600 Grit Dia-Sharp Diamond Stone is King.

KnightAspirant

KnightAspirant

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Get the larger size, I believe its 8X3. This stone has put in more work for me on a variety of steels with the least headache.

I've owned and used so many stones- oil stones, ceramic, water stones you name it.

Out of all of these, I find myself taking so much damn time sharpening, and sometimes it feels like its just not getting done, its just not getting sharp.

The 600 grit Dia-Sharp large format diamond stone is literally the first ive used where I sharpened some pretty hard steel for not that long and was like "holy cow... this is very sharp right now" and it profiled out a wicked edge fast.

Sometimes I use it under a steady stream of kitchen sink water in one hand, and the blade in the other, and sometimes I just lay it flat and use it dry while cleaning it off with a microfiber cloth for touchups.

All in all this is my Number 1 recommendation for someone looking to hand sharpen. As long as you dont go too obtuse with your angle and lift the knife spine up too far off the stone while running it, you're basically guaranteed to get a nasty edge on your steel.
 
I've never had any complaints about my DMTs. I don't have the 8" x 3" Dia-Sharp. But I do have XC/C & F/EF Dia-Sharps in the 6" x 2" double-sided configuration. I do have an 8" x 3" in the interrupted surface Duo-Sharp bench hone (C/F). Have a bunch of others in pocketable size, like Dia-Folds, credit card hones and keychain versions as well. All have been very steady in performance and durability, and I've liked the relatively burr-free finish they leave on edges, needing minimal deburring after refinement. That's a noticeable difference from other plated diamond hones I've tried.
 
I use a 10x4 330/600 DMT, I like the waffles. If I want to go finer - I’ll use that orange shapton or few passes on a hard black Arkansas afterwards. The Hapstone T2 Freehand helps maintain and reset bevels. It’s really well built.
 
So if y’all were getting one of the dual sided ones with 600 grit on one side, would you go with 325 on the other side or 1200? Not sure how aggressive the 600 is.
 
Personally, I'd go 325. The 1200 is useful for finishing in some cases, but IMHO 325 is going to be more useful in repairing or setting a good bevel, which you can leave if you like an aggressive edge, or refine on the 600 which will be great for most uses, and keep some of that toothiness.

I usually use the higher grits for a touch up or to knock off a burr.

I'm sure you'll get additional answers shortly.
 
Balog said:
So if y’all were getting one of the dual sided ones with 600 grit on one side, would you go with 325 on the other side or 1200? Not sure how aggressive the 600 is.
Click to expand...

Definately the 325, that way you could do some thinning and chip repair and/or form a burr quickly.

The 600 will get broken in/worn down over time, so you can think of th3 300 as your bevel setting stone, and the 600 at as your finishing stone.
 
I also favor the 325/600 combination. It's a lot more versatile - the 325 side will be much faster for resetting edges or reprofiling, especially on larger blades. And depending on your preference, either of the two grits can also create great working edges by themselves.

In full-sized bench stones, I've always felt they're much more useful at coarse or medium grit (up to 600) for big jobs. At 1200 or higher, I've seldom felt a need for a large bench stone in such high grit, as most refinement can easily be done using a smaller and less expensive hone. I usually use pocketable hones for that, like DMT's Dia-Folds or their credit card hones.
 
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