Diamond flattening stone/plate for Edge Pro stones?

jsp

jsp

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I ordered an Edge Pro Apex Plus Kit #4 to leave at my sister's and mom's house in Texas so I can sharpen their kitchen knives whenever I come out to visit. What's a decent, affordable diamond plate/stone to purchase for flattening Edge Pro's Stones from 120 to 1000 grit?

I would order the glass plate and silicone carbide from Edge Pro but I don't want it to take up too much space at their house. So I'm just looking at a 3"×8" sized diamond stone or something similar.
 
Cheap diamond plates from China via Amazon should work fine for this. I prefer something in the 600-1000 grit range, but a lot of people like 400. Break it in first by wetting it and rubbing it on metal, or sharpening an ax or something; that should get any loose diamonds off, and reduce any tendency to plow furrows in your stones.
 
UncleBoots said:
Cheap diamond plates from China via Amazon should work fine for this. I prefer something in the 600-1000 grit range, but a lot of people like 400. Break it in first by wetting it and rubbing it on metal, or sharpening an ax or something; that should get any loose diamonds off, and reduce any tendency to plow furrows in your stones.
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Would that diamond grit range do okay for the Edge Pro's 120 and 220 grit stones?
 
jsp said:
Would that diamond grit range do okay for the Edge Pro's 120 and 220 grit stones?
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Yeah, matching the diamond grit is not that important for flattening stones. You're just trying to remove resin, not really engage with the grit. Lower grit plates may remove material a bit faster, at the cost of making furrows in the stone that don't matter much for a 220, but would be really bad on a 1000. I use a 400 for low grits and an 800 for higher grits, but that's just because I have them around. It's worth noting that both of the plates I use are basically worn out. They don't do very much at all to steel any more. But they're still great for flattening stones, and they don't make furrows because the diamonds are all broken off near the base. I almost threw them away before I found out how great they were for flattening.
 
Great info! So if you were to start over if you didn't have them, which 2 diamond grits would you get for stone flattening from 120 to 1000 grit EP stones? Are there any particular brands/models that are affordable you can link from Amazon?
 
I have had no experience with cheap diamond plates. My worn out ones are some sort of old 3M, and my newer ones are Ultra Sharp and Nanohone and Atoma, which are not cheap. However, I have read multiple times that if you're just flattening stones, the cheap ones are quite suitable. The potential issue is them shedding diamond and the diamond embedding into the stone. I don't know how prevalent that is, but break-in, as I described above, should help.

So I can't make any specific recommendations. An Amazon search for "diamond plate sharpening stone" turns up a lot of choices.

As for grit, I was going to say that you could get by with just, say, a 600, but I see that there are some very cheap sets and double-sided stones, so you could certainly do a set, or a 400/1000 double-sided. Again, the exact grit is not a really important variable, except for not wanting to go too low for mid and higher grit stone flattening.
 
I would go with the 150/600 plate as I think the coarser side is what you want. Use lots of water and keep the slurry washed off. The method of wear is the loose slurry will wear the bond and release the diamond crystals, the diamonds themselves should last forever cutting stones. I wouldn't break it in, just use it to dress stones with, and nothing else!!! The hangers should come off fast enough. Stones and steel cut differently and dedicating it to stones only will keep it in better shape for that job.
 
An S SATC diamond from Amazon would be a good cheap flattener. It's a combo, 325/1000 IIRC. The 1000 side has a bit of grit contamination but that's not a problem for flattening. The 325 side will work well and you can use the 1000 for finer stones. It's only $20 but I've done at least 50 knives on one and it's still going strong.
 
one-two grain size coarser SiC powders on glass plate
or SiC stone for flattening
or diamond pastes coarser grits

but quality stones do not need flattening sooner than 1-2 years of use
 
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