Is are these scratches normal? (diamond plate)

[AESamuel]

Hi, I recently bought a diamond plate which has developed a lot of scratches during the first few days of use. Some are quite large and visible, but there are many other smaller, less visible ones.
Most of the plate seems to have "broken in" and is working nicely, I'm just worried that the stone may deteriorate furthur.
Could this just be from the loose diamonds coming off during the break in period or something more concerning?
Thanks for any advice!

 

[Droogs]

I don't think it's anything to worry about Andy, most of these plates lose a few pieces of diamond as the break in and get some scratches. they may look large but will not really affect flatness of the plate. You will probably get a few more over time, especially if you sharpen very old tools - early - mid victorian as they tend to have hard deposits in their metallurgical mix and they can put little gauges in the plate which is after all just aluminium

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I agree, probably nothing to worry about. It would be interesting to know:
- What make of stone it is
- What lapping fluid you're using
- How hard you're pressing (possibly harder than you need to, which is not very much at all - diamonds trump (note the lower case 't'!) almost everything else).

 

[D_W]

initial use pulls the large (poorly graded) diamonds off of electroplate hones. I suspect it won't progress any, but you might as well use the hone either way.

once in a while, something may cut the electroplate even on an older hone. Just keep using it.

 

[AESamuel]

Hi, thanks for the replies everyone.

This is a "factory seconds" of the trend stones, sold with cosmetic flaws. That's why I was wondering about the scratches developing, just in case it is potentially a lower quality stone being passed off as a better product.

I've always used glass cleaner as a lapping fluid with my EZE-lap stones and never encountered these sort of scratches before. I always use light pressure on diamond plates.

 

[D_W]

i suspect that your issues are not related to the second grading. that's probably related to something visual (whereas diamonds coming off and tearing up the electroplate is something structural - but big diamonds on hones being torn off is par for the course with everything other than atoma).

Trend is an odd brand. I don't understand the value proposition from the consumer's viewpoint (price higher in the US than western made to proper spec, but made in asia to an evasive spec), but I understand it from the brand owner, retailer and distributor. The items that they sell that provide an MSDS (like the honing fluid) leave you wondering.

 

[Argus]

Probably nothing wrong with it, as others have said.

An easy check is to run a plane blade up and down in a straight line with your favourite eye-wash fluid.
Turn it over and look at the abrasion marks: if it's clear and even straight across, then the 'defect' is cosmetic, don't worry about it.

If there is a break or a visible interruption in the marks across the blade, ask yourself if it's serious enough to warrant not using it. Unless it's a really deep mark, then in reality, as you move the blade around the plate, it'll even out. Any issues will most likely be evened out by progressing through subsequent finer plates.

Diamond plates' appearance tend to get 'streaky' with age and use without losing cutting efficiency. Don't forget to clean them all occasionally with some old-fashioned and much-despised abrasive kitchen cleaner, 'Vim', 'Ajax' and the like.

Good luck............