Thread: Diamond whetstone questions.

I have DMT brand diamond stones. 1000 grit is quite fine, DMT DuoSharp Bench Stone Models | DMT® - Diamond Machining Technology

I am an Eze!ap fan. 600 grit would be okay for a builder. Recently bought a 600 grit 200 X 75mm from the Australian supplier and saved about $50, as they have them on special.

The greater width deals better with wider plane blades. They can be a bit rough and scratchy when new but they will smooth up fairly quickly.

The shape of the diamond crystals does matter = monocrystalline is best.
You get what you pay for = while the "average" particle size may be 1 micrometer, a cheap plate will have everything from 0.5 up to 1.5 or some even bigger.

800 or 1000 grit W&D automotive finishing paper on a flat surface is a whole lot of bang for your buck.

But, you say you need to do this at work. Time is money. Diamond is good. I'm retired = whole lot of time and very little money.

I'm with kidbee on this one. Love eze lap. Grit level depends on what you like. 600 is for fast and ready work. I had a 200 by 50 super fine (1200grit) ezelap for 10 plus years in my tool box at work. Great for wider plane blades. Everyone was wanting to sharpen their tools on it. Diamond does cut quite quicky even on the worn in stones. Grab a double sided one! As kidbee said, they need to be broken in and keep your docket. Ezelaps quality control is slipping.

Thank you everyone for your help. I will continue looking from here with my new knowledge!!!

Consider as well whether you might want to repair chipped-out edges, in which case a dual-sided 'stone' is best.

Also consider how much you'll be doing.

If a lot, in my experience getting one or two Japanese ceramic whetstones is better bang for your buck. Yes, they need maintaining and are a bit more fiddly in use.

G'day all,
I have recently bought a DMT "fine" diamond stone to flatten my waterstones and was wandering if I should of gone for the extra coarse or coarse stone.
I had planed on buying the extra coarse/ coarse stone but was recommended the fine (by the carba-tec guy) because the extra coarse/coarse would be to aggressive on the finer waterstones (4000+).
Have I done the right thing in getting the fine?

Sorry for hijacking the thread,

olas: just how "bad" are your waterstones?
Seems to me that the major difference between coarse and fine is the cutting speed.
Diamond just lasts longer than other abrasives.
In any case, LOTS of water to flush away the swarf.

Thanks Robson valley,

My waterstones are all new, it's more about maintaining the flatness. In your opinion will a coarse diamond stones leave marks on the finer waterstones (4000+)?

Just a guess but I'll say yes, the coarse diamond particle sizes will leave scratches in the very smooth surfaces of very fine grit stones. I've been using the LV combo 1K/4K waterstone for years. Nothing quite like the corners of a 5/35 to leave squiggles in the stone! The 1K side has developed quite a rainbow profile. Would be useful for your experiments.

What happened was that, about 6-8 months ago, I started to do a great deal of spokeshave work on my kitchen sticks project in birch wood. Trying hard to finish 100 of them but after 60, my enthusiasm is flagging. The spokeshaves are in rotten condition as new. 28 degree blade isn't so bad but paint on the sole, crude castings and so on. The Stanley was such a $50 piece of carp that it hangs on the wall (no, you can't return it if you mess with it.)

I learned very quickly that I could not use my 1K/4K waterstone for the spokeshave blades = too badly worn. A new stone? Possibly. Lots of money. I had to find something flat ASAP. 800 grit then 1500 grit W&D papers on a flat granite surface. Chrome green on crackerbox cardboard. The Samona spokeshaves ($15 each) both tuned up like a dream and I have not looked back. I actually counted and did the math: I'm getting about 1km of travel in birch before I begin to sense that the pulling is getting just a little tougher to do. A few passes on 1500 and hone and away I go again.
'Scuze the lunatic ravings.

Originally Posted by olas

G'day all,
I have recently bought a DMT "fine" diamond stone to flatten my waterstones and was wandering if I should of gone for the extra coarse or coarse stone.
I had planed on buying the extra coarse/ coarse stone but was recommended the fine (by the carba-tec guy) because the extra coarse/coarse would be to aggressive on the finer waterstones (4000+).
Have I done the right thing in getting the fine?

Sorry for hijacking the thread,

Depends on how you use the diamond plate and what the binder in the whetstone is.

I used to use a coarse diamond plate and there was one stone that would get scratched up a bit but that had no practical effect. These days I use a #400 Atoma plate on stones of that grit or finer and on coarser stones #36 or #90 SiC grains on plate glass. The latter is IMO a quick and cheap flattening method and works on fine stones as well.