Can't Decide Which Size DMT

Trout Hound

Trout Hound

Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
693
Hi Everybody,

Okay, so I've got a family secret Santa thing coming up where I get to choose any gift I want up to $50. I want to start getting myself some good diamond plates, specifically the DMT Diasharp in coarse, fine, and extra fine, to start.

For that $50 limit (give or take a few bucks), I can either get the 8" coarse stone, or I can get the 6" double-sided coarse/fine stone.

I feel like I'm probably better off getting the larger coarse stone, because I'll appreciate the extra surface area someday, but then that two grit stone is over there eyeballing me, like, "Hey, I'm two stones in one, and I'm not that much smaller!" Advice is appreciated. Thanks.
 
How big are your knives? I appreciate the larger stones (8 inch) when working longer kitchen knives, but on smaller knives (say 4-5 inch and under), I actually prefer the smaller stones.
 
I probably spend most of my time on small pocket knife blades, and some fixed blades up to about 4". I do have a few long slicing blades in the kitchen, but I don't work with them as often.
 
My vote goes to the 8" coarse, and a Norton JB8 combo.
I very much prefer my 8's over my 6's.
 
You've clearly stated that you normally work with blades under 6 inches. That naturally leads to using a stone of 6" or under. My personal choice is the 8" DMT. I think the more stone, the better, almost universally. But if you REALLY only sharpen 3 to 4" blades, the 8" DMT is probably overkill.

Brian.
 
For the smaller blades, the 6" DMT works well.

I have the DMT 6" double-sided Dia-Sharp D6FC Fine/Coarse but I wish I'd have gotten the D6FX Fine/X-Coarse instead.

The coarse side is only needed for repairing/reprofiling. And for those tasks, the XC's 220grit cuts faster than the C's 325grit.

If they made one, I'd really like to have a D6EX E-Fine/X-Coarse (1200/220).
 
My general rule of thumb is to use a stone that is the same length or slightly longer than the blade that I will be sharpening.
 
Trout Hound said:
I probably spend most of my time on small pocket knife blades, and some fixed blades up to about 4". I do have a few long slicing blades in the kitchen, but I don't work with them as often.
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The 6" x 2" double-sided Dia-Sharp plates will be fine for those. I've usually used pocket/portable hones up to 4" for similarly-sized knives of mine; using the 6" x 2" seems like a luxury with those knives, and it's still small enough to use in-hand, with knife in the other (my preferred 'freehand' method). 2 grits in one hone will be the bigger plus for the money spent, as compared to the size of the hone itself. Even the larger kitchen knives can still be sharpened on the 6" hone, until (and if) you decide to spend a little extra on the larger bench hone down the road. I DO have an 8" Duo-Sharp DMT in C/F, but rarely use it. It DOES work very well though, so it's a pleasure when I have used it.


David
 
I started with 6x2 plates but moved to 8x3 for efficiency. The 8x3 size is the average for most stones anyways so with any new stone purchase you won't find yourself outside your comfort zone.
 
I'm a firm believer in horsepower. A 6" stone probably will work great for you today but will you have to spend more for a larger stone in the future? If you get larger knives or start to work on the big chef's knife or carving knife from the kitchen, you'll probably end up spending more money in the long run. Most of my knives are in the 3" to 4" blade range but I absolutely prefer my 8" DMT diamond and 8" Spyderco ceramic stones to smaller bench stones.

You might also consider the 8" DMT DuoSharp interrupted surface plate in Coarse/Fine. With the plastic base, the big river store sells them for under $65 last time I looked. That's a little over your budget but not overly so. Most people here like the full diamond surface plates but the interrupted surface DMT models work well too.
 
Okay, here's a dumb question. I know I want to get DMT coarse, fine, and extra fine, and I'm leaning towards the 6" stones. Does it make any difference in usability if I get the C/F stone and a separate EF, or if I get the F/EF combo with a separate C stone? Or should I flip a coin and stop thinking about it so hard? Thanks guys.
 
Trout Hound said:
Okay, here's a dumb question. I know I want to get DMT coarse, fine, and extra fine, and I'm leaning towards the 6" stones. Does it make any difference in usability if I get the C/F stone and a separate EF, or if I get the F/EF combo with a separate C stone? Or should I flip a coin and stop thinking about it so hard? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

If your habits turn out to be anything like mine, you'll likely use the F/EF combo more often, maybe a lot more often. My 6" double-sided hones came as XC/C in one, and F/EF in the other. The F & EF in one hone has proven to be useful for most of the regular maintenance & touch-ups, and the XC/C usually gets pulled out for much bigger jobs, but much less frequently.

Having said all that, it's possible you might be overthinking it a wee little bit. ;) Whichever you decide to get, I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with them. :thumbup:


David
 
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