EdgePro with Diamonds

[T. Erdelyi]

I modified my EP, and now I can use a coarse and a fine diamond hone with the EP, my God what a job it does cuttin' a new profile on the edge. I read the thread here somewhere on what to do, if anyone knows who submitted it please let me know so they get credit for a great idea.

The hones came from and old Gatco Clamp Sharpener,(similar to a Lansky), I took the hones out of the holders and ground a bevel on the opposite ends, to fit the EP holder, than I cut a piece of 3/8" od supply line,(I like the chrome look)(for those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's the little shiney pipe that comes outa the wall and fills up you toilet) to the proper length so I could clap the hones.

The sleeve fits between the knob and the floating side of the holder.

You too can now remove metal 3 times faster, but be careful it's easy to over do it and remove too much. :grumpy:

 

[Bindlestiff]

T.Erdelyi:

I had made that suggestion several weeks ago in one of the many Edge Pro threads. Similar to your experince, I had great luck in rapidly reprofiling edges.

Subsequently, I noticed a potential problem. My diamond hones, paritcularly the coarse(blue)one, started to lose their effectiveness. If you use a conventional stone with the Edge Pro, you will notice that the main action is along the center line of the stone. My guess is that the diamond stone just wore out after many uses. I have gone back to conventional stones, adjusting the length by different lengths of the plumbing tubing that you mention. You also need to compensate for stone thickness.

Currently I have been keeping a metal plate handy with some sand on it and cleaning the stone off after a couple of sharpenings. This also keeps the stone flat.

Nevertheless, I will be interested in your continuing experience with the diamond hones.

BTW, I seldom go past the equivalent grit of the blue stone. The micro-serrations plus a few wipes on a leather hone give me a very serviceable edge. Previously I went all the way through to Ben's tapes and got very good looking edges but for my everyday use, this was not necessary. Clif Stamp had a thread on this a few months ago and my experience mirrors his comments.

Bindlestiff

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Thanks for steppin' up, I didn't want to take credit for someone else's idea.

The diamond hone works great, I just have to learn to let the stones do the work, it takes very little weight/pressure to remove the steel, one of the biggest problems I find people have when sharpening freehand or otherwise is that they tend to push way to hard, this does 2 things it prematurely wears away your stones, and it makes it difficult to maintain a consistent edge angle, your wrist has a tendancy to roll as you stroke producing an uneven/rounded edge, and the geometry of the edge tends to change from the tip to the choil,(if your knife has one).

As for the polishing tape, I generally stop at about 320 grit, and if I need a smoother edge than I'll head torward the 600, and the tape, but that usually is on the thinner smaller blades, like my William Henry P10 Lancet.