Duo Sharp Stones

Nosetotail

Nosetotail

Joined
Jun 10, 2007
Messages
398
Inspired by Vasillis' state of the art jig sharpening system (which by the way is pure genius) and his extensive collection of sharpening bench stones, I have decided to ween myself of my DMT guided system and break down and complete a set of DMT bench stones and pair them up with a fancy dancy block of wood cut to a precise angle on a state of the art box miter saw.

I am however at a slight delima... well at a few delimas. First, I haven't quite decided on which stones to buy. I have to chose between the 6x2 double sided continous grit dia sharp stones, the pokadot grit 6x2 3/4 single grit whetstones with cases, and the 8x2 5/8 duo sharp stones (without the solid section). These are listed in order of expense.

What I am wondering first is which of these are going to last longest (not by means of size)? I was under the apparent ignorant impression that the holes, while supposed to be for capturing shavings was actually a means of using less diamonds, but it seems the more holes the more expensive. I figure this by comparing the two styles of duo sharp stones. The one with the continous section is cheaper. So I am wondering of these three offerings does one have a thicker sharpening surface or are they all the same? And will I probably prefer one over the other for sharpening knives? Will one wear out quicker or last longer? I'll be sharpening regular pocket knives, some kitchen knives, and quite a few straight edge shoemaker knives known in some circles as greenhandles.

The second part of my delima is concerning ordering these stones online. I'll make this part as short as possible. I found the duo sharp stones on e-bay express for 61.00 with 2.50 shipping. The dealer is TOOLSFORU13 and the company is apperently in Ontario. The only thing I can go on is that he has a 100% positive feedback score at 914. I don't have much e-bay experience, so I am wondering if I can go on this or should I be wary of such a low price. I could list a few more places I found this item, but I am more interested in whether I can just trust the feedback score and go with this price? Or if there is a better outlet you can suggest that has a well know reputation, I'll be glad to try them.
 
Bunches of folks here have got their DMT's from them - go for it. Tough to beat that deal, and those are what I have - I've been happy with my holey DMT's, but I would really prefer the ones w/o holes (better for small blades and tips).
 
No one else can tell you which style of hones YOU will prefer. Personally, I like the models with the holes, but I have read posts by several people that prefer the solid surface.

As far as which will last longest, well...
Diamonds don't wear away. If you use excessive pressure trying to sharpen in a hurry, you will cause the diamonds to rock, and they will cut their way out of the matrix which holds them, fall out and be lost (voice of experience). Used properly (read: with VERY light pressure) they will last basically forever.
 
I bought 3 eight inch DMT stones from them too. They were recommended by Thombrogan. They all arrived fine and without any long wait or problems, I gave them a positive feedback.
 
I prefer the continuous surface stones because my tips always seem to snag on the holes of my duosharps, plus the diasharps are better for flattening waterstones due to their extra weight and rigidity.

Mike
 
Perfect. That's what I wanted to hear about Toolsforu. Now, if I can just figure out where to get that piece of wood.
 
gunmike1 said:
I prefer the continuous surface stones because my tips always seem to snag on the holes of my duosharps, plus the diasharps are better for flattening waterstones due to their extra weight and rigidity.

Mike
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I'm curious, are you drawing your knife or pushing it towards the tips. I hope that doesn't sound like a dumb question.
 
Nosetotail said:
I'm curious, are you drawing your knife or pushing it towards the tips. I hope that doesn't sound like a dumb question.
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I sharpen edge into stone, heel to tip. So I am pushing it away from me with the tip being the last piece of the blade that gets sharpened. On my thicker tipped knives it isn't much of an issue, but on my preffered very thin knives with fine tips they always seem to find their way into a hole and snag. Probably operator error, but not a factor at all with the diasharps. Thom Brogan got me into waterstones and extolled the virtues of the 8" Diasharp fine stone for flattening waterstones and removing DMT XX coarse scratches (which I was doing with my fine duosharp), and when you couple that with my tip snagging issues, and I have a new 8" D8F for Father's day. After extensively using the D8F yesterday I am much happier with it than the duosharp, but if you don't flatten waterstones or have tip snagging issues you may prefer the duosharps.

Mike
 
Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with bench stones, let alone one with holes. I'm torn between going with the smaller two way dia stones and going with the larger duo's. If I'm going to spend the money, I think I want the larger stones.
 
sffar said:
Can you elaborate on Vasillis' jig system?
Thanks,
Sam
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See this thread:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480371

Vasillis' jig system is about halfway down. You draw your knife up the stone while keeping the blade perfectly horizontal at the point of contact. I don't think it will be as easy as a sharpmaker as it is a bit easier to keep you edge at the right angle when dealing with such a small point of contact against the rods. However, you can cut your own angles and you get the benefit of being able to use a bench stone.

I think it would be tricky trying to sharpen a straight edge evenly while it would be much easier if using rods. Unless you just draw your straight edge straight up the stone without trying to slide it toward the tip, and I don't know if that would be effective.
Of course, once again I really don't know.
 
Instead of using a wood block I just prop the end of my rubber stoneholder on something (usually other stones in their cases) until I reach the desired angle and hold the knife as flat to the table as I can. I could probably do just about as well these days with the stone flat on the table, but I feel more confident with my "jig" and have been happy with the results. I have an angle reader that I got from Home Depot to verify I am at the angle I want. If I had wood and a chop saw laying around I may have made myself something similar to Vasily's rig, but I have the functional equivilant without the sawdust.

Mike
 
I certainly understand that it isn't rocket science, but I give it to Vasilli for taking it to a higher level and actually making his own well made tool with a simple design.
 
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