Duofold woes.

A

alwyn

Joined
Aug 7, 2010
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Have just bought a spydeco sharpmaker and a DMT duofold sharpener the F/EF type. The sharpmaker, I am making good progress with but the duofold isnt doing it for me at all. Any tips on using a DMT duofold. I would really appreciate them.

Alwyn
 
Lean the Duofold up against the Sharpmaker rods for accuracy and stability. You get two preset known angles that way (20 and 40), and you can also tilt the base for any other angle by sticking something under the Sharpmaker base and adjusting. I use a pencil (with a rubber sleeve for traction) for this, as the base can be easily and quickly rocked back and forth for both sides of the blade. It is important for accurate and repeatable results that you keep track of exactly what you use to raise the base (e.g. pencil, pad of paper, two erasers [one on each side], etc.) and to also keep a printed/written record of where the object is placed under the base, measured precisely with a ruler. I keep a journal of sorts for this sort of thing, which is convenient as my Edge Pro also necessitates such running records for various knives.
 
the dmt can also be used freehand. take the knife in your left hand (for righties) with the blade flatl and the edge towards your right hand. now stroke the dmt to and forth over the edge under the angle you intend. you can move both the knife and the dmt if you like, or just either one of them and hold the other steady. then change the direction of the knifepoint towards you so you can do the other side -or alternatively, flip it over so the edge faces outwards to the left side of your body. you will have different mechanics on the right hand then though.

be sure to do an even number of strokes on both sides to keep the edge centered underneath the spine.
Since you have a F/EF combo, you might be frustrated because of a number of reasons with the most obvious the following 2:
1. the edge planes have not come together and you do not remove metal fast enough with the F/EF therefore thinking you're not doing it right. You are, but it's just taking time.
2. your angle of sharpening is incorrect and you're not hitting the edge but the shoulders of the edge, thereby not getting the knife sharp.

there might be other reasons, but these are the most frequent
 
The most important factor is break-in time, when new the stones will feel very coarse but after several uses will break-in and become smoother. For example my EF diafold feels like there is nothing on it anymore yet still works perfectly.

The EF is also 1200 grit, similar to your brown stone.
 
You really should pick up the coarse/fine (blue/red) dia-fold to put an edge on a dull knife or you'll be there til doomsday.
 
If you are trying to remove a lot of metal, even the Coarse stone will take quite a while with the Diafolds, since there isn't a lot of surface area.

Realize that with the Sharpmaker you tend to work the extreme edge, while with the stones you tend to work the entire bevel, which takes longer.

Just food for thought.
 
So when a diamond stone "break-in" are we talking about physical loss of the diamond material? I doubt it's grinding down.

My understanding was that the wear process with diamond stones is a slow loss of the diamond material so I would think it wears out at a constant rate over a long period of time. How is the initial "break-in" different?
 
dsmegst said:
So when a diamond stone "break-in" are we talking about physical loss of the diamond material? I doubt it's grinding down.

My understanding was that the wear process with diamond stones is a slow loss of the diamond material so I would think it wears out at a constant rate over a long period of time. How is the initial "break-in" different?
Click to expand...


When they are made there is "too much" diamond applied and some of it does not embed into the nickel plate. So yes you must wear off this extra diamond material to get them to start working properly. For more/better info call DMT, its how I got my answers.
 
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