Fine Diamond Stones

[frugal]

I am looking to replace the cheap Axminster 4 sided diamond block with some proper diamond stones. I have been looking at the DMT stones but they do not seem to go as fine as every one here seems to recommend.

At the moment I have the four sided block that does 200/300/400/600 grit and then some 1,200 grit wet and dry paper from Halfords at the end. Looking at all of the online shops in the UK, the range of stones seems to go from Extra Coarse (220 grit) to Extra Fine (1,200) grit. So apart from being flatter than the Axminster block I would not get any advantage in how sharp I can get an edge with these stones.

The DMT web site also seem to have an Extra Extra Fine 8,000 grit stone, but no one in the UK seems to sell it.

The other option seems to be a leather strop after the 1,200 grit stone, but I am not sure what sort of paste or compound to use on the leather (or where to get it from). If I do go down this route, will the leather strop be too fine straight after the 1,200 grit diamond stone?

I do not trust myself to be able to keep an oil or waterstone flat so I am trying to stay away from them.

 

[andy king]

Hi Frugal,

I had a DMT 8000 in for review direct from the USA, but they informed me that Chesterman Marketing are bringing in the 8000 grit stone, price is around £100 + vat I think.
A lovely stone, ideal if you want extra fine edges, although I usually hone on a Trend doublesided bench stone (fine side) and strop on leather with honing compound if needed. I can shave hairs off my arm directly from the stone, and more importantly, take end grain shavings on timber direct from the stone, which is always a bonus! :lol:

Anyway,

Chesterman Marketing Ltd.
Unit 3, Kenworthy Road,
Astonfields Industrial Estate,
Stafford, Staffordshire ST16 3DY, UK

Telephone: 01785 250341
Email: [email protected]
www.chestermanmarketing.com

Hope this helps,

cheers,
Andy

Forgot to add, don't know the equivelent grit for the Trend, but I use Veritas honing compound from Brimarc. It works brilliantly. One stone and some compound is enough for me for pretty well everything.

 

[gidon]

Frugal - see my post on the extra extra fine DMT:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=
I use DMT diamond stones in the main. It's pretty sharp off the 1200 grit and for a lot of things that may be enough. Look at my video in the video section here on one method I used for polishing the bevel. It's a more controlled method of stropping really. And yes you can do it from the 1200 grit stone. You'd need to get hold of 3M microfilm for that method. I get mine from the states.
Another possibility for polishing the bevel is diamond paste on some hardwood or MDF - that works fine too.
Andy's suggestion of a leather strop is the cheapest way to go - but you have to do it freehand.

Cheers
Gidon

 

[frugal]

Frugal - see my post on the extra extra fine DMT:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=
I use DMT diamond stones in the main. It's pretty sharp off the 1200 grit and for a lot of things that may be enough. Look at my video in the video section here on one method I used for polishing the bevel. It's a more controlled method of stropping really. And yes you can do it from the 1200 grit stone. You'd need to get hold of 3M microfilm for that method. I get mine from the states.
Another possibility for polishing the bevel is diamond paste on some hardwood or MDF - that works fine too.
Andy's suggestion of a leather strop is the cheapest way to go - but you have to do it freehand.

I will have a look at the links mentioned in the other post.

With regards to the leather strop: Why does it have to be done freehand? Surely if you take a piece of leather and epoxy it to a piece of MDF as a flat surface you can still use the hoing guide? You just have to remember to always pull the guide and blade towards you and not to push the blade into the leather, but you would have to do that even freehand.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Andy's suggestion of a leather strop is the cheapest way to go - but you have to do it freehand.

I use DMT stones with WD40 or 3-in-1

I then go to a leather strop

I leave the blade in the honing guide and draw it backwards to polish the bevel side. I then take the blade out and do the flat side on the strop.

You can get the polishing compound from most tool shops. It comes in various grades - the maroon one is jewellers rouge which is the finest through to black which is the most coarse

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[gidon]

With regards to the leather strop: Why does it have to be done freehand?

