diamond stone vs traditional stones?

J

jnbh34

Joined
Dec 6, 2011
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20
i have been looking for a good sharpening stone/system and new to all this and i really want to know what the better of these two are overall. so traditional or diamond stone?
 
Diamond stones give faster, easier results for a beginner while still forcing you to learn the basics.
 
a lot of the more technical steels do not sharpen easily or well with traditional stones, but you can get excellent results with diamonds.
 
I have used traditional Arkansas stones for sharpening knives for years. But with the harder super steels that are common today, I would not use anything other than a diamond stone. I use the DMT duo sharp the most (Fine and Coarse), but I also have a very fine stone too. I seldom use the coarse side, but it's there should I need it.
 
In my experience diamond "stones " wear out prematurely and become slow due to the loss of diamond particles from the Nickel plate. I have no problem sharpening super steels on Silicon carbide, Aluminum oxide, and microcrystalline quartz (Arkansas stones). I much prefer regular stones over diamond stones. They are faster and cheaper.
 
Rapid wear on diamond hones is usually a sign of using excessive pressure when sharpening. Diamond hones will cut fast with the lightest touch you can manage on any steel out there, even ZDP-189 at Rc 65. I switched to diamond hones twenty-five years ago, and I see no reason to go back.
 
tiguy7 said:
In my experience diamond "stones " wear out prematurely and become slow due to the loss of diamond particles from the Nickel plate. I have no problem sharpening super steels on Silicon carbide, Aluminum oxide, and microcrystalline quartz (Arkansas stones). I much prefer regular stones over diamond stones. They are faster and cheaper.
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I was going to make this exact recommendation. I am no longer fond of stones with abrasives sprinkled on the top; I'd rather have a stone whose entire solid body IS the abrasive.

My diamond hones always seem to lose diamonds on the edges (of the stone.) So with my diamond stones, my blades generally don't have sharp edges toward the kick.

I still like diamond. It produces great edges. I'd just rather get something else if I were to do it over.
 
THG said:
I was going to make this exact recommendation. I am no longer fond of stones with abrasives sprinkled on the top; I'd rather have a stone whose entire solid body IS the abrasive.
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+1 on this...
However, For beginners I would recommend non-diamond stones as they take-away very fast. The only blades I freehand are straight razors, and Norton stones are the bomb! (and cheap) Had mine for years, just need to be flatened-out sometimes.(Wet 400 grit sandpaper and a good-ol glass pane does the trick) good luck, and practice don't make perfect...Perfect practice makes perfect!!!
 
I recommend water stones - they cut fast, grinding characteristics stay constant - they don't wear out, break in, clog or glaze. Diamonds are a very good choice, but one cannot do recurve edges of any degree on them - whetstones and waterstones allow you to lap a radius along one side of the stone and you can sharpen any profile.

Also- for freehanding you cannot beat the amount of feedback you get from the waterstones.
 
yablanowitz said:
Rapid wear on diamond hones is usually a sign of using excessive pressure when sharpening. Diamond hones will cut fast with the lightest touch you can manage on any steel out there, even ZDP-189 at Rc 65. I switched to diamond hones twenty-five years ago, and I see no reason to go back.
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If you experience wear on the diamond hones then being too forceful was the problem just as yab said. I have wear spots on the edge of two of my diamond hones too but I'm not going to deny how they were lost.

What stone you chose should be selected by the steels and blade styles you sharpen. Diamonds are not the best and fastest with all steels or sometimes even the right choice, if your main steel is 1095 that would be like using a .500 S&W to hunt squirrel. It would work but I could think of some better choices.
 
I agree w/ THG. My work horse stone is a Norton SiC 100g and after getting the edge the way I want it on this. I then go to the diamond and lightly finish it off on the x-coarse or coarse. Its hard to beat the level of ecomony offered with the Norton stones. DM
 
thanks but im not that good with the freehand sharpen im bad about changing the angle at the tip and it never seems to get right. so i was thinking about getting a lansky system for my edcs that use the most and need to sharpen the most and a free hand stone for other knives just to practice on. thoughts on the lankys system.
 
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