KME stone life

T

Tcarltonw

Joined
Apr 24, 2022
Messages
16
What kind of life do yall get from your diamond stones. Feel like mine have lest their bite pretty quick. I constantly apply water throughout the process...
 
All diamond plates start out life coarser than their grit rating and smooth out over the break-in period, which is around 5-10 sharpenings. If you use light pressure, which you should, the KME stones should last a long time. I'm pretty bad about using too much pressure and my courser stones didn't hold up that well, but that was my fault.
 
Using KME as home user since um maybe 2014-ish, just finished reprofiling Benchmade 710-1401 and 810-1401 for a friend NP (16 to 17 degrees per side measured), using 140, 300, 600 grits for toothy edge. Pete from Cedric and Ada utube KME review after at least a 1000 sharpenings said he was on his 3rd 300 grit and was thinking about replacing it, so +/- 333 sharpenings on his most used stone in a testing mode. Ours was a trainer and the first lesson was always stay lite on pressure, by pushing on spring scale so needle did not pass 5 pounds. I used nothing but thumb weight and stone holder on Benchmades, ending on trailing edge only, stoneholder only, swaping sides every couple strokes. m390 gets very sharp and cuts for a long time
 
I use water with a drop of dawn in it. As others have said, try to not use more pressure than you need. I wore my first set out sooner than I should have using too much pressure. The second set is going strong so far.
 
Appreciate the replies yall... I'm also conscious about my pressure. My other thought is that they're clogged up with deposits. I use barkeepers friend and a toothbrush to clean them but there are still noticeable streaks of rust. Am I safe to assume that is steel that is still gunked up on the surface?
 
Last edited:
Have you tried the Trend diamond lapping fluid? It definitely works well as a lubricant and my stones don't rust. I think it helps my stones last longer too, but I haven't done any test or anything. It's a little pricey but a couple drops goes a long way and one bottle has lasted me a year. I'm new so if I'm not supposed to recommend brands that's my bad!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top