The Crapstone

Chisels, turning tools, etc, all need sharpening. Usually fresh out of the box.

To completely remake an edge, my bench grinder gets the right shape going, and for repeated honing I have a fine diamond tool. But what about in-between? What to use after the grinder, but before the diamond hone?
I picked up a cheap "Sharpening Stone" from Harbor Freight. This thing is NOT one of their "gems". At 99c (with a coupon) it was still too expensive.

The stone, Item #07345, is labeled as "Superior Wear-Resistant Stone Sharpens Quickly, Evenly And Efficiently To Give You Sharper, Safer Edges" (poor capitalization theirs). It's crap.

The sharpening material dissolves with sharpening oil! Running a tool across it quickly removes the gray material exposing the white core sandstone.

Yes, sandstone.

The gray material is just a thin coating on top of a sandstone brick. Ugh.

I got one use out of this tool, sharpening my 3 chisels, before I had to toss it.

So a word to the wise: Spend the money and get a quality stone. Oilstone, waterstone, whatever. Just avoid this useless waste of space.