Recommendation? Diamond stones for KME

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emjay4248

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Oct 8, 2016
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I have a KME with the diamond stone that they make and I have the whole set. It takekes me 4-6 hours to profile a small knife 3.0-4 inches. I thought this was absurd but I was told this is normal.
I ordered a Jewelstick from them which is for recurves, it profiled a D2 4" knife in about 20 minutes and did not leave the gouge marks that the 50 and 100 grit KME stones leave.
Now I know there is a better way. I then took my Domino and sharpened it in about 45 minutes and I finished off with 1500 grit ston and 3000 grit sand paper, all in about 1 hour.

Does anyone have any suggestions for better stones, I tried DMT and they are worse than the KME stones. I called the manufacturer and they don't answer phone call and do not return messages.
I would appreciate any input from anyone who is familiar with this issue.
Thanks
 
The kme diamond stones work fine. Nothing is better then them on the kme for re profiling. I'd suggest your not doing it correctly. But I dunno where to start to help you. Check out DeanO on YouTube. He has videos to help you. Also knifekrazy on YouTube. He's also the rep for kme iirc and can help you with your problems.
 
Or call Ron at KME, as they are great at helping new KME users! Agree with Mo2, and guessing you should step away from 50 and 100 grit KME diamonds, and start with gentle touch, maybe 5 pounds pressure at first - use the bathroom scales or fish scale, feathering to no pressure but weight of 140 stone and carrier only, as you follow written manual (which KME will send you if you lost the first) progression. You have a great high value system, keep at it. And know there is plenty of learning to perfect by practice- just stop if it is not working after multiples of hours to get to 1500 grit.
 
If it takes you 4-6 hours to profile a small knife with diamonds, I too would suggest watching some videos on using the kme. I can only imagine you are going super slow with strokes or some part of the technique is off... Either way, that sounds frustrating, but I think you'll get there!


...with that being said, I guess it's not absurd if you doing a pretty extreme reprofile. In that case, I just take breaks from it for awhile, knowing that it's only taking this long for this particular knife this one time ...or a least for a long time after.
 
I've been using the KME for many years. The 100 or 140 grit diamonds are pretty darned aggressive and will remove metal pretty readily. But steel, grind thickness, starting grind quality, and the amount of "profiling" you're trying to accomplish can make things go very slowly.

My first suggestion is to spread the profiling out over a few sessions. If you're trying to drop from say 18 to 15 degrees. maybe you drop one or two degrees on your first round and the rest on another session.

I would also caution to be very mindful of what is happening while your using those low grit diamonds. I started with the ceramic/natural stones and when I first got the diamond set I had a couple knives that seemed to take forever to reprofile through finished edge. Probably three hours or so. I was, as you are, somewhat dismayed and disappointed. But I couldn't imagine that it was the stones cuz I was seeing so many other folks have so much success. So I started really watching what I was doing and I realized I was often over doing it. I would sometimes miss the burr for example and basically shave it off without even realizing it. And I was adding a ton more strokes than was needed so that added to the time as well. Basically, I was screwing things up quite often when using those aggressive stones.

Now I had a very stubborn ZDP189 knife with a terrible starting grind that took me forever. I chalk that up to both the challenge of the steel and the poor starting grind.

The jeweler's stone is giving you a lot of very precise and direct contact on very specific spots so something in there is telling you something. Not sure what but worth watching your technique and contemplating.

I suggest, if you haven't already, experiment on a lower-carbon knife like a cook's knife and don't shoot for a reprofile but just a sharpening. You should notice a burr in almost no time. No pun intended, but, hone your technique and then start working on profiling and more challenging steels. I've used my KME diamonds on a lot of knives now and on a fair range of steels and they do pretty well. Freehanding with decent sized bench stones will always be faster in that regard just due to surface contact but the KME is a very capable system.
 
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Mo2 said:
The kme diamond stones work fine. Nothing is better then them on the kme for re profiling. I'd suggest your not doing it correctly. But I dunno where to start to help you. Check out DeanO on YouTube. He has videos to help you. Also knifekrazy on YouTube. He's also the rep for kme iirc and can help you with your problems.
Click to expand...
I have been using the KME for almost 3 years and I am friends with Brian from Knifecrazy and we have spoken about this. We discussed why the Jewelstik cuts faster and cleaner. I have reviewed my technique and it is fine but the jewelstik cuts faster and smoothe. I spent today using the stick on straight edges. It takes a little practice as to being careful about staying in one spot too long. If you don't havea recurve it will make one for you. It normally takes me a few hours to reestablish a new edge with the KME gold stones, the stick does it in 20 to 30 minutes. Their is nothing wrong with the way I sharpen, I have watched all Of DeanO's Vids and a few other guys also. I happen to know what I am doing being that friends of mine in the community send me their knives to sharpen and they like the edges I give them very much.
 
