It was effective and note that the stone will wear down as you grind on it, but it is normal and to keep adding water as you sharpen your blade on first the 1000 side and then finish off on the 6000 side. I noticed it helps to work on each side of the blade for over 5 minutes. Much cheaper than taking it done professional. A few practices make perfect! This is my first sharpening stone and I pretty happy with it. Ooh, it does make a skin crawling noise, to be expected, I had to put my iPod on!