Cerax Stones, manufactured by Suehiro in Japan, have a reputation for performing as well or better than much higher priced stones. Although these stones are water stones and require soaking, they are not particularly “thirsty”—the manufacturer recommends only a few minutes of soaking before use.¹ I’ve found Japanese synthetic water stones are very good stones for beginning sharpeners, as they give very good “feedback” and tend to sharpen much more quickly than oil stones and other types of synthetic stones. This is important because it helps you more easily determine where you are in bringing your edge to sharp, develop muscle memory, and become comfortable with technique. Japanese stones are a bit softer due to the type of bonding agent used in the stones’ manufacture. This aspect makes it so fresh grit is continually being exposed on the surface, cutting more quickly with less loading than harder stones. Each of the Cerax Stones comes mounted to a stand with skid resistant rubber feet, so no stone holder is necessary. The included nagura stone can be used to dress the surface of the stone and helps create a slurry by revealing new grit and bringing the water out of the stone prior to sharpening.²

Features:

• Great Feedback, Fast Cutting, Less Loading — While these softer stones need to be flattened more often than harder oil stones, they also give you a much better feel for where you are while sharpening, and they cut much quicker and load less due to the continuously exposed new grit.
• Minimal Soaking Required — Like all water stones, these need to be soaked, but not nearly as long as many other stones, and they also are great at holding water once soaked.
• Pre-Mounted to Stand — acts as a skid resistant stone holder, protective storage container, and has an additional spot to store your nagura stone.
• Nagura Stone Included — used to dress the stone and build up a slurry prior to sharpening, also helpful in clearing swarf from the stone as sharpening progresses.

¹When testing them in the Infinity Tools shop, we found that about 30 minutes of soaking maximizes performance, but we’d recommend not exceeding that by very much, and definitely do not store the stones in water. A wet stone is properly soaked when you can splash water on it and it sits on top rather than soaking in.

²Nagura stones should not be confused with, or used in place of ,flattening stones. Keeping a water stone flat is crucial to its performance, especially considering their softer nature. For flattening you should use a suitable flattening stone, diamond stone, or even wet/dry sandpaper attached to float glass. Our favorite is the DMT 10" x 4" Flattening Plate (101-455), but the DMT 10" Course/Extra Course Duo Stone (101-450), and Pride Abrasives Flattening Stones (101-446/101-447) are also great options.

Each Stone is approximately 8" x 3" x 1" (206mm x 73mm x 23mm)