Guess it doesn't have to be freehand - I have some leather glued on some Ash but wouldn't have considered pulling my honing guide across it! I use quite a quick sharp motion on the strop which I don't think will lend itself to being done in a honing guide but will give it a try to see how it works out! (I generally use the leather strop when I'm doing a quick freehand sharpen to finish off.)

Cheers

Gidon

 

[frugal]

I leave the blade in the honing guide and draw it backwards to polish the bevel side. I then take the blade out and do the flat side on the strop.

You can get the polishing compound from most tool shops. It comes in various grades - the maroon one is jewellers rouge which is the finest through to black which is the most coarse

I noticed that you have a tub of vaseline as well. Is that what the dark diagonal lines are? How does the vaseline help?

Do you use the leather with the flesh side up or down? i.e. do you use the bit that was on the inside or the outside of the cow

I have a variety of thicknesses and qualities of leather kicking around the place (my other hobby is Medieval Reenactment so I have a tendency to make boots and leathergoods in fields on a summer weekend).

So I think at three quid plus postage I will give the Jewellers Rouge a go, and also get a fine and extra fine 8x3 DMT stone. I do not really want to pay twice the price of the 6x2 stone, but as my plane blades are 2" wide I guess I need a stone that is wider than the blade or I will get uneven abrasion.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi frugal,

The dark lines are the rouge just put on - you don't need much more than that. I also rub in a little Vaseline - not every time. Got that tip from Rob (Woodbloke). Seems to help. I've also read that other, old-time woodworkers used to use it.

That piece of leather was bought from Mike Hudson of Clifton. Both sides were similar (must have been a suede cow :shock: ) so I just used the better side.

Just make sure you keep the blade dead flat on the strop and don't turn over the edge at all. You don't need that many strokes to get a mirror finish.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Chris Knight]

Preparing a strop is an ancient art - just Google strop dressing to see stuff from barbers and carvers for example. Tallow was favoured along with jewller's rouge by carvers and is still excellent. Basically it holds the abrasive on the lather in a uniform manner. It also stops the leather drying out and cracking - see the barbers' concerns.

 

[ivan]

Why not use an 8000 or 10,000 grit waterstone to finish, as these are quite wear resistant - and you've got diamond to flatten them if needed? Hydrophobes could use the ruby/ceramic 10,000 grit (or whatever it is) that does not wear, only needs ocasional dressing with diamond to keep fast cutting?

 

[andyavast]

I use a dmt duosharp (double-sided coarse/fine) and a DMT diasharp extra fine in conjunction with a Veritas MK2 honing guide and a leather strop to put a final polish on my edges. I bought both of my diamond stones brand new from eeebay USA for around £40GBP each (shipping included) which is a helpful saving especially on apprentice wages!
I'm planning on investing in some diamond paste to use with MDF laps to finish my edges as opposed to the strop, but for the moment my current method is working out just fine.

andy.

 

[Digit]

I use an EZ Cut 1200, very pleased with it and much cheaper than DMT.

Roy.

 

[Digit]

Here's my solution to the guide problem Frugal. It's the EZ Cut diamond plate glued down with DS tape and the guide avoids running on the plate.

 

[bugbear]

I am looking to replace the cheap Axminster 4 sided diamond block with some proper diamond stones. I have been looking at the DMT stones but they do not seem to go as fine as every one here seems to recommend.

The advantages of diamond (low wear, high cutting rate) are much less important in the finer grits; I see no need to spend "diamond money" here.

On the assumption you're using water as a lubricant, I would recommend either a waterstone or a ceramic stone at the finishing end of the grit scale.

BugBear

 

[woodbloke]

As Paul has suggested, the DMT stones are very good. I use an extra fine DMT and finish with a micro-bevel on a 10000g ceramic Spyderco stone from Axminster. I think it gives a slightly better edge than using a strop as I can use MrC's ruler trick to polish the back of the blade, which is trickier to do with a chisel unless you ensure that it is held dead flat on the strop. This isn't too critical with a plane blade but chisel blades must be kept flat and this is where the Spyderco I think is better. That said there have been issues with ceramic stones that are not flat... I've been fortunate to get hold of one that was - Rob