Diamond Stone Advice

630skirmish

630skirmish

Joined
Nov 30, 2013
Messages
387
I apologize if this is the wrong place for this but I couldn't find any subforum having to do with just sharpening, so if there is please feel free to move this. Now to my question.

I have these stones right here excluding the extra course, so what I have is the

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DM...-Kit-P405.aspx
Course-320 Grit
Fine-600 Grit
Extra Fine-1200 Grit

The jump from fine to extra fine seems to be way too much, not really sure why there isn't a 900 grit between fine and extra fine.
Does anybody know of a good diamond sharpening stone 8x3 that is about 800 to 900 grit?
 
Thanks that was the subforum I was looking for :) Also this set, except for the extra course is what I currently use but I just thought that the jump from 600 to 1200 grit was a lot.
 
Atoma, for example, also goes from 600 to 1200 in their progression. KME goes from 600 to 1500. Eze-Lap is also 600 to 1200.

There is a Chef's Knives to Go economy 2-sided plate that is 400/1000 if you really want something in between.
 
Fine/ultra fine works fine for me; you can get scary sharp edges without an intermediate grit. Coarse is great for re-setting a bevel, or for D2, which seems to slice best with a coarser edge.
 
To me, the closer the steps from stone to stone, the easier the job is (based on my limited experience, lol!). The diamond stone for my Wicked Edge are 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, then ceramics.
 
I don't think you really need an interim step between 600 and 1200, at least for functional sharpness - though it might make it easier to obtain a mirror-polished edge if that's what you are shooting for, but you will need to keep going past 1200 for that
 
I have very little personal experience, but I have always read the rule of thumb is to progress by roughly 2X the grit; hence 320, 600, then 1200 without intermediate.
 
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Diamond sharpeners (I wouldn't use the term honing with them as I have never seen one that doesn't remove metal) are pretty fast to work with, but that is because they are very aggressive. They tend to remove quite a bit more metal then is necessary to get the job done. Good to have if you really need it. But personally I wouldn't use one on anything but the hardest of steels. That said an exponential increase in grit between mediums with multistage sharpening is not uncommon. It's like painting. You need to establish a clean surface, a coat of a primer paint, and a top coat of paint. If you get good enough at it your not going to need a second coat of paint and feathering on top of it. The more practice you have at it, you'll find equates to less you need to get it done right.

Now regarding the recommendation of an additional stone. Unless it's made by the same manufacturer. your going to run into problems. Aside from FEPA-F/FEPA-P (Euro std.), JIS (Jap std.), and CAMI (US std.), there are dozens of company standards for grit. Lansky, Norton, Wicked Edge, and others all have their own standards on which they measure grit (Norton actually has 3). There is even a DMT standard specifically for Diamond Stones (that not every company making or selling them is going to use). So an 800 from one company could be equivalent to a 1200 you already have from another company.
 
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A lot of guys go that route. TO me diamonds are pricey and lack economy & longevity. Plus, the edge they leave is scratchy. But the site you're looking at is good. Those guys give good customer service. DM
 
I would suggest you strop as the last step if you consistently like hair popping sharpness. I tend to live with a bit less. I use DMT diamond bench stones (two sided ones mostly), and the larger Norton India stone for general sharpening of my less hard knives. By far, I use the India stone the most on the fine side.
 
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