Mail Call:

Today's mail is simply gorgeous and comes from Best Sharpening Stones. What you see below is an 8 by 3 inch Soft Arkansas stone and I was NOT expecting this kind of presentation at all. This stone only cost me $35.90 SHIPPED! I paid a lot more than double that for my Norton 4/8K combo stone and it didn't even come packaged like this at all. I am truly blown away and very pleased with this purchase. They have exceeded my expectations. The first thing I noticed about this stone compared to my Norton is that it's much smoother and flatter. No lapping is needed on this one which is awesome. This stone is also very hard compared to my Norton:

It did come with a small sharpening guide which will be going into storage:

They packed and sealed this one for nuclear war to insure that it wouldn't break:

The quality of the wooden box that this gorgeous stone came in is epic. They had the logo of their company engraved and etched into the wood along with the type of stone in the lid. The build quality was also epic. No loose joints and no chipped corners or anything like that as well. I could NOT have gotten better quality than this at all:

In terms of actual size, it's the same as my Norton 4/8K combo stone which is 8 by 3 inches:

In all I am extremely pleased and blown away with this mail call. Between the gorgeous presentation, the quality of the packing for safe shipping and the quality of the actual packaging itself, I'm look forward to ordering another Arkansas stone here soon. They also can get away with charging more for this stone than a mere $36 U.S. Dollars shipped as well. I paid nearly $90 dollars for my Norton 4/8K water stone and it didn't come in packaging like this at all or in a nice presentation like this. All it had was a mere laminated piece of cardboard with the Norton logo on it that was simply wrapped around the case. The next test will be to see how well it hones which will be later on today.