SUEHIRO Debado LD-21 #180

Finding an efficient coarse stone is far from easy: some make more scratches than abrading steel. Not this one! I would suggest a short soaking and the use of the cleaning stone to raise a little slurry. Add a little water again, and start. I found the feeling it delivers very pleasant, and that isn't what I normally experience with stones that coarse.

This is the best coarse stone. It is a splash&go, cuts fast, cuts well high carbon steels, harder than most stones in this grit range (except Shapton HR, HC) Overall good value for the price!

Coarse whetstones are a category often overlooked or underestimated by the beginner who starts out with 1000 grit and dreams of the keen edge and shiny finish produced by the legendary 8000s, such as the Snowwhite or Kitayama. But once you become serious about sharpening you'll realise that you need them more often than you first thought, spend more time with them, and are well advised to have a good arsenal of these guys - who after all do all the dirty work of the business: repairing nicks and chips and broken tips, resetting a bevel or stabilising the blade of single-bevel knives. - Whether the LD-21 is the best rough stone there is I wouldn't know as there are still a lot of the bunch I haven't got round to trying out. However, it is definitely one of the more sophisticated stones in this category: super-fast, very precise, absolutely no-nonsense. This stone knows its job. A joy to work with - but very dangerous! Please make sure that you know what you're doing because there is no happy push-pulling around on this one. It has the power to ruin your knife in no time. But once you feel confident enough for going below 400, look no further because this IS great! Ten out of ten performance on every steel from CrMo to HSS. A beast. And splash&go by the way. - Follow up with a 400 like the Naniwa Pro or Imanishi WZ - and go anywhere you want to go from there.

Lovely hard stone, that does not laod up and dish too fast. Maybe a little bit finer, than 180 but that by much. Whats not to like? May be the best coarse stone! Great stone size and price

I guess this is one of the best buys in the very coarse range. It's not cheap but then it's quiet big and it could handle the thinning of one of my stainless clad knives. Shapton Glass 120/220 and Pro 120 couldn't. The Debado is way faster. It's splash and go but because of the coarseness it will take in quite some water. The feel on the stone is very fine for 180 grit. The size is great for thinning but for that you'll have to keep it flat from time to time. As all coarse stones it's on the softer side. But it keeps cutting and will not clogg up.

Fast stone. Best course stone inever used. Very abrasive. Stays quite long flat for that grit. Good buy

This is stone I use a lot, super balanced coarse stone, not too hard, not too soft. Keep grinding. Very good price here for that stone.