Eli Chaps said:
I've been using the KME for many years. The 100 or 140 grit diamonds are pretty darned aggressive and will remove metal pretty readily. But steel, grind thickness, starting grind quality, and the amount of "profiling" you're trying to accomplish can make things go very slowly.

My first suggestion is to spread the profiling out over a few sessions. If you're trying to drop from say 18 to 15 degrees. maybe you drop one or two degrees on your first round and the rest on another session.

I would also caution to be very mindful of what is happening while your using those low grit diamonds. I started with the ceramic/natural stones and when I first got the diamond set I had a couple knives that seemed to take forever to reprofile through finished edge. Probably three hours or so. I was, as you are, somewhat dismayed and disappointed. But I couldn't imagine that it was the stones cuz I was seeing so many other folks have so much success. So I started really watching what I was doing and I realized I was often over doing it. I would sometimes miss the burr for example and basically shave it off without even realizing it. And I was adding a ton more strokes than was needed so that added to the time as well. Basically, I was screwing things up quite often when using those aggressive stones.

Now I had a very stubborn ZDP189 knife with a terrible starting grind that took me forever. I chalk that up to both the challenge of the steel and the poor starting grind.

The jeweler's stone is giving you a lot of very precise and direct contact on very specific spots so something in there is telling you something. Not sure what but worth watching your technique and contemplating.

I suggest, if you haven't already, experiment on a lower-carbon knife like a cook's knife and don't shoot for a reprofile but just a sharpening. You should notice a burr in almost no time. No pun intended, but, hone your technique and then start working on profiling and more challenging steels. I've used my KME diamonds on a lot of knives now and on a fair range of steels and they do pretty well. Freehanding with decent sized bench stones will always be faster in that regard just due to surface contact but the KME is a very capable system.
Click to expand...

I agree that the KME system is very good, I don't have a problem with the system and as far as wheter I know what I am doing Brian (knifecazy) and I discussed the problem. An example is M390 Bradford G3 took almost no time because it came with both sides of the edge were the same. It took 45 minutes, reprofiling M390 is another story. I used the Jewelsick today on the same knifeand it took about 25 minutes to reestablish a new edge on both sides. As I said I do know what I am doing but when you try a new stone and it cuts in 25 minutes what took me hours. Same technique as with the KME stones.This makes it obvious to me that there better stones out there that will do the job in much less time.. I use the 3 sides of the Jwelstick and then I change over to KME 600 and 1500 grits until I have a beautiful finish then I strop it on my Stropblock.The KME Strop is not as effective as using a 3 x10 block. I end up putting a mirror finish in 2 hours instead of 5-7 hours.
 
Jewelstike is probably ceramic aluminum oxide? Dunno why it's cutting faster for you. I like ceramic but won't use them on high Vanadium steel as they tend to load up so fast and they are not as quick as diamonds on my high Vanadium steel.

I have used the venev bonded diamond stones on the kme but first reprofile with kme beast or 140. They have a really nice scratch pattern in comparison and I feel the edge is more crisp.

With the edge pro I always reprofile with the diamond stones. Then sic.

How worn are your diamond stones? Maybe that's the issue?
 
Mo2 said:
Jewelstike is probably ceramic aluminum oxide? Dunno why it's cutting faster for you. I like ceramic but won't use them on high Vanadium steel as they tend to load up so fast and they are not as quick as diamonds on my high Vanadium steel.

I have used the venev bonded diamond stones on the kme but first reprofile with kme beast or 140. They have a really nice scratch pattern in comparison and I feel the edge is more crisp.

With the edge pro I always reprofile with the diamond stones. Then sic.

How worn are your diamond stones? Maybe that's the issue?
Click to expand...
I am going to send a few stones to Brian and see what he says. The Jewelstic is all diamond and I think the advantage that it has is that the amount of diamond is denser on the stick. I'll know soon enough.
 
Thanks, they are the company that makes the Jewelstik. and I use the stick like a flat stone. It takes a little practice and you can ruin the the blade if you don't focus while your sharpening. I have called them 3 times and left messages, no response.
I guess I'll keep trying. There is another company called Ultrasharp but they don't seem to have my size.
 
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emjay4248 said:
I am going to send a few stones to Brian and see what he says. The Jewelstic is all diamond and I think the advantage that it has is that the amount of diamond is denser on the stick. I'll know soon enough.
Click to expand...
Hi
I doubt it.
Most likely cause of difference is higher pressure
Same force / smaller contact area = higher pressure
 
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