Getting Started into Sharpening

I like DMTs polka dot pattern diamond plates over the continuous diamond plates ... and they work great ...

but just my personal thoughts ... I would not have wanted to try to learn to free hand sharpen on diamonds ...

you get better feed back and feel I believe from whet stones ... whether water or oil or even ceramics you can use dry or wet ...

I can say the Baronyx stones are great value stones ... Norton India combination stones or Norton Crystolon oil stones for harder steels are less expensive and work well on alot of steels ...

I also would start with some milder steels that aren't "super steels" that need diamonds for learning muscle memory and to get a feel for free hand sharpening ...

just gives you an easier learning curve to begin and once you find the basic skills you can upgrade your stones and steels and it won't be nearly as frustrating ... and practice on a handful of cheap knives and work your way up ...

but it's great you want to learn to free hand and welcome to the forum ... alot of great information on here ... and you've had some great info giving here akready ...

good luck - JJ
 
What I think is very important regardless of.your choice.of plates is to mark the bevel with a black market to be able to see easily where you are sharpening and where you aren't. Otherwise you may be reprofiling the knife and wont find out til it's too late.
 
From past reviews, flatness of DMt continuous stone were less consistent than the polka dot. However, their warranty is good and if you live in US, just ask for replacement.

Personally if I had the fund, continuous is preferable, easier for working on blade tip. I have both but small size (credit card & diafold).
Good read on DMT:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/quality-of-dmt-dia-sharps.1636760/
 
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Just placed my order from SharpeningSupplies.com for the set of 4 DMT DiaSharp plates (XC, C, F, EF) (the DiaSharp are the continuous, not the polka-dot interrupted style - those are the DuoSharp), the DMT Bench Stone Holder, a 12" "XL" Double-Sided Paddle Strop, as well as some of the Green Stropping Compound.

Also went over to Chef Knives To Go and ordered 4 bottles of the diamond spray - 1 micron, 0.5 micron, 0.25 micron, and .125 micron.

Can't wait for these to arrive and start practicing!
 
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