Opinel stones

[mattd88]

What do you guys think about the opinel stones? I'm thinking about trying the lombari stones but wanted to get some opinions first.

 

[Jason B.]

The one I tried reminded me of a Arkansas stone. It was very fine and very slow but it did yield a very nice edge.

 

[mattd88]

I'm also intrigued by the shape. Is there a advantage/disadvantage.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The web page for the US distributor of Opinel's product line does describe the Lombardi as a 'Natural' stone. Sort of looks like an aluminum oxide stone. Speculating, but maybe it's corundum, which is a naturally-occurring aluminum oxide (NOT: see Edit below). That might be a good fit for the steels used in their knives; not too aggressive for the 'carbone' XC90 steel, and still hard/aggressive enough for their stainless (Sandvik 12C27Mod).

Edit:
Having looked a bit further, here's a little more detail in describing the stone, also from the same Opinel US distributor:

(...) "The natural Lombard stone has been recognised since the 15th century for its outstanding sharpening qualities due to its perfect, uniform balance of quartz and carbonates. Use with water." (...)

If mainly quartz & carbonates, looks like it's not AlOx. Quartz is silica-based; at Moh's ~7, not nearly as hard as AlOx, but still hard enough to sharpen carbon & simpler (low-wear) stainless steels. Could see how it might work OK for Opi's blades, albeit slower, as Jason mentioned.

I'd forgotten Opinel even marketed these; I'm sort of curious now.


David