Shapton Pro Japanese vs US Market Versions

[Luballs]

Hi new to the forums and sharpening knives in general. Settled on a set of shapton pros to for my first whetstone system. I ordered from various well rated vendors on amazon and have received a mix of US market stones with nice grippy, textured rubber feet on the supplied stone holder/case and Japanese market stones with super slick, untextured and just plain slippery feet on the case. It is only on the 1000 grit stone that i keep getting the Japanese market version, as all other grits have been US market. It's not a superficial difference as the case slides across the benchtop like CRAZY (not even sharpening, just testing out the case with some light nudges).

So... what gives? Am i missing something? It doesn't seem like the feet are reversible and are glued in. I partly went with the shapton pros to get the case and not use a separate stone holder. At first I thought it might be a knockoff so ordered a second 1000 grit from another vendor but got the same thing. Are the US market 1000 shapton pros the good, grippy feet? And if so, why would the Japanese version offer something so sub par (or is there a trick to making the slick feet stick like mad?). Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

I don't know how to post photos here yet, but here is a temporary icloud photos link to see the clear difference in the feet.

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[Gil P.]

Regardless of whichever stone holder the mfg sends with their stones, I always use my Suehiro stone holder. It gets the stone away from the counter top and makes sharpening easier. I needed to get a washer to tighten the nut onto, or else the nut will tighten into the rubber of the stone holder.