Scorpion Forge Natural Waterstone

Alright ladies and gentlemen. As some of you know, I've been retailing some rather different natural water stones that come from a quarry in China. They are however very, very different in both appearance and use than other Chinese stones I've used. First, of all of them I have received, refinished, and sold...have been extremely consistent both in color and 'grit' range. They are highly pressure dependent for what you want to do with them. With pressure they cut at around 1500 grit (based on comparisons with other synthetic stones I have, in particular the Shapton Pro 1500), but with light pressure they behave like an 8k grit stone. These are the ONLY stones I use on my knives...from bevel set (meaning a knife with no edge at all), on up to the final passes to finish the edge. From there it's 2-3 strokes on a hard felt block, and in the mail they go.

So...the reason for my post? I just received a new shipment, which from my understanding is the last in the US for the known future. This time the stone came in a bulk slab which I had to cut myself, as well as flatten and finish into a usable stone, lol. These things are HARD...and take me around 1-1.5 hours to finish out after they've been cut. Due to the lack of availability the stones are only open for retail to people currently on my books, as well as past customers. Of the 12 I was able to get cut, only 9 are left. Pricing is set at $60 shipped in the US, with the buyer of course paying the difference in shipping if they want one elsewhere. I've sent a few of these stones out for assessment, and am told they work very well on many types of steel, including multiple kinds of stainless, blue and white Hitachi, and all of course carbons. For reference my AISI W2 tool steel is left at 64-65HRC, and the stone sharpens them from no edge to tissue slicing sharp in around 10-15 minutes:



And a couple pictures of the current batch of stones I have ready:


As delivered on the right.



Cut into roughly 8" x 2.25" x 1" slabs.




Where they start pre-finishing.




A finished out stone.

Now, the things never need flattening, ever lol. But I do like to 'freshen' the surface with another stone on occasion, and when I do I tend to just leave the slurry (which is NOT from this stone lol) as you can see there. Mostly it's because I'm lazy and it has no noticeable effect on the edge, either positive or negative.

So, again...if you guys are on my books, or already have a knife from me...you are eligible for one of the remaining 9 stones. Please send a PM and let me know and we'll go from there .

 

If I were a stone guy, I'd be giving one of these a go, based on your rec.

 

I was about ready to order one, until I reached the end of the post. Unfortunately, I don't meet Cris' criteria to be eligible to get one. Bummer.

 

Would love to but have already spent my sharpening allowance for the year.

 

If they don't all disappear, I'd like one.

 

Pretty excited to try this stone out =)

Will be my first Natural stone.

 

If I can get ahold of more Rick (my supplier is checking his next shipment and says he may have a few more full size slabs available), I'll let you know for sure. It's not so much that you don't 'meet my criteria' though...which normally would include the entire forum. Basically the main reason it's for people ordering knives only is the limited availability. Added to that is that it's so much effort for the small amount of profit I make (basically less than an hour's pay). The stones are crazy hard, go through 120 grit silicon carbide like candy (they just laugh at diamond plates), and take over an hour each just in flattening so they're usable (even off of a clean saw cut). The results are worth it to me to provide for you guys though. The unexpected limited availability is what is requiring me to close the group.

I have an email out to him now, and if he is going to have them available any time in the near future I'll let you know. Hopefully I'll know by tomorrow.

 

Looks like I better get on Cris's list so I don't miss out next time. :cool1

 

Hopefully he'll let me know he's going to have more available so that won't be mandatory. Not that I wouldn't love to have an order from all of you guys of course!

 

Well, good news. He confirmed that he has two slabs of stone in this shipment, which I purchased both of. I can't imagine selling another 24 stones in the entire coming year, so we should be good to go for the forum. Currently I have sold 8 of the current 13, leaving a total of 29 available once the other batch arrives. @Rick and @Pennman88, if you're still interested please let me know and I'll get you settled. I've been saying I'll send them out Monday but I don't believe the mail is running, so it'll be Tuesday I'm sure.

Thanks everyone!

 

I would love one and a knife to go with it. Hopefully at some point.

 

But really if you have extra I'll take one.

 

Well my friend, I'd love to provide you with one and a knife to go with it . Just let me know when and we'll go from there!

 

Great! I'll shoot you a PM shortly.

 

Alright ladies and gentlemen...11 out of the initial 13 are gone. The only persons who indicated interest that haven't gotten ahold of me are Pennman and possibly Mike...so for now I'm calling them sold. If they haven't reached me by tomorrow I'll let you all know they are available again here.

 

All the stones I've gotten flattened and conditioned since yesterday, lol. Messy, messy work!

 

can i have one ?

 

Great WIP Chis.. just a thought, have you considered asking a stone shop to do the rough work?

 

Lol...international shipping might be prohibitive my friend...but I've never shipped just a stone across so I don't know. But if you seriously want one send me a PM and well work out the details .

You mean like a lapidary? The only problem I see is they probably won't do it for free, and right now the cutting and conditioning just cost me labor. Depending on the exact thickness of the new slabs though I may have to at least have them do the cutting. This slab was 2 3/8" thick, and I had to force it under the body of the saw lol.

 

I was thinking more a place that did stone countertops.