DMT XX Coarse vs X Coarse question

ehhh

ehhh

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Feb 4, 2006
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I have a few knives that I would like to reprofile, and this simply isn't possible on the Sharpmaker without me wanting to toss the knife through a window. I've spent hours trying to reprofile a 440A Leek with little results. Using a coarse stone took about 30-45 minutes but the Sharpmaker still won't hit the edge (it's very close, but no cigar). I'm losing patience and I need something that will remove material faster.

I've looked into some DMT Diasharp products and can't decide between shelling out an extra $25 for the XX-Coarse hone or saving some money and getting a double sided X-Coarse/Coarse stone. Is it necessary at all, or even helpful to refine the edge with a coarse stone before moving onto the Sharpmaker for the final polishing? Will the XX-Coarse stone be much faster than an X-Coarse stone (120 vs 220 grit)?
I guess what it really comes down to when making my decision is if an intermediate step is necessary/helpful between XX-Coarse and the Sharpmaker (will I need to get another hone?), and if the XX-Coarse will really make that big a difference (is it worth the extra money and lose a Coarse side to save a couple minutes , or is it more than just a couple minutes?).

Thanks in advance.
 
440A won't require XX Coarse diamonds. You'll spend more time polishing out the scratches from the hone than you will reprofiling with a coarse stone. If this is a one-time deal, I'd look at a basic silicon carbide stone before shelling out the bucks for diamonds. Your local hardware store should have one, and it will work just fine on basic carbon steels and stainless like 440A, AUS-8, 420HC, etc. Diamonds aren't really necessary until you're working on CPM steels, D2, M2, or similar. Best of luck.
 
The XX coarse sharpens MUCH faster than the X coarse. It is well worth it in my opinion. I went the cheap route and got the X coarse first, but after getting the D8XX it just devours metal, even the most abrasion resistant steel, like a madman. Mine still isn't fully broken in, so it will cut a little less aggressively, but it definately will make your reprofiling chores much faster than the X coarse. Both of them are 100's of times faster than the sharpmaker. I would however recommend a DMT fine stone to refine what you've done before moving to the Sharpmaker, so there is more money to blow out your budget, but again worth it IMHO.

Edit to add: I just noticed the 440A part. That should easily be reprofiled, I mainly deal with stuff in the VG-10 or more abrasion resistant range. And, if appearance is an issue the XX coarse isn't a great choice. I personally just care if it cuts well, not how pretty the blade is.
 
I just gave 440A as an example, and it was still kind of annoying to do with my buddy's coarse SiC stone. There are a few other knives I'd like to reprofile including a Benchmade 710M2, though, so I'd imagine I may as well skip out on getting something cheap and just go for the diamond hones right away and save some money in the long run.
Will the X-Coarse do the job in a reasonable amount of time? It'll probably save me enough money to get a fine diamond hone to refine before moving to the Sharpmaker. XX-Coarse is faster, but is the X-Coarse by any means slow?

Thanks for the replies.
 
You might have a little trouble using a 3" wide hone on the 710. And the Titanic might have taken on a little water.

I think DMT makes some 3/4" x 4" DiaSharp hones in coarse which might work better and EZE-Lap makes coarse and extra-coarse hones in 1"x6" which work great. You might even want to try some coarse AO or SiC 1/2"x6" triangle hones from Congress Tools or other polishing stone suppliers. Put 'em in your Sharpmaker and steal Michael Cook's idea of wrapping an elastic band out them at the bottom of the Sharpmaker base (to make their angle slightly less than 30 degrees) and you should be good to go for about $8-12 instead paying $62 for the worth-every-penny-and-then-some D8XX.
 
I haven't tried the XX-coarse, but the black X-coarse cuts pretty well and has put an edge on everything that I have tried it on. On heavy work knives I just sharpen with that and strop a little on a cardboard box to get a very sharp, micro serrated, super toothy edge. I like it a lot!
 
Good catch thom, I didn't even think about how difficult a 3" wide stone would be to use on the 710. Those 1"x6" EZE-Lap stones caught my eye, the X-Coarse is sort of in between the DMT X-Coarse and XX-Coarse in terms of grit and it's a whole lot cheaper. I could even buy a coarse or medium stone to polish it down a little and still come out with a bit more cash.

Congress Tools doesn't seem to make any Coarse triangular hones for their Crystolon products, and they don't list any grit/coarseness for their Arkansas triangular stones, though those would be great.

Anyone know what grit the Sharpmaker stones are? I'd like to know what grits I might need to refine with before moving on to those. I'm having a hard time finding any numbers.

EDIT:
Just found this site through one of Cliff's reviews:
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm

This would suggest that the Medium Crystolon Triangular hone from Congress Tools would actually have the aggressiveness of the eze lap x-coarse (listed as 150 grit)? If so, I might just go for 2 of those and 2 of the fine 4 x 1/2" hones to stick in my Sharpmaker.
 
The Medium's 1000, Fine is 1200, and the UF is 2000. But they load quickly so they don't cut that well for very long.

cbw
 
cbwx34 said:
The Medium's 1000, Fine is 1200, and the UF is 2000. But they load quickly so they don't cut that well for very long.

cbw
Click to expand...

Very good point about loading. I cleaned my Sharpmaker stones the other day with some Flitz and then Dawn and hot water, and it cuts WAY better than it had been. I didn't realize that they were that fine a grit. That does explain why the medium cuts so slowly. For some reason I thought that they were 600, 1000 and 1200...
 
No wonder those things don't seem to cut...

Anyways, if someone could help me out with this:

EDIT:
Just found this site through one of Cliff's reviews:
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm

This would suggest that the Medium Crystolon Triangular hone from Congress Tools would actually have the aggressiveness of the eze lap x-coarse (listed as 150 grit)? If so, I might just go for 2 of those and 2 of the fine 4 x 1/2" hones to stick in my Sharpmaker.
Click to expand...

That would make my decision a lot faster. Now it's between getting a couple eze lap stones (X-Coarse and Medium), or a set of Crystolon triangle hones if the Medium really is 150 grit.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
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