KME Stone or DMT?

T

The Mighty Ginsu

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Aug 11, 2016
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I bought a KME. I like it. The 140 stone is slow for crooked and chipped edges. Should I get a KME 50-grit stone or a DMT 120-grit stone?
 
The KME 50 grit diamond "Beast" is going to work and cut faster if that is what you are after. It is also a bit wider than the DMT versions if I remember correctly (I am away from my KME at the moment). Just be careful because this is a really aggressive stone. I would probably not fully apex the edge using the "Beast."
 
Yeah, the Beast is *really* rough and will create microchips in the edges of very hard steels. I don't have KME's 100 grit but if I had it to do over I'd go with that over the Beast.

If you aren't doing super hard steels--like 67+ hrc-- you might think about the Shapton Pro 120 sold by Gritomatic. It's made from the bench stone of the same name which is considered to be (and is!) one of the best stones for reprofiling and chip repair.
 
Go to gritomatic and take a look at the Venev stones for the KME they won't cause micro chipping very much if at all,the Venev stones are my favorite diamond stones for sure for finishing.
 
wade7575 said:
Go to gritomatic and take a look at the Venev stones for the KME they won't cause micro chipping very much if at all,the Venev stones are my favorite diamond stones for sure for finishing.
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Only KME Venev in stock is 80 grit at the moment, n 140 KME.
I went with the 100 grit KME because the beast, 50 grit, has been reported to really rough up the edge more then necessary for pocket knife folder blades up to 4 inches.
My first generation Venev 80 grit = 180 micron, even the 60 grit =225 micron are smoother then 140 grit = 118 micron in use. I am sure I can get more agressive cutting out of Venev's by surfacing them with some 40 grit SIC on back of a tile. But these KME diamond stones show no signs of deterioration (Pete from Cedric and Ada reports similar longevity as others in his latest KME review update). And I have only used the KME 100 grit a few times as necessary.
My bias- I continue to insist on thin blade stock, I will not buy any folder with greater then 0.12 stock, so the 50 grit is by