Natural sharpening stones

Natural stone

— a material found mainly in high-end whetstones (see "Type") — partly as a tribute to tradition, partly for quite practical reasons. Modern sharpeners most commonly use either Arkansas or Japanese water stone. "Arkansas" is a very pure natural quartz, which can have different grain sizes, but in general it is quite fine. Japanese water stones are valued for their softness and delicacy of processing, but they are very demanding in terms of compliance with the rules of use. A common disadvantage of natural stones is the likelihood that the structure of such a material will be inhomogeneous and the quality of sharpening will deteriorate. At the same time, usually, the more expensive the bar, the more carefully the manufacturer monitors the quality of the material and the lower the likelihood of encountering heterogeneity.