Trend Diamond Sharpening Stone Kit, 8 x 3 Inch Double Sided (300/1000 Grit) Bench Stone with Pouch, Cleaning Block & Non-Slip Mat, DWS/CP8/FC

If you're like me, and you're trying to follow what the pros are doing, AKA Rob Cosman, then you're in the wrong place, I too bought this stone because it was highly recommended by RC as " AN essential sharpening set up for plane irons and chisels" I should also note that I am in NO WAY associated with Rob Cosman tools or Rob Cosman himself (wish I was though, he is brilliant)He didn't ask me to say any of this and probably never would, I'm simply trying to help the next man.This stone is garbage, as far as i can tell so far. Rob Cosman is not using this anymore. And for good reason.I was super excited to get this stone, it arrived when they said it would, But because I haven't been as efficient as some others with hand sharpening , I decided to use my Veritas MKII sharpening jig(not bought here for good reasons) to get an idea of what angle the blade should be held in hopes I can get there with hand sharpening, and my blade looked funny after a few strokes on the 1000 grit side of it, Almost like it was being cambered, I thought to myself "huh, maybe I have really done some damage to my blade, but upon further inspection of the stone, using feeler gages, the 1000 grit side of it has a .0025 + dish in it width wise, in 3 inches its out that much. The length seemed to be ok..0025 , doesn't seem like much you say?Well first off, if you're looking to have any sort of quality to sharpening your blades, which requires flatness, predictability and consistency to get that good edge, .0025 for standard tolerances is irresponsible, dare I say even careless when it comes to quality control.I normally use DMT (aka Dia Sharp from woodcraft) which boasts a tolerance for flatness of +/- .0005. Thats half a thousandth of an inch, which is the type of consistency and predictability any stone at this price point should aim for, nay, should be expected to compare to.So, I am returning the stone, for a replacement, which will arrive today so I can give an Un bias opinion to, after all people make mistakes, sometimes of Friday afternoons I am rushing as well but....no excuse for poor craftmanship.I will update it when I have inspected it. From what I understand from the Pros of woodworking, there should be a minimum of .0015 tolerance, meaning if it is off by one and a half thousandths of an inch, it should be okay. If this next stone is off by .0015, I will be returning that as well. IMO that's ridiculous, I don't want thou and a half of camber to my blade, you shouldn't unless it's a scrub plane.For the price of the stone, I could just buy another Sharpton 1000 grit ceramic stone and continue to use my DMT "fine" coarse which is 500 grits for flattening my Shapton stones and putting my micro bevel on my blades, which are well within the tolerances I said up top. within half a thousandth of an inch.THE ONLY REASON I gave this a 5 star rating, was in hopes of helping the next man or woman who wants a quality product, and if you read the other low star ratings you will see this is a consistent error, most people just didn't inspect in time, now they are left feeling sick about the money they wasted on the garbage.There seems to be a very strong indication that TREND'S tolerance inspection has broken down. You don't have to settle for anything other than greatness when spending your money, so don't be afraid to be a snob at this price point. If the other stone is bad, i will add an image to prove it.

This sharpening stone works great! Being 8"x3" it is the perfect size for sharpening plane blades and chisels. I achieved very sharp edges on my chisels and plane blades and was able to flatten the backs of my blades. I like that it has two sides so I only have one stone to deal with instead of two. I also like that it is monocrystalline instead of polycrystalline; monocrystaline sharpens more efficiently and lasts longer.One side is 300 grit and the other side is 1000 grit. These are marked clearly on each side. Only the 300 grit side has the clearance channels. At the time of this review, the photo advertised here in Amazon is not correct since it shows clearance channels on a 1000 grit stone. These channels are very effective for keeping the lapping fluid evenly distributed on the surface and also clear out some of the metal shavings. The 1000 grit side does not have these channels. I wish it did since it really helps a lot. I find the channels on this Trend stone to be much better than the holes used on DMT stones. While a knife point can still occasionally hang up in these channels, the point will have more tendency to skip over it rather than catching hard like on the edges of the holes on a DMT stone. I sharpened two pocket knives on this stone and only had the knife point hang up once. The channels on the Trend stone also take up less space on the stone, thereby allowing for more diamond cutting surface, unlike the DMT stones where the many big holes leave very little cutting surface left. DMT does have steel plate stones very similar to these Trend stones, but DMT currently does not offer any clearance holes or channels on them.I only used a general purpose household cleaner in a spray bottle as the lubrication. The soapy solution works well as a lubricant and is easy to clean up; it is also very cost effective. Don't' use bathroom cleaners since those can be corrosive if left on metal for too long.Once broken in, my knife and blade edges came out very smooth and sharp.I posted a photo of one of the bad chisels I flattened with this stone.Diamond sharpening stones do require a break in period. The courser the stone, the less time it takes to break in (because there are fewer diamonds to break in on a course stone). When first pulled out of the package, this Trend stone is very rough. I grabbed one of my low quality chisels and started working on it to improve the chisel and break in the stone. The 300 grit side broke-in within about 30 minutes of working this one chisel (the chisel was in really bad shape and would have sharpened quicker if I used an extra course stone). The 1000 grit took about 2.5 to 3 hours of sharpening time with a few different chisels and knives before it broke in. Some people expect the stone to be broke-in right out of the box; however, with a stone that will last for several years, I don't have a problem spending a few hours breaking it in.The pouch it comes with is well made and very handy to have.It also comes with what they call a cleaning block. This item seems to be nothing more than a big pencil eraser. But it is nice they included it. It also comes with a non-slip pad: this is also something you can buy in a home store that is used as liners in drawer bottoms, but again it is very nice they included it.Overall, I am very pleased with the performance of this stone. I highly recommend that if you are looking to get a diamond stone, this one will not disappoint as it is high quality and sharpens wonderfully - far better than sand stones.Updated information:I have also used the DMT diamond stones. I find the trend stones to be far more quality made than DMT. The Trend stone has a more uniform coating of diamonds and the metal block has squared edges instead of slightly rounded edges. The Trend also does not seem to clog as easily as the DMT. The DMT stones also seem to lose diamonds much easier than the Trend. I also believe the Trend is a flatter stone after I attempted to flatten a few plane blades. Therefore, as a side by side comparison, I put Trend stones well above the DMT stones.