DMT Bench Coarse/Fine Good idea??

MTHall720

MTHall720

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
2,957
I can only get one stone and am trying to decide if the double sides coarse and fine would be good or is it too much of a jump from coarse to fine? Coarse to medium better?
I will be doing small to big folders and fixed blades in the 5-8 inch range.

Thanks everyone.
 
So far as I know, DMT doesn't have a 'medium' anyway (between the 'Coarse' at 45µ, and the 'Fine' at 25µ). Trying to find a 'medium' in another make/brand might be a gamble, and might not fill the gap.

Having said that, I have a Duo-Sharp in C/F, and I feel it's a very good combo. Not too hard to refine the scratches from the Coarse, using the Fine side. The Fine still works pretty aggressively on most steels. The transition from Fine (25µ) to EF (9µ) to EEF (3µ) makes a bigger difference, if looking to really refine the edge. Apparently, DMT is also producing a limited run of the Dia-Sharp hone in 6µ as well (saw a mention of it in another thread recently, though I'm not yet seeing any vendors listing it).


David
 
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Thanks. That helps me decide. Sounds like Duosharp is a good idea too. I read about the differences between Diasharp and Duosharp and think duo is fine for me.
 
MTHall720 said:
Thanks. That helps me decide. Sounds like Duosharp is a good idea too. I read about the differences between Diasharp and Duosharp and think duo is fine for me.
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Duo-Sharp works great, especially in the larger bench sizes. These ones are also guaranteed by DMT to be very flat, within specific and tight tolerance. I think you'll be happy with it. I think a C/F grit combo is probably the most versatile of all. Can really get a lot done with those two grits.


David
 
The coarse/fine combo will work fine, I recently bought the double sided fine/extra fine to go with an old DMT coarse I got a long time ago. The fine stone does fine after the coarse, and honestly I don't think the extra fine is really needed, it helps but the fine alone can produce a very sharp edge. I sharpened my Leek on the coarse then the fine and used a spyderco sharpmaker fine ceramic rod to get rid of the bur and produced my first hair whittling edge. The diamond stones need a little time to break in, they will feel pretty rough at first. I sharpened a couple kitchen knives first and could tell it smoothed out the stones compared to when I first started sharpening. For what it is worth I have seen videos on online of someone sharpening a knife on a DMT coarse, then stropping with a diamond compound, and the knife was gliding through paper with ease.
 
I appreciate all the helpful information. Anyone here us the DMT guide that you somehow attach to the blade?
 
MTHall720 said:
I appreciate all the helpful information. Anyone here us the DMT guide that you somehow attach to the blade?
Click to expand...

I do. It's a pretty useful complement to the DMT bench stones. Pretty straightforward to use with most medium-sized and larger blades, if the blade's width will accommodate it (~3/4" or wider). Narrow blades, such as found on traditional pocketknives, may be awkward or very difficult, because the blade edge will be very close to the front edge of the clamp. Using a shim of some sort, behind the blade spine, can help. I used a piece of zip-tie as a shim, behind the main spear blade on a Victorinox SAK (sharpened using DMT Dia-Folds with the Magna-Guide):
 
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