D8EE ees got swampwalk! Ooh yeah!

No, Sir...time shall tell -- you sound a bit underwhelmed with the D8EE, or am I reading between the lines?


Deaed
 
Used it for lipidary work last night. Conclusion: finish stones with 1200 grit DMT and move to belt sander with SiC belt for high luster polish.
 
One of my corrupting influences has suggested that there are way more extraneous diamonds on the D8EE than on any other diamond hone ever made. He shared a pic of how it looks "fixed" and the finish it can leave when "fixed." The measure was extreme, so I'm going to risk my D8EE first and then share. If it does work, then we'll credit his name in The Book of Edgeclesiastes for bringing live to the dream of a perpetually flat Norton 8k substitute. If it doesn't work, we'll still credit him for his vision (and collection of riser blocks).
 
thombrogan said:
One of my corrupting influences has suggested that there are way more extraneous diamonds on the D8EE than on any other diamond hone ever made. He shared a pic of how it looks "fixed" and the finish it can leave when "fixed." The measure was extreme, so I'm going to risk my D8EE first and then share. If it does work, then we'll credit his name in The Book of Edgeclesiastes for bringing live to the dream of a perpetually flat Norton 8k substitute. If it doesn't work, we'll still credit him for his vision (and collection of riser blocks).
Click to expand...

This will be very interesting. Me and my wish list are axiously awaiting the results.

Mike
 
Since Thom has let the 'cat out of the bag', this is what I did.

(Actually I wanted someone else to try it.)

I lapped the EE with a DMT EF Duo-Sharp stone.

Let's just say it cut the break-in time waaaaay down.

If anyone does, this... do it with caution, as I'm sure it's possible to overdue it.

I did it a little at a time and checked the results along the way.

But what it told me is that this stone will break in, and leave a fine finish.

The picture is my camera, reflecting off the back of a chisel. :thumbup:

I also honed a couple of knives on it, and they came out great.

There is HOPE!! :D
 

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sodak said:
He must have used a spey blade from his stockman.
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Ouch for the pun and ouch for the poor D8EE.

Mine's got more swampwalk today. Used it dry like Curtis did. The edge didn't look as shiny as I wanted, but dang it's sharp. Now that's swampwalk!
 
Lapped the stone some more last night and used it again after setting and polishing a bevel with a King 1000/4000 combination hone. Looked coarser and felt coarser than the 4000 grit King finish, but still cut really well. Maybe it needs more lapping/break-in, but for all of the extra labor, I could've justified a Shapton Glasstone.
 
Mine is broken in and it feels like glass. It leaves a heck of a polished edge. I actually sharpened a straight razor sharp enough to shave with and it was almost as sharp as when I strop it on leather.
 
I've gotta wonder as to the life of the stone. After all the breakin time (wear) will the D8EE still cut faster than the Norton 8k and be able to do it longer than the life of the norton? It seems unlikely, leaving the only real advantage to the D8EE being its use as a fine grit flattening stone. At $60 i'd just as soon use a piece of glass and sheet of abrasive. A $75 8x3x1 Norton 8k single grit seems like a better deal for a stone that works without all the fuss (I couldnt see ever wearing out a 1inch thick 8k stone!).
 
King makes a 10,000 grit waterstone for Ice Bear that can be found for $60-65 online. Wish I had bought that instead. Maybe just more patience is needed, but I can sharpen quicker with a Norton 8K even with stone maintenance factored it. :(
 
Should last a while since it would take some time to wear them all flush wtih the metal, and there are still more diamonds embeded inside the metal surface that will be exposed as the plate wears. Might be just the thing for polishing ceramic blades and high vanadium carbide steels like S30V
 
I can definately vouch for the S30V comment. Really brought the edge out on my Native with the 1200 grit DMT stones. I would consider going higher if I had a finer DMT hone, but the next step I have is stropping, which I heard isn't the best for S30V and such.
 
As many of you know, I think the D8EE is Satan.

Well, thanks to ideas and items from ksskss, the Devil did right by me this evening.

I cleaned the D8EE with a scrub brush before use and lubricated it with a dot or two of Ballistol during use. Felt and sounded like there were some unimbedded diamonds and other contaminants the scrub brush missed. To increase the stone's effectiveness, I tilted it in a Panavise to about 12 or 13° and used the D8EE to make the second of three microbevels (the first was with a D8E at nearly 11° and the third was with 1µ AO lapping film at about 15°).

After using the D8EE, the knife (Stretch II) was extremely sharp, but, well, you know...:rolleyes: After finishing that off with the lapping film, the knife was not only tree-topping some armhairs, but splitting others it barely passed.

A lot of gentle lapping, a light touch, and a bit of honing oil made all of the difference. So far, at least.
 
Used it again on another knife and the gritty feeling and sound were gone. The sharpness was still there.

:D

And then I added a 1µ lapping film microbevel at a slightly steeper angle (about 10-11° per side) just because I could. :o :cool:

Nick Hyle,

You're probably better off getting lapping film or polishing paper and a piece of float glass instead of a $60+ D8EE in terms of price, instant gratification, and instant flatification, but once the quirks are averted, it's a goodun.
 
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