ACE's stones have been both at various times, in the last couple of years that I've been paying attention; when held side-by-side and compared in performance, the differences have become more apparent. The website descriptions haven't really kept up, and that's really nothing new with online vendor descriptions anyway. At one time on ACE's site in particular, I've even seen their 6" stone descriptions featured with a photo that obviously showed an 8" stone. The only way I've been able to keep up with what they have, is to go to the store and look at them. Sometimes they've carried both versions simultaneously, and lately they've seemed to favor the lighter AlOx stones. I have both types in each of three sizes (4", 6", 8"), purchased at ACE, and it's easier to see the differences when holding them in-hand and using them. I'm going to be visiting one of their stores again
* in the coming days to pick up an item for a family member, so I'll be looking to see what they've changed again. My local ACE stores have done a lot of tinkering with inventory lately.
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* EDITED TO ADD: Visited two ACE stores in my area today. Looks like all of their 4", 6" and 8" stones are currently the AlOx versions. I did see their little 3" pocket stones still look like SiC (I have two of those). }
Norton's own description (and pictures) of their #87933 'Economy' stone was similarly in error in their online catalogs, until I contacted them and started asking questions. They admitted to me the online descriptions hadn't been updated, even 6+ years after they'd made the switch to SiC (in 2008) from the previous AlOx version. I'd suspect 99% of their customers using these inexpensive stones likely would never notice or care, so I can't really blame the vendors for not prioritizing the details in the descriptions. It's just the sharpening nuts like us that notice these things, and find reason to point out the differences.
David
