Suehiro Gokumyo-Taiga #1200 stone.

These sharpening stones defy conventional description.

Their cutting speed is moderate, not exceptionally fast but adequate and suitable for all but the very toughest and hardest steels. Their ease of use is reasonable, being not too easy nor too difficult to use. Their maintenance is minimal requiring no soaking (but can tolerate it) and virtually zero flattening, maintenance restricted to cleaning with the supplied conditioning stone.

What is astonishing is that finish delivered and the stated grit do not match at all.

You would expect a stone such as this #1200 to leave a finish that is showing signs of a polish, and very ready for the next polishing stone. What is not expected is that this stone delivers a polish and edge akin to a medium finishing stone. The stone behaves like a proper #1200 stone, but the results are impossible to equate to such a workman-like grit.

And it does this at a speed that is, when considering the finish, exceptional.

While rather thin, they promise an exceptionally long life due to their extremely low rate of wear. Even after significant use, there is little or no sign of dishing, and the only need is to clear the steel swarf from the stone, ready for the next use.

205 x 73 x 13mm, fitted to Suehiro's unique (and nice!) soaking/holding non-slip base and supplied with a conditioning stone.