Diamond stones vs. Stone stones

[The Burgh]

Thinking of buying DMT Dia-Sharp Kit, 2 double-sided stones, extra coarse/coarse & fine/extra fine.

With all that I have read about diamond sharpening materials, it appears to be a harsher cutter.

Question: Are the Dia-Sharp stones' labelling the grinding equivalent (or not) of the same labelling on stones?

 

[Rich S]

I don't know about DMT equivalents, but I use diamond stones for reshaping/re-beveling blades and stone hones of sharpening (soft Arkansas, Smith's ceramic (1000 grit), hard Arkansas). Then I finish off with a light stropping. All done by hand. Never found the need for sharpening systems or guides.

Rich

 

[bgentry]

Grading or rating sharpening stones and systems is really rather confusing. From the perspective of particle size, the DMT's are exactly what they claim to be (as far as I know). The coarse is 45 micron as an example.

But the scratch pattern they leave is much deeper and more coarse than you'd expect based on their grit equivalent (or micron) rating. Plus they cut like demons. The DMT C easily leaves metal filings on top of the stone after just a few passes, and friends tell me even the DMT F leaves behind significant metal dust, indicating that it is cutting very quickly.

I think the DMT EF cuts about like a 600 grit (ANSI) regular stone, while the C cuts more like a 180 to 220 (roughly). The finish left by the EF is very nice for everyday tasks, kitchen blades, etc. I opted to take the not so popular step of skipping grades between DMTs. I bought the 8x3 diasharps in XXC, C, and EF only, with no stones in between. In practice it has worked out great. Every now and then I'd like to finish a blade at the DMT F grade and I don't have one. But that's only because I'd like to see how toothy the edge would be and how it would work for some tasks. Going from C to EF is no problem whatsoever on the blades I've done it on.

Brian.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thinking of buying DMT Dia-Sharp Kit, 2 double-sided stones, extra coarse/coarse & fine/extra fine.

With all that I have read about diamond sharpening materials, it appears to be a harsher cutter.

Question: Are the Dia-Sharp stones' labelling the grinding equivalent (or not) of the same labelling on stones?

If asking in terms of 'Fine' diamond grit rating vs. a 'Fine' Arkansas/AlOx/SiC grit rating, they won't be the same in the finish produced. Because diamond is such an aggressive cutter, they'll always leave a somewhat deeper scratch pattern, therefore a 'coarser' finish than other non-diamond hones/stones described by the same terminology. When talking about the 'grit' ratings of stones, it's always best to qualify the description with the abrasive type used, as that's equally as important.

As an example, with some situations and particular steels, it's possible that a 'Fine' diamond could leave a coarser scratch pattern than a natural (Arkansas) stone described as 'coarse'. That's because of the difference in hardness of the abrasives, which I believe is about 7X-9X or so, between diamond and the Novaculite in the Arkansas stones (Knoop hardness = 7000 for diamond, and ~800 +/- for novaculite).


David

 

[The Burgh]

So far, this is exactly the kind of information I was after!

The BF world is a magnificent world indeed! I greatly appreciate the responses!