This complete waterstone set includes a 200 grit Green Stone, 800 and 1200 medium stones, and 4000 & 8000 grit finishing stones, plus a Nagura dressing stone. With these stones you can meet every sharpening challenge from re-grinding broken or misshapen edges to moderate touch-up to polishing to an edge far sharper than a razor.

With two stones bracketing the medium range, you can repsond very precisely to what you feel going on with a tool: if a plane iron has just begun to dull, 30 seconds on the 1200 stone might be all it takes to restore the edge for polishing on 4000 & 8000 stones, which can likewise take as little as 30 seconds each. If you've worked long enough for the tool to need more than a quick lick on the 1200 stone, start with the 800 instead, once again reducing the time on each grit to less than a minute.

The large Green Stone measures 3-1/8" wide, 8-1/4" long and 2-1/8" thick. Standard 800 & 1200 stones are 2-1/2" x 8" x 1-1/4", and the 4000 & 8000 finish stones are 2-1/2" x 7-1/4" x 1/2", mounted on plastic bases for durability. Please note that the Nagura dressing stone is for use on 4000 & 8000 finish stones only; it cannot flatten & prepare medium or coarse stones.

Waterstones cut very quickly, offer a large range of grit sizes, and are pleasantly inexpensive. Our bench stones offer unusually large surfaces, wider than most plane irons and long enough for very efficient sharpening with or without a honing guide.

All our waterstones are man-made; their abrasive is sieved for accurate grit size and freedom from impurities, and the bonding process is very carefully controlled to ensure consistently reliable performance. Medium and fine stones are relatively soft, which means that every stroke of a tool exposes fresh, sharp grit and quickly builds an abrasive slurry which is a key ingredient in the stones' excellent performance. Their fast wear rate (don't be overly concerned about "fast", it means most waterstones probably won't last more than five to twenty years depending on use), together with their very hard, sharp aluminum oxide abrasive makes for extremely effective sharpening on even the hardest tool steel.

A Highland Hardware user's guide with complete care and use instructions accompanies every waterstone purchase.