Diamond Stones

[Joe]

I've been using waterstones for a while now (mainly 800 and 10000 grit) for sharpening plane irons and chisels and I'm perfectly happy with them, but I need something I can use easily away from my workshop. Can anyone recommend a diamond stone or two that might be suitable? I am tempted by the double sided Trend stone but I'm not sure if the 1000 grit side would cut fast enough to establish a wire edge on a wide blade (with a small secondary bevel).

Thanks

Joel

 

[Vormulac]

There have been a lot of issues with members having their Trend stones shedding the diamond (search the forum or take a look in the Hand tools section, there's a current thread about exactly that), but I know a few people on here use DMT diamond stones and evangelise about them.

HTH

 

[Joe]

Yes, I saw the thread about the diamonds wearing off a Trend stone. Is this a widespread problem? The thing that attracts me to the Trend stone is the fact that it has a guaranteed flatness (+/- 0.0005") - I haven't seen this mentioned in relation to other makes.

Joel

 

[chippy1970]

I have an 8" DMT stone that I have had for years and it still as good as new they are even better now they do quiet a few types.

As regards the Trend stones that sound right, most of the Trend stuff is poor quality now. I just sold my T5 router I had two of them and never liked them some people think they are good but I don't.

I always bought their router cutters as I thought they were the best for the money but I think I will start looking elsewhere for them too if the quality goes down like all their other stuff has.

 

[ike]

Hi Joel,

I can recommend the Ezelap 8" x 3"'s. I have the Fine and Superfine. They are very substantial based on 1/4" steel plate. No problems to date with their function although they do 'bed in' with the first few sharpenings. They also come with rather nice cowhide pouches. I can just throw mine in the toolbag without worry.

cheers,

Ike

 

[WellsWood]

Hi Joel,

I can recommend the Ezelap 8" x 3"'s. I have the Fine and Superfine. They are very substantial based on 1/4" steel plate. No problems to date with their function although they do 'bed in' with the first few sharpenings. They also come with rather nice cowhide pouches. I can just throw mine in the toolbag without worry.

cheers,

Ike

Sadly my experience with EZ laps is rather different. I bought the coarse and medium 8x3s from Tilgear, and not only did they "bed in" really quickly ( and in the case of the coarse one, really dramatically), but they also turned out to be very very UN-flat.
On the other hand, I bought an extra coarse DMT 8x3 and it's in a whole different league - dead flat and showing only the merest tendency to migrate to a finer grade like the EZ-laps. Even the nickel plating on the base plate is higher quality. I know who's getting my money next time I want diamonds.

 

[Joe]

Thanks to all for the advice. Does anyone have any experience of the two-sided DMT Duosharp stones? Are they flat and rigid?

Joel

 

[gidon]

Yes they are. If you can get them from the US they are so much cheaper.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[busy builder]

Hi Joel,

I can recommend the Ezelap 8" x 3"'s. I have the Fine and Superfine. They are very substantial based on 1/4" steel plate. No problems to date with their function although they do 'bed in' with the first few sharpenings. They also come with rather nice cowhide pouches. I can just throw mine in the toolbag without worry.

cheers,

Ike

I'm not in the same league as you chaps but I use one of these in fine. Keep it in my roll with the chisels for when I'm on site. What do you mean by 'bed in' ?? mine is dead flat and keeps my chisels sharp enough for me.

 

[ike]

What do you mean by 'bed in' ?? mine is dead flat and keeps my chisels sharp enough for me.

I've never checked mine for flatness. Whether it's 5 ten-thousands of an inch out of flatness has no bearing whatsoever on sharpening a chisel or plane blade (A waterstone will be more out of flatness than that after a few strokes). It does a great job and that's all I need to know! What I mean by 'bedding in' is that on first use they feel rougher and give a more aggressive cut. After a few sharpenings they feel smoother.

I'm not in the same league as you chaps

Yes you most probably are. :wink:

Ike