I have a similar unit from Amazon. I spent a little extra money and got some diamond stones which really speed up the process. Those manmade stones, aluminum oxide or whatever they are, do an alright job but they dry out pretty fast. Which you can see in your video as you’re sharpening. The ones waiting on the table are nearly dried out. My biggest gripe with these systems is the looseness of the plates when they’re in the holder. For sharpening woods blades, they’re fine. I use a belt sander primarily and it does the work 90% faster, although requires more skill to keep the angle true.
Yes, these particular stones with this kit do dry very fast. I will also upgrade to better at some point. Although, I've learned that if I only soak the stones I'll be using at the time (instead of all of them), they do stay wet the amount of time I need them. Having them all out the day of the video was basically for demonstration purposes. I didn't use them all on that knife in the video.
