Breaking in the DMT D8EE

gunmike1

gunmike1

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So I got a eBay gift card and bought a D8EE with it to get a 3 micron diamond stone. I hear they are not very close to their rated grit for a long time, so I would love to get it broken in ASAP for my S90V Manix 2 to have some fine grit diamonds to cut slightly faster than my Shapton Glasstone in 8000 grit (1.84 micron). Also, and maybe more importantly I plan to use the stone to final flatten my 16000 grit Glasstone to refine the scratch pattern when I flatten that great stone. I know Knifenut mentioned a ceramic stone and Thom Brogan mentioned lapping with other DMT's, but I don't have a ceramic knife and don't want to ruin my Diasharps.

Thanks for the advice, Mike
 
Don't use that stone to lap, it will ruin it. Rubbing the EF and EEF together is one of the ways the DMT rep told me of how to break them in.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Don't use that stone to lap, it will ruin it. Rubbing the EF and EEF together is one of the ways the DMT rep told me of how to break them in.
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Sorry for the probably obvious question, but why would you need to break them in? Is there some kind of coating on the surface?
 
Well the diamonds need to wear in, some of the diamonds stick up a little too far, so by using the plates enough those stickers get broken off, which creates a finer grit and smoother finish.

I could never imagine intentionally rubbing plates together, i don't care if a rep said it, I say don't.

Flattening a Spyderco Ceramic stone does a good job of wearing them in. Best way is use it.
 
I'd think some good old hard S90V will break that hone in just fine.
 
I know Ive said it in at least a couple threads here lately, but this whole break in thing is really the only thing holding me back on a EE. I love the feel of my EF, and the more it breaks in the better. I'll prob have one before too long just to experiment with if nothing else. Goodness knows Ive got a pretty good stack of premium steel knives that I could work over on it for a while. Hmmm.
 
I'm sure my M4 and S90V will wear in the stone, but I will say I don't think lapping my waterstones will kill it. First, my D8C and D8F are fine after 2 years of lapping my waterstones even though DMT says they will wear out. Second, I'd only use it after the D8C and D8F worked over the Shapton 16000. I could be wrong and will hold off from doing that for a while though to see if I like it. I believe a sharpening nut from another forum uses his D8EE for taking the coarse gouges from other flattening stones out of his super fine waterstones. This was in my mind just about as much as the sharpening ability of the stone when I bought it as I've heard so many people complain about the D8EE, but for zero out of pocket it just seemed perfect to try out. Hopefully I experience the goodness that Knifenut does sharpening with it, but it will keep my Shapton 16000 making mirrors as a fall back.

Mike
 
I sold the DMT EE at one time, so the level of finish quickly became an issue. I had used one, and could see the finish getting finer, but wanted to see if I could accelerate it. So over the course of a few days, I lapped it with a DMT XF stone. Here's the results using the back of a chisel...


Hope3.jpg



As you can see, the stone did break in, but at a cost. It "killed" a couple of spots on the stone... the dark spots no longer contain any diamond. The rest of the stone was fine. Over time the majority of the stone gave a very fine finish.

So, to maybe sum it up... yes the stone will break in over time, and no I wouldn't lap it with a XF stone... at least not very much. You could probably get away with a little bit.... but if you kill a spot, obviously there's no going back. I would just treat it as a fine stone in your lineup initially, and move it down as it gets finer. Obviously, the time it takes to break in will depend on use and steel type, etc. I never tried lapping another stone on it. Hope this helps a bit.

cbw
 
Cool pics, Curtis!

I've killed spots on mine and scratched layers off, too. :( It's a good stone, but requires more care than I gave it.

Gunmike1,

Sometimes, some waterstones can kill diamond benchstones. The 8K side of my Norton killed part of my D8EF stone.

Also, I've got some feedback from one of the two sharpening crazies on flattening with 3 micron benchstone. One uses the 8x3 plate like you're getting and loves it and the other uses a W4EE and other small polka-dot stones after initially flattening with a D8XX.
 
Ok, so don't use it to lapp a ceramic stone but its ok to do the same thing on another diamond stone . Now, that makes alot of sense !
I've lapped alot of other stones w/ a EZ-Lap fine (which was more like 400 grit when I got it) (another topic) and it takes alot of lapping to wear it down but it will . Whether, breaking the diamonds off or wearing them down it does it and the other stone is much softer . Unless you really want to make use of the other stone, don't . As far as break-in,
mine never broke in to what I thought was close to the stated grit until I used it in lapping . But w/ diamond stones all bets are off, as its a different game . So, if you want to use your diamond stone for knives just live w/ its nature . After use it gets somewhat better (trifling) . DM
 
cbwx, you without a doubt killed that stone from too much lapping.

mike, did you get that link on the subject I sent you a while back?

