Sometime ago, maybe a decade or more, when I got my first Norton medium india, because of the stone's cheapness (as well as rounding up for shipping purposes) I ordered a second for the future. Today, being Labor Day and all, I dithered away in the shop, not really tackling anything, but putting some stuff in order. In the dithering, I happened on to this brand new Norton, still in the cellophane and all. Only, it was not a medium india, but a fine india and a stone I have never tried!

Maybe it was because of the bite of a new stone, but I was impressed. Norton has said their medium india was their replacement for the venerable washita, but I have to say the fine india feels closer to my vintage washita's than the medium. I worked on two blades - one was O1 which sharpened fine. The second was a LV PMV-11. The feel of the LV was slightly different, but sharpening went very quickly on the oilstones (finished on a translucent hard arkansas). The LV had a more severe need for sharpening as there was a bad nick, but was worked out pretty quickly on the synthetic oilstone.

Anyone else here have experience with the Norton fine india?