- Joined
- Jan 31, 2014
- Messages
- 167
So I've been doing a fair bit of sharpening and flattening on my 3"x8" DMT diamond stones, and I'm noticing a couple of things.
1) The stones definitely don't cut as aggressively as they did after their initial break-in. I know they need to be used for a bit to get the loose/oversized grains broken free, and after a bit of use they cut cleaner than they do initially. This is not what I'm talking about. I've had these stones for about 6 months, and have used them a fair bit on CPM S90V and CPM 3V, they have gotten significantly worse over the last couple of months. They are still cutting, but the coarse cuts like he fine used to.
Possible Reason: I think that using the stones to help with the flattening process on the blanks has caused accelerated wear, almost as though the unhardened steel is so gummy compared to it's hardened state that instead of the grains cutting/fracturing the steel, it's almost like they get caught up in the softer metal and get torn off of the face of the DMT stone. I'm sure someone is going to either tell me yes of course this is it, and I'm a fool for using the DMT stones on unhardened steel; or perhaps it's just down to the fact that I'm using it on a lot of S90V and 3V and its just going to wear that quickly with these high VC content steels.
Any suggestions for extending the life of the stones?
Do you tend to use oil or water, or go dry? (I usually use dry or with oil, and oil seems to help with the wear. Although I've heard claims of reduced cutting action due to the metal "sliding" across the abrasives because of the oil, I've not noticed this)
Does using them submerged in water cause them to wear out faster? (It seems to in my experience)
Does too much or too little pressure when using the stones greatly effect the rate of wear? (not that I've noticed in the center of the stones, but it definitely seems that too much pressure accelerates wear around the edges)
2) The edges of the stones have worn even faster than the center. While this isn't totally unexpected, it's to the point where it takes a lot of work with the coarse stone to remove a modest amount of steel from the edge of a knife near the plunge line.
Does anyone else find any of these things to be true with their DMT stones? It has me wondering if the 2"x6" stones might be a much better choice since with the 3" width it is the edges that dictate when it needs to be replaced, and useable grit will be left in the center. Add this to the fact that the 2"x6" stones are double sided for roughly the same price as the 3"x8", and it seems like the only downside is losing the extra 2" of length. I look forward to hearing what your experiences have been.
1) The stones definitely don't cut as aggressively as they did after their initial break-in. I know they need to be used for a bit to get the loose/oversized grains broken free, and after a bit of use they cut cleaner than they do initially. This is not what I'm talking about. I've had these stones for about 6 months, and have used them a fair bit on CPM S90V and CPM 3V, they have gotten significantly worse over the last couple of months. They are still cutting, but the coarse cuts like he fine used to.
Possible Reason: I think that using the stones to help with the flattening process on the blanks has caused accelerated wear, almost as though the unhardened steel is so gummy compared to it's hardened state that instead of the grains cutting/fracturing the steel, it's almost like they get caught up in the softer metal and get torn off of the face of the DMT stone. I'm sure someone is going to either tell me yes of course this is it, and I'm a fool for using the DMT stones on unhardened steel; or perhaps it's just down to the fact that I'm using it on a lot of S90V and 3V and its just going to wear that quickly with these high VC content steels.
Any suggestions for extending the life of the stones?
Do you tend to use oil or water, or go dry? (I usually use dry or with oil, and oil seems to help with the wear. Although I've heard claims of reduced cutting action due to the metal "sliding" across the abrasives because of the oil, I've not noticed this)
Does using them submerged in water cause them to wear out faster? (It seems to in my experience)
Does too much or too little pressure when using the stones greatly effect the rate of wear? (not that I've noticed in the center of the stones, but it definitely seems that too much pressure accelerates wear around the edges)
2) The edges of the stones have worn even faster than the center. While this isn't totally unexpected, it's to the point where it takes a lot of work with the coarse stone to remove a modest amount of steel from the edge of a knife near the plunge line.
Does anyone else find any of these things to be true with their DMT stones? It has me wondering if the 2"x6" stones might be a much better choice since with the 3" width it is the edges that dictate when it needs to be replaced, and useable grit will be left in the center. Add this to the fact that the 2"x6" stones are double sided for roughly the same price as the 3"x8", and it seems like the only downside is losing the extra 2" of length. I look forward to hearing what your experiences have been.
