DMT EEF question

B

Beanman13

Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
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Did I get a bad one, or is it just not broken-in? I have a DMT EEF 3x8 and I love it, with one exception. The edge of whichever blade I'm sharpening seems to hang on certain spots on the stone. It seems like the spots that have that 'catch' are repeatable enough.

I've used it off and on for several months, and attempted to accelerate the break-in with a piece of flat shim, but it still seems rough for the given grit size. Does anyone have any hints or insight? My main concern is a larger grit contamination embedded in the surface.

Thanks,
-Beans
 
I would say it needs break-in time... But it seems like you have let it break in. Knifenut said that his is only starting to break in after a year now, though.
 
Eef is graded at 3 micron abrasives, but at the moment, my fairly new eef stone leaves a rougher edge surface than the 3 micron dmt diapaste on the strop.
If it needs to break in, it hasn't happened yet.
It is a good stone tough and gives pretty sharp edges
 
While I have not noticed any rough spots on my diamond plates I have noticed that some parts of the plates are prone to loading up while the rest of the plates are not, I grind aluminum and copper on them, for about a year I could see these spots, but then when turning to steel again they pretty much disappeared. I think its part of the manufacturing process, they can´t make them 100% the same all over.

For breaking in a diamond plate just take a chunk of hard steel and rub it over the plate for a minute, not really hard, but not really soft either, diamamond plates do get finer with use, but considering how they should be used for knives (light pressure) I guess it will take quite some time.
 
Thanks so much for the info everyone! I've been using a non-hardened piece of shim to break it in. Maybe I'll harden a piece of flat stock I have and try that. My initial hope was to be able to use it as a hone for my Dovo, but I'm not sure if that'll work out. A friend's ultra fine spyderco white benchstone did wonders for it, but if knives catch on it I hesitate to run that fine an edge across it. I suppose trailing strokes might work.

I've got the Dia-paste kit on order. I'm gonna build a few more strops and load them and see how it does. Either way it's still a great knife stone.
 
From what I have heard the 8k diamond stone is not suitable for shaving right off the stone, but the norton 4/8k is.
 
You will need much break-in of that stone before it will be able to be used for your straight razors. If you harden a piece of metal to use to break it in run the hardness high and use only the weight of the piece or you may damage the stone. You can also lap the EEF with the EF under running water for 5 seconds at a time using almost NO pressure.
 
It took a year for my Duo sharp c/f to break in for me, my mini hones much less like 6 months.
 
Thanks for the tips Knifenut. I'll take 'er slow and easy. I don't have the EF yet, so hardened stock it is. The only 8x3 I have is the EEF.

On a similar note, I plan to fill in the rest of the 8x3 DMT collection over time. Am I better off progressing from finer to coarser on the stones in succession, or would every other mesh size yield better results until I can get them all? All I have for diamonds are a Lansky Medium diamond bench stone and an EZE Lap 1x3 that was sold as a fine at a gun show, though it seems to be more a Medium.
 
Beanman13 said:
On a similar note, I plan to fill in the rest of the 8x3 DMT collection over time. Am I better off progressing from finer to coarser on the stones in succession, or would every other mesh size yield better results until I can get them all?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by that or why, but I would get the finer ones sooner so that they can break in faster. I'm actually not concerned with the state of my coarser stones being broken in since I'm finishing with my EF stone anyway. As long as the coarser ones aren't snagging anymore, they're good with me.
 
Beanman13 said:
Thanks for the tips Knifenut. I'll take 'er slow and easy. I don't have the EF yet, so hardened stock it is. The only 8x3 I have is the EEF.

On a similar note, I plan to fill in the rest of the 8x3 DMT collection over time. Am I better off progressing from finer to coarser on the stones in succession, or would every other mesh size yield better results until I can get them all? All I have for diamonds are a Lansky Medium diamond bench stone and an EZE Lap 1x3 that was sold as a fine at a gun show, though it seems to be more a Medium.
Click to expand...


I would go with the EF and F next then get the coarser stones when you can. Keep progressing down and don't skip as you buy, the stones work best when you don't skip the grit progression. With the stones and compounds you can have the best of edges but for a razor I would still consider 0.5 micron compound for a cleaner shave. FYI, there is also 0.25 micron diamond compound but the shaving site that sells it even says it my be too fine for shaving.
 
THG: sorry for the confusing post. I've been working a night rotation and posted right after waking up. That's kinda what I was thinking about the break-in.

Knifenut I'm sure I'll wind up with the .5 micron too. I have the .25 HA spray, though I didn't have the wherewithall to buy the larger micron pastes first as I now know is recommended. It's surprising that too sharp an edge could make shaving less easy.
 
As a example of what a EEF stone can do just look at my avatar :D
 
That'd be an EEF stone in the right hands. ;) I'm still working on that part. Going from a 1x3 in the hand to an 8x3 on a table has been quite an adjustment.
 
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