How's the Dmt Aligner ?

[durdru2]

I'm in the market for a sharpener, and right now I have my eyes on the dmt aligner. Can't find any detailed reviews on it though!

I plan to get the basic pkg with the 325 mesh coarse & 600 fine stones then throw in their "indestructible" ceramic stone for touch ups (their ceramic insert is supposedly thinner than the other stones so it will create a preset microbevel without any measurements on your part) Should I even consider their extra-fine stone?

I'm also curious to know whether it would be fine to do touch ups with the dmt fine stone. Would this remove much more metal in comparison to the ceramic hone?

to those who have this system, what are your impressions? Also, Can the dmt handle recurves? thanks!

 

[razorburn]

I don't have a DMT aligner sharper but a Gatco which is quite similar but not exactly.

For the past few months, I have been looking to get their stone holder with their convex shaped 600 grit diamond hone which fits it in their stone holder which enables you to sharpen recurve knives.They also have a tapered serrated knife sharpening accessory that fits their aligner than lets sharpen serrated knives.

 

[durdru2]

Yep I've been looking at that too.

How do to regular stones handle recurves though? I know the edgepro can use the edges of its 1" stones to do a good (though not perfect) job on slight recurves

though the price / stone flattening & maintenance / bulkiness of that system has led me to consider the dmt instead of the edgePro

 

[JR42]

I've had the DMT kit for years, and it's great if you want to reprofile to thick edges on knives made of thin stock.

Unless they've changed the design recently, the clamp will only barely slip onto thicker thin blades (less than 3/16" thick; from memory, I could just barely fit it over a Spyderco Perrin bowie, which was at most 5/32").

The width of the blade will play a much larger role than the "setting" of the clamp stems. I always use the finest setting, which will produce an angle of around 35 degrees included on my Delica 4 (makes you wonder what the other end of the guide would offer. Who wants a narrow, thin blade sharpened to seventy degrees?). With the Paramilitary (wider blade), the same setting will produce an edge around 28 degrees or so.

I've never bothered to attempt sharpening a recurve with it. I don't think it would work well. I don't have the stone designed for recurves, just the inch wide ones.

So, IMO, the DMT kit is great for repairing standard edges on thinner knives. It won't thin down your edges at all- if anything, it may limit your sharpening. It's mindless, which is nice when I'm too tired to really sharpen anything but need an edge. I do get a lot of use out of the small diamond stones (mine came with four), and the aligner comes in handy when I thrash the Delica's edge (all too often ).

JR