Lee Valley steel honing plate, did not like it

[Cheshirechappie]

If anybody really wants to make a hone for use with diamond paste, a piece of sheet copper or brass will make a suitable base. It's soft enough for the diamond to embed.

However, it's hard to see why anybody would want to do this, unless in a really tight spot for equipment. In engineering, hones are used for final finishing operations, removing the minimum of material to leave a fine, dimensionally accurate finish. In a woodwork sharpening situation, a proper diamond sharpening stone will beat an extemperised hone hands down every time.

 

[ali27]

Hi ali

What is your experience of the plates in use?

I tested the plate prior to their production, and mine looks the same as the production version. I have used a range of diamond pastes, from 45.0 to 0.5 micron, and never experienced any problem. Are you making a statement from the theoretical or the practical stand point?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Yes I used the plates. I put 15 micron and 1.0 micron. The 1.0 micron worked okay, but very slow. A waterstone
is much faster.

The 15 micron was moving around too much. I even tried pressing them in with the back of a plane blade.

I have used a kannaban in the past. And the difference is remarkable. A kannaban holds the grit much better. No
idea what kind of steel is used in kannabans, but the experience was much better.

Ali

 

[ali27]

Does honing with powdered grit not work using float glass? (I'm sure someone here knows the flatness tolerance of float glass). If so, surely that would be a cheaper alternative. Just throw the glass in the recycling once it gets too rough.

No - you want the grit to embed (lapping paradox)

BugBear

And you want the lapping plate to be softer than what you are tyring to sharpen. Floatglass
is quite hard actually. Diamond will embed in it, but it will require a lot of pressure and since
the hardness of floatglass and steel is close, it will not be a good substrate.

Ali

 

[ali27]

If anybody really wants to make a hone for use with diamond paste, a piece of sheet copper or brass will make a suitable base. It's soft enough for the diamond to embed.

However, it's hard to see why anybody would want to do this, unless in a really tight spot for equipment. In engineering, hones are used for final finishing operations, removing the minimum of material to leave a fine, dimensionally accurate finish. In a woodwork sharpening situation, a proper diamond sharpening stone will beat an extemperised hone hands down every time.

The copper sheet is a nice idea.

Supposedly the honing plate with diamond paste should have been a fast sharpening method. This is what Lee Valley
says about it:

''The machining process creates a regular surface pattern, imparting a very slight texture to help capture the diamond grit without compromising overall flatness. In use, the diamond particles readily embed into the softer steel, combining to form a durable, fast-cutting abrasive surface.''

It's a poor product.

Ali

 

[Trafalgar]

By all means get a refund of your money if you're sure the product is not performing as it should.

After that, perhaps it's time to simplify in some way. This all seems so overwrought on so many different levels.