DMT Duo's...

I would prefer fine for basic sharpening and coarse for reasonable regrinding. I currently use such Duo-Sharp 8-inched combo and I’m very satisfied with its performance.

In fact ultra-fine is useful just for finishing touch and so fine edge not always works better.
On the other hand extra-coarse one is useful only to work with badly damaged edges, pretty rare opportunity if you use your knives with at least minimal sense and imagination.

Please take into consideration that brand-new diamond sharpeners cut much more aggressively than it could be expected looking onto their claimed grit. After you will sharpen dozen or so knives they are breaking in and obtain their normal long run performance.

Also, don’t use hard pressure onto sharpened blade, this way you can destroy your diamond sharpener pretty quickly.
 
Personally, I prefer the X-coarse/coarse for field work. If my knife gets dull at home, I like the coarse/fine combination, but in the field, a dull knife is often very dull, and the x-coarse will bring the edge back much more quickly than the coarse. Switching then to the coarse hone gets the edge polished enough for field work. At home I would then apply a fine hone, but I don't find this necessary in the field.

As has also been said, the diamond hones tend to become more fine with use, so I find the x-coarse really behaves more like what I expect from a "coarse" while the coarse gets more like a "fine".
 
How much pressure are you supposed to apply to these stones? The diamond stick sharpener that I have is quite a bit smoother now than when I first got it. I think I'm scraping the diamond layer off.
 
Originally posted by AlphalphaPB
How much pressure are you supposed to apply to these stones? The diamond stick sharpener that I have is quite a bit smoother now than when I first got it. I think I'm scraping the diamond layer off.
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How much pressure?
Hmm, probably you should follow your nose when sharpening :)
I could advise only to apply as much pressure as it’s necessary to let a sharpener grind acceptably well and to do not try to increase cutting speed applying more force.
The nature of diamonds does not allow breaking them or rounding up their cutting edges, this is impossible. However it is possible by all means to break diamond particles out of relatively soft nickel plating what embeds them.

What is so-called break in period?
Here we deal with breaking out of too much protruding, say redundant, diamond particles what let a new sharpener to cut more aggressively than it should. After they will be lost the diamond powder coated surface becomes more consistent and cuts somewhat calmer.

I have noticed that sharpening surface loses diamond coating as more easily as more convex it is. This occurs because the force is concentrated on the smaller area causing higher load onto particular diamond particles. This is the main reason why round rods (diamond steels for ex.) become bald significantly quicker than flat sharpening surface and require even less pressure to let them work well reasonably long time.
 
Whe I first started using a diamond stone I was surprised when it started sommthing out, and I thought I had damaged it. If you want to check if a diamond stone is still in good condition just find yourself an old glass or ashtray. Try scraping a bit of it with the stone, and if you get a bite and some scratches on the glass then the stone will make short work of steel.

The diamond sharpener I use is a Medium rod, as I find it gives a more effective edge than the finer grades but can still remove enough steel for reprofiling.
 
Originally posted by fishbulb
If you want to check if a diamond stone is still in good condition just find yourself an old glass or ashtray. Try scraping a bit of it with the stone, and if you get a bite and some scratches on the glass then the stone will make short work of steel.
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Good tip Fish.. :)...thanks!


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
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