Diamond Hone Question

R

ricklee4570

Joined
Aug 12, 2010
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Manufactures of diamond hones will tell you that you need to break it in before you will get optimal use from it. Generally, at first it will seem coarser than the grit rating. After some use it will smooth out and become more like the grit rating that it is advertised as.

Can someone with knowledge on using diamond stones tell me what exactly is happening during break-in? If the diamond particles are "smoothing" with use, wouldnt this "smoothing" continue for the life of the stone, effectively changing the honing qualities constantly?
 
i'm not completely sure but the break in period is when you remove the excess diamond particles that are not bonded directly to the plate but rather to each other. what makes me think this way i that when i had my brand new XC and XXC i had a nice coarse scratch pattern but with random VERY deep scratches, first time i used my XC on a blade it was for reprofiling and i had to to work the 500grit waterstone for veeeery long to remove those random scratches from my bevel. a few of them even needed a couple more sharpening to polish out while the bevel was mirrored everywhere else.
 
The diamonds are attached in a plating process where they are actually sprayed onto the surface. As stated above its the excess diamonds that are being removed in the break-in process.
 
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