turns to burnishing unless you decide to condition again. I suppose a slurry stone may improve the situation, but I can’t be bothered to faff around with that.
If you mostly use softer carbon steels like for outdoor knives, it might work for you. I’ve read many thoughts on badger and blade about them. With most being skeptical due to the abrasive issue again, and with some folks reporting they very good razor results off them.
The mixed: The original guy Gabriel seems like an ok guy, high energy, stood behind his product. However he recently enlisted, and left the company mostly in the hands of a friend. I haven’t had direct experience with him. I will say I was recently banned from one of their FB groups for responding to a post from someone looking to buy that type of stone that Zac also responded to and end my speculation there.
Your money is better spent on actual stones if you want one that will truly sharpen stuff. Drop it into a super vitrified, or one of the spyderco pocket stones if you really need something for the trail.
The only real reason to buy them is if you work mostly with low hardness steels, do straight razors and want to experiment, don’t mind refreshing the grit and like the look of them. I’d offer to sell you mine, but they’re extra large by the current standards that they offer so even with a pretty steep discount (I live in a tiny apartment and I bought into the hype for them before I learned my super steel pocket knives laugh at them so I want rid of my shame) I don’t think they’re worth it.
