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That's a bummer. Since you mentioned the perma-soak, my gut feeling is that practice can't be good for any stone. Some perhaps can tolerate it, but why do it as an ongoing practice? You probably like having stones at-the-ready for spontaneous honing. What I do is have honing sessions where I will do maybe six blades or more that have accumulated. I have a spare blade for a few planes that I can switch in between honing sessions. I also keep a strop handy to freshen a dulling chisel just a bit.
I learned my soaking lesson on a Chosera stone I had. It got multiple surface cracks but never fractured. It too was a great stone. Now I never soak for more than a few minutes.
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Mine stay in water all the time, it must depend on the material.
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JoethePro said:
I did let it perma-soak for a few weeks like I do my norton stones, so I guess that could be it.
I believe this is the cause. Sigma Power Select stones break down faster than some of the other stones. I suspect the binder in the stones got pretty soft by soaking that long. Only other thing I can think of is if the water froze at one point. Lots of little cracks to me indicate a binder softening. Even Stu (Schtoo) who sells them via Tools From Japan, recommends only a 1-2 minute soak on the lower grit stones - "The stone should be damp, but not wet for the best performance."
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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I bet you'll be able to repair that with superglue. I had a 4000-grit stone suffer the same fate after 8 years of use, but I was able to repair it with superglue and it's still going strong!
"If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my axe."
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