DMT D8XX A Little Light in the Diamonds?

Nosetotail

Nosetotail

Joined
Jun 10, 2007
Messages
398
I just got my DMT D8 Extra Extra Coarse stone today and I was a bit surprised at how few diamonds there actually were. I don't know how to post pictures, but I will try to explain the surface.

There seems to be a single layer of diamonds that are slightly unevenly dispersed. In a few spots there are small spots with no diamonds. The spots are about the size of this asterist:

*

or a little smaller.


I was surprised as I expected it to come with an overabundace of diamonds, creating a layer that was deeper than at least the surface layer. I'm wondering if this is normal, or if I should contact DMT for a new one.
 
there shouldn't be dead spots (though that's pretty small), but you're only going to get a single layer of diamond right on the surface. It's a nickel substrate, you couldn't wear down to a new layer of diamond, and anything above that well embedded layer just wears off pretty quickly.
 
I wouldn't describe the spots as "dead spots", just small spots that I notice cause I was looking really hard thinking this stone might be defective.

I was hoping what you said was the case, but I just had expected something different when I got it in.
 
I placed a 6" steel rule on the surface of mine and looked at the surface of the stone with a loupe. Imagining 1 milimeter squares along the edge of the rule, some squares would have 10 crystals and some would have none.

Now sample a 1 mm square at every centimeter mark over a 10 centimeter length for a total of ten samples. The count with this method averaged roughly three or four. This is just counting the large class diamonds and ignoring the dust size fragments.

Out of curiosity I sprinkeled sugar and salt crystals on the stone and took a look with the loupe. The large diamonds are way smaller than sugar or table salt crystals.
 
yeah, they're only around 120 microns. I think that would be average size, not maximum, but I'm not sure.
 
matt321 said:
I placed a 6" steel rule on the surface of mine and looked at the surface of the stone with a loupe. Imagining 1 milimeter squares along the edge of the rule, some squares would have 10 crystals and some would have none.
Click to expand...

Well, that sounds about right. I have small sections that are densily covered and other sections that are lightly but completely covered, and scattered holes about the size of square millimeters with nothing but smooth nickel. I was just a little concerned that I got a lemon, but with the descriptions I have gotten, I will be a lot more confident in the use of it. I understand that it is monocrystalline construction anchored in nickel and that I would have to grind pretty hard to knock the diamonds loose, but I just wanted a little reassurance that I got a stone that was going to work as good as it was supposed to.

Thanks
 
I just sent your scan of mine D8XX I do not really have such spots.
I'll post scans of mine stones tomorrow.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Nosetotail said:
Well, that sounds about right. I have small sections that are densily covered and other sections that are lightly but completely covered, and scattered holes about the size of square millimeters with nothing but smooth nickel. I was just a little concerned that I got a lemon, but with the descriptions I have gotten, I will be a lot more confident in the use of it. I understand that it is monocrystalline construction anchored in nickel and that I would have to grind pretty hard to knock the diamonds loose, but I just wanted a little reassurance that I got a stone that was going to work as good as it was supposed to.

Thanks
Click to expand...

My D8XX is unevenly layered. I have "bare spots" larger than a MM. I'll try to post some pics when I get home tonight.

I would also love to see pics of others' D8XX plates to see if mine is "normal" or not. Thanks.
 
nozh2002 said:
I just sent your scan of mine D8XX I do not really have such spots.
I'll post scans of mine stones tomorrow.

Thanks, Vassili.
Click to expand...

Well it's hard to tell for sure, but yours is consistent with mine, but you may have a denser layer, although I cant tell for sure.
 
This is mine:

D8XX.jpg


I do not have any problem with it, it is for rough steel removal any way and I follow with DMT coarse which is 325grit.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
GarageBoy said:
What do you follow up the Coarse with? Is it okay to jump to Spydie medium/
Click to expand...

I think you can. Before I use coarse and EzeLap extra fine right away which is between Spyderco Medium and Fine. I think you may try to follow Extra Extra Coarse with medium skipping coarse - I happen to have one any way and it save me little bit of time.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I do my relief with the D8XX and fine SiC (400 grit), then micro with fine diamond & Spyderco ceramics. the bevel is kinda ugly, but has a fine line of gleaming metal at the very edge.
 
I'll have to check my DMT stone too.

Just curious, what do you guys do with your knives that they need so much sharpening. I bought a lot of stones after knowing this forum, and hardly use them. I use mainly the Spyderco, the DMT Coarse and sometimes the Lansky.

I have 5 eight inch DMT stones.
3 Spyderco
Razorsharp coarse and fine
1000 grit waterstone
Black Arkansas (bought before I knew this forum)
Hard Arkansas
EZE SHARP

I like to do it dry that's why I didn't buy anymore waterstones.
 
It is usually first sharpening, I like Swamp Rat but they sharpen their knives as an axes, I like finer edge and with very thick edge, good steel properly heat treated it take some effort to re-profile edge to better angle. Also in many cases manufacturing edge is not flat because they use wheels or something to sharpen on flat stone it turns visible and also require a lot of steel to remove to flatten the edge. However after this done any sharpening take few swipes no more.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
nozh2002 said:
This is mine:

D8XX.jpg


I do not have any problem with it, it is for rough steel removal any way and I follow with DMT coarse which is 325grit.

Thanks, Vassili.
Click to expand...
man, your plate is much more evenly layered with diamonds than mine. mine looks defective compared to yours.

i forgot about posting a pic until i saw yours. i will try to take one tonight, but it won't be as high quality as your pic.
 
I did this on scanner, but do not put it directly on glass - this is diamonds which scratch glass easy, so I put it on chop sticks. just in case feel to warn you not to damage scanner.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
This is a much larger scan than I had on my e-mail, and I am certain that yours is much denser and more evenly dispersed than mine. The black spots on the scan would be the holes that I am talking about, however mine seem to be a bit more frequent and some are a bit larger than yours. I have two sections on each end that seem to be quite dense but then it seems to thin out a bit in the middle.

I am undecided on whether I should go through the hassle of taking this up with DMT, as I'm sure mine will cut just fine. My main concern is that mine seems to be already thin in the middle and that is usually where the wear is the heaviest. I don't want to regret not pursueing getting a better layered stone in a few years when or if this one looses it's bite.
 
This is same image I sent you. I think that DMT shows some quality inconstancy here I think you should call customer service for this. At least this is what I did in concern with my D8E and D8EE quality.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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