David Barnett
Apparently (I had to consult my memory, which lives in another head), I bought my first EZE-LAP fine hone in the mid-nineties, so I guess that'd make it about fifteen plus years old. It's still going strong and I don't see why that should change. The oldest hone gets frequent use on my two favorite food prep knives and just about everything else including garden tools. If a diamond stone has been through hell, it's this one. I've added two more just like it so I won't have to carry it from shop to shop.

Really, with all the diamond I have; loose, paste, spray and whatever, you'd think contamination would be a problem, but it really never has except when three vials got crushed during Hurricane Floyd. Threw 'em out. Problem solved.

Kind of hard to identify a single shape for diamonds, especially on a polycrystalline stone, which is why I have trouble with generalizations such as "...they're slow cutting because of their shape...". I mean which shape? Maybe it's that cute little hexagon crystal in the upper left, or that tetragonal number to its right. You have to wonder.