DMT Mini Sharpener - Fine or Extra Fine?

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Lock1454

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Jan 4, 2009
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Hi all,

So I was looking at grabbing one of the mini pocket DMT sharpeners as well. Would it be better to grab a fine or extra fine one? Considering it would be used as a pocket sharpener to bring the edge back on a dulled blade (consider cutting cardboard boxes at work and needing to touch it up every now and again).

Thanks guys :D
 
Fine, a little coarser than the X-fine but will still give you a good sharp edge.
 
1013 strikes again! Thanks :) (10/13, Oct. 13th?)

My DMT Magna is on backorder... Also have a 420HC Buck Vanguard in that order and am considering calling and changing the order, removing the vanguard and putting in the xf/xxf diafold (which I definitely avoided because I knew it was out of stock at the moment and didn't want to wait for it to come back -_- irony).
 
Yep its my B-day.

Good idea, go with the hone. :thumbup:
 
Yeah, just called up knifecenter and asked for the change - yay :) Figured if I was going to spend $25 on a 420HC FRN Vantage, might as well pony up the extra $30 and get the Pro with S30V and G10 ;) That will be for a later occasion though.
 
Lock1454 said:
Hi all,

So I was looking at grabbing one of the mini pocket DMT sharpeners as well. Would it be better to grab a fine or extra fine one? Considering it would be used as a pocket sharpener to bring the edge back on a dulled blade (consider cutting cardboard boxes at work and needing to touch it up every now and again).

Thanks guys :D
Click to expand...
I use the Fine for dull to sharp
I use x-Fine for sharp to very sharp

I would buy the Fine for 'field' sharpening
 
XFine removes far less metal while restoring the same edge as the fine. As long as the knife still has the desired bevel, I'd go with the XFine, especially with a steel like S30V that will last a good long while anyway. Chances are pretty good that that steel will not dull enough to require more than the Xfine.

Good luck.
 
I only have a couple of knives and was wondering if I only get the DMT Mini Fine, would I be good to go?

I just have the CRKT drifter and Kershaw RAM, nothing too special. I dont want anything too fancy and want a sharpener that is quick and easy to use.

Here is the item: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004WFT6

Thanks in advance!
 
I'd do a diafold with the magna guide, or the Anglemate (a little wedge of plastic) that goes on the diafold.

Gets you use to doing a 20 degree angle and the hand movement to maintain it.

A coarse/fine diafold and anglemate are light and easy to have with you.
 
Thanks, I ordered the Magna guide system with fine/xtra fine. I don't think I need course since my knives are fairly new.
 
bioman said:
Thanks, I ordered the Magna guide system with fine/xtra fine. I don't think I need course since my knives are fairly new.
Click to expand...


Get the X-coarse you will need it to reprofile.
 
Because factory edges are formed by hand and at a fast pace the bevels are neither stright or even, some not bad but still not as stright as the edges you will be getting. Reprofiling is simply making a new bevel angle and will be something you will have to do to every knife. Its not as bad as it sounds but to get the most out of it its what you will need to do. You might notice on some knives one bevel looks larger than the other this is caused by the main grind of the knife. If you look edge down on the knife by the choil comparing the main grind to the back unground part of the knife you will be able to see if each side is equal or not. If they are even your bevels will be perfect and if they are not the more obtuse side will have the larger edge bevel.

I would suggest these two it will make your set complete.
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTfwcx
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTFWEEE
 
jungman said:
I'd do a diafold with the magna guide, or the Anglemate (a little wedge of plastic) that goes on the diafold.

Gets you use to doing a 20 degree angle and the hand movement to maintain it.

A coarse/fine diafold and anglemate are light and easy to have with you.
Click to expand...

How does the Anglemate work?
Will it work on a 4" stone not a diafold?

thanks
 
the anglemate basically gives you something to rest the knife against, putting the knife into a consistent angle.

It only works with the dia-fold, as the bottom of the wedge has a slot that goes over the dia-fold.

You set the knife on the anglemate, and there's a 20 degree angle. Nope, 20 degrees isn't the best for all knives (if you have s30v, or zdp, you can do a much narrower angle), but it works on most and gets you used to doing a consistent angle.

If you are going to sharpen on the 4" without the aligner, you can do the paper fold trick for doing around a 20 degree angle.

Take the corner of a paper and fold it. That's 45. Than fold that. That's 22.5 degrees, or pretty much close enough. You can always lower it a little, but really, until you have lots of practice, you ain't going to be that consistent to worry about it.

Free hand is a bit of an art based on science. I'm marginally okay, but I only have a few hours in on it. I can take a dull blade and get it going through paper smoothly using an eze-lap pen style sharpener and a 50 cent ceramic doing free hand. I've also taken some major dings out of a couple of kitchen knives with a DMT coarse free hand and had it be reasonable.

It's a practice thing. Murray Carter can make a knife sing free hand, but he's been doing it for a while.
 
Those DMT stones are awesome. I couldn't sharpen worth squat on a Sharpmaker, but seem to know what I'm doing with DMT.

sodbusterrx4.jpg

I didn't take this pic, but it is my Sodbuster. :)
 
It amazes me how many people don't know how to sharpen knives.It's one of our most basic survival skills.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Because factory edges are formed by hand and at a fast pace the bevels are neither stright or even, some not bad but still not as stright as the edges you will be getting. Reprofiling is simply making a new bevel angle and will be something you will have to do to every knife. Its not as bad as it sounds but to get the most out of it its what you will need to do. You might notice on some knives one bevel looks larger than the other this is caused by the main grind of the knife. If you look edge down on the knife by the choil comparing the main grind to the back unground part of the knife you will be able to see if each side is equal or not. If they are even your bevels will be perfect and if they are not the more obtuse side will have the larger edge bevel.

I would suggest these two it will make your set complete.
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTfwcx
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTFWEEE
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

Can I reprofile with 3M Sand Paper on a block in place of the x-course/course diafold? I was thinking of doing 100->200->400->800 and then the fine/xtrafine diafold.
 
That might work but I would be concerned about the thickness difference after you remove the sandpaper. If you have the sandpaper over the stone it will cause the bevel angle to be different then the stone by itself. In the long run getting the extra stones will save you time, money and frustration.
 
knifenut1013 said:
That might work but I would be concerned about the thickness difference after you remove the sandpaper. If you have the sandpaper over the stone it will cause the bevel angle to be different then the stone by itself. In the long run getting the extra stones will save you time, money and frustration.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you mean someone is putting sandpaper on top of the stone? Well to keep the distance consistent, how about putting the sandpaper under the stone when you're done with it?
 
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