The DMT EEF after break-in should have a shine to the surface like the diamonds have compressed into the surface. Proper lapping would be to use a EF for no more than 5 seconds under running water with almost no pressure. You can do this more than once but I wouldn't do it more than 5 or 6 times. You can also use a spyderco UF ceramic but I wouldn't.

You WILL RUIN your stone if you try and lap a water stone, it will reach into the nickel matrix and you will end up with a expensive flat piece of metal. Don't believe me call DMT.

This is what a properly broken-in EEF looks like.

Picture1010.jpg


Picture1011.jpg


I don't know why the scratches are there but I think it was from when I used it on my 8000 grit waterstone for a few seconds. When I did the water started turning black so I stopped.
Picture1009.jpg


Picture1012.jpg


I probably still have more break-in to go through but the results are very good right now. The problem that everyone seems to have is they don't like the look of the edge after and are expecting a higher polish. Well the polish is probably higher than you think but because of the shape of the diamonds and the way they remove steel if your expecting a mirror polish your not going to get it, but if you understand the way they work you get all the mirror polish you want.

If you want to use the EEF for lapping thats your choice but let it be known that you will destroy the stone.
 
A Shapton Glasstone shouldn't kill it, but that black sludge coming off a clean diamond stone is definitely a sign of demise. And one more reason to seek out a W4EE if raising a slurry with the D8F (which hasn't been harmed by waterstones yet :confused:) isn't good enough. Killing a $20 doodad hurts $50 less than killing a $70 doodad.
 
knifenut1013 said:
cbwx, you without a doubt killed that stone from too much lapping.
Click to expand...

Well, no, not the entire stone, just that one spot. The rest still cuts... some areas better than others. My goal at the time was to find out if it would break in.

But the way your stone looks is probably how it should turn out. The best polish I got was near the spot I "killed", which seems to be the consistency of your entire stone. That's what should be strived for, to get the most out of the stone. How long did it take to get to that point?

cbw
 
cbwx34 said:
Well, no, not the entire stone, just that one spot. The rest still cuts... some areas better than others. My goal at the time was to find out if it would break in.

But the way your stone looks is probably how it should turn out. The best polish I got was near the spot I "killed", which seems to be the consistency of your entire stone. That's what should be strived for, to get the most out of the stone. How long did it take to get to that point?

cbw
Click to expand...

Its been a year but about 4 months and it should be really close to what mine looks like. The other thing that makes a HUGE difference is the amount of pressure you apply when sharpening, less pressure better polish.
 
Thanks for all of the tips guys. I may get the 4" EE as a flattener to follow my D8F, but the mirrors on my Rift in M4 and Stretch FRN ZDP don't look like the 600 grit flattener on the 8000 and 16000 grit stones hurts the finished product much. I will give the D8EE a very fair shake as a sharpener before giving up on it. As much as I'm loving my S90V Manix 2 with a D8C hair popping finish, I may break the D8EE in on it after using a D8F, meaning using the crap out of that stone on S90V while doing a 600 grit to 8000 grit jump. The Manix 2 is now not shaving after cutting over 3 weeks worth of cardboard and plastics, including a freezer box (huge) and tons of Christmas and birthday present boxes on top of normal recycleable stuff. I stepped on a toy of my daughter's 3 weeks ago and got 2 really nasty cuts and having a doctor dig around in my foot for an hour to retrieve a part of the toy I stepped on (a Disney snow globe, and I didn't pop the globe but got Belle's hand stuck in my foot, luckily they retrieved it so I could glue it back together for my daughter). Anyway, that was my excuse for slacking on my duties for 3 weeks. Back to the point, S90V at 59 RC should be a great way to break in the D8EE with that huge jump in grit. At minimum it will knock down the high spots and smooth it some, and if I ever find a ceramic knife I'll hammer the stone with it to try to get my stone looking like Knifenut's. I know it will be great on S90V, and if I'm extremely lucky Phil Wilson's 10V and S110V would do well on it, though I've found S90V to like some teeth. If the finish isn't pretty enough my Glasstone 16000 should work great or 1 micron diamond spray on leather would pretty it up as well. I'm more about the sharpness though, so if it brings another level of sharpness with diamond teeth it may prove worthwhile. I guess I know I'm a sharpening nut when I buy a $70 stone on a whim.

Mike
 
Not much else I can add except, the EEF works well enough for me that I'm considering using it exclusively, in other words I might just stop stropping most blades of my own. If that's not convincing enough I don't know what is.
 
knifenut1013 said:
If that's not convincing enough I don't know what is.
Click to expand...

A DMT endorsement contract and a presidential seal of sharpness awarded to you for exemplary 3 micron benchstone use might help. :D

Mike,

You need an exorcism, but I can't wait to hear how the D8EE treats you.
 
Knifenut is absolutely correct about waterstones eating away the nickel plating that holds the diamonds. Waterstones are soft, and the diamonds dig into them, allowing the waterstone surface to abrade the nickel.
 
lol, the thought has crossed my mind recently of seeing if theres some sort of certification I can get.
 
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