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I used that stone on my knife last night and finished on a super hard black river stone i found years ago(suspected black novaculite) and i got my gerber pocket knife sharper than i ever have before. The washita feels as fine as new hard arkansas and even after 200 laps with pressure it never slurried, but it cut and polished the crap out of the blade. When i was finished it looked like it came off CrOx, hazy mirror. I was able to get the knife almost to shaving arm hair(my knife sucks and hates to take an edge, even on diamond plates). 20 laps on the tiny river stone and it would shave arm hair silently. Another 50 and it would hht just above the skin. Never been anywhere near that sharp. My other knives do fine, there a reason this one is the maintenance man beater blade. Low end Gerber sucks, started after walmart picked up their stuff. Sold their soul, sadly.It is one, yes. Always a nice find, congrats! Though have fun lapping it...
By all means use it for tools, just as long as you know you're giving them the very best. A Washita may not be as fine as a hard black or translucent, but it many ways it's a superior stone. The range of a good one can be astonishing, like no other stone anywhere. Very good fine natural stones are comparatively common; you won't find a jnat that can do 1k as well as a synthetic, but a Washita will, and the same stone might finish at 7k. The only things comparable I know are old Turkish, which are even quicker, but don't tend to have the low end that a Washita does. Right up there with greatest stones ever quarried, for my money.
(I concede that you probably have nicer tools, and look after them better than I do! But it's not something you should see as 'just' for tools.)
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