Review on Sharpen Like a Pro with the Spyderco Benchstone Ultra Fine Box by Sirious Cavalli

I have all three Spyderco stones: medium, fine and ultra fine. These are my favorite sharpening stones and I would have no hesitation in recommending buying them! Should I end this review now or add more details to my recommendation? Add you say? You are bored? Okay, I started working with wood in the mid 70's. Before I retired in 1989, I completed a four-year apprenticeship. Since then I have become an experienced hobby carpenter. Initially, I used a double-sided carborundum stone. I was able to get the edge instruments sharp enough, but did I fully understand the sharpness? Fast forward to the late 90's when I was only into woodworking tools (ala Roy Underhill). A lot has happened: besides working with wood, I started collecting tools, reading books about the craft/profession/hobby. That was the time I experimented with numerous grinding methods including water stones and silicon carbide paper, up to 2500 grit. What a revelation! sharp tools. But it was expense, dirty waterstones, sc paper with cheap entry but recurring expense, and lack of specific grit at the worst possible time. In my collecting I started collecting old whetstones (okay, maybe they were more like handmade boxes to keep the stones in). I decided to try the stones inside which were some kind of oil stones. This led to a half-dozen years of Wasita, Hard Arkansas and then Charged Sling. Worked great and easier/faster than other methods. At the time I was trying to carve a bit and it was written on the internet that Spyderco was the way to go and I bought all three 2"x 8" bricks and they worked! I then tried a few straight edge tools, including planer knives and chisels, with satisfactory results, but still couldn't get past the oilstone route. Reading similar experiences online, I realized that the central issue that remained when trying to find sharpness with these stones was the plane. . I bought a very large DMT diamond plate and started leveling. Spyderco pays off at least as well as any other system I've tried, and just as quickly, if not faster. The final revelation came after reading on a forum that adding a drop of water really helps. And he does! As with any tool, don't expect great results right away: you have to work at it to learn the tool! Each time I sharpen I hand sharpen (without a template) which allows me to use the whole stone as well as a smaller size as you no longer have to worry about the template wheels coming off the surface of the stone. Also, Spyderco sometimes needs cleaning. I use a "magic sponge" (any cleaning range at the grocery store) with some detergent. I should add that sharpness is a relative term, depending on both the tool steel being sharpened and the wood being worked. I mainly work with cherry, white oak, some walnut and white pine. Lots of O1 steel, some A2 and D2 (Spyderco does a great job with all three steels).