Cheap diamond stones at ITS again

[jlawford]

Whoops! 3 young kids means I have lost all sense of time these days...

Thanks Brian- a purchase in the offing me thinks.

 

[Brian18741]

They're still only £12 each now so I'd snap em up quick. They were back at £20 for a while after this thread was created so I dunno how often or regularly the go on sale!

 

[MarkDennehy]

Got out some ¾" ply and knocked up a paul sellers style holder for the plates using the router.

Then got the ¾" chisel I managed to drop on concrete edge-first last week.
Took just under four minutes to go from this:

to this:

The stones cut fast, they don't seem too uneven yet, and the channels don't make for the uneven slide you'd worry about getting.
As to whether this happy state of affairs continues, I have no idea

 

[jlawford]

Nice sharpening station Mark.
Picked up coarse, medium and super-fine for £9.99 each, arrived a couple of days ago. Only tried the superfine so far as my chisels were pretty sharp, but so far so good- this has got them to a much sharper edge that my cheap sharpening stone which was probably about 500 grit. A much finer burr is produced, onto a strop with green compound and the chisel has redefined my meaning of sharp. Now to start refining my technique!

 

[xraymtb]

Set of three arrived today, quick go and seem good however a few questions and observations...

1) They seemed to get less abrasive very quickly. Probably 50 strokes of a chisel and I can feel a difference in the plates where they have been used and not used. Is this normal?

2) How good an edge should I get straight off the 1200 plate? Until now I've been using micromesh on glass (I was getting it free until recently) and getting a sharper polished bevel, albeit with a 3 micron paper. I know the diamond is around 9 micron but it's nowhere near polished? Do I just need to strop/polish (I might try the finest micromesh on glass in the interim)

 

[sploo]

2) How good an edge should I get straight off the 1200 plate? Until now I've been using micromesh on glass (I was getting it free until recently) and getting a sharper polished bevel, albeit with a 3 micron paper. I know the diamond is around 9 micron but it's nowhere near polished? Do I just need to strop/polish (I might try the finest micromesh on glass in the interim)

A good strop (with an oxide) from a 1200 plate should give you a mirror finish.

 

[MarkDennehy]

No, I gave the addresspal address (and made up a phone number; I figure if there's a problem, they have my correct email). Seemed to work fine. Went with addresspal over parcel motel though, because addresspal has a mainland UK hub and a lot of ebay sellers wouldn't ship outside the mainland (even to N.Ireland). Cheap enough to have both in case you need it really.

Whoops. So, if you do this, make sure you email [email protected] after ordering and have them put in your correct billing address (or they'll spam you with free catalogs at €3.50 a time via addresspal)!

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Set of three arrived today, quick go and seem good however a few questions and observations...

1) They seemed to get less abrasive very quickly. Probably 50 strokes of a chisel and I can feel a difference in the plates where they have been used and not used. Is this normal?

2) How good an edge should I get straight off the 1200 plate? Until now I've been using micromesh on glass (I was getting it free until recently) and getting a sharper polished bevel, albeit with a 3 micron paper. I know the diamond is around 9 micron but it's nowhere near polished? Do I just need to strop/polish (I might try the finest micromesh on glass in the interim)

All diamond plated "wear in". With the 1200 this is a good thing and the quality of the edge improves with use. It's a bit gutting with the coarse stones as at first it seems like you can get rid of the grinder. After they are "broken in" they should stay at roughly the same abrasiveness for years (this has certainly been the case with my ezelap plates. I always strop after the 1200 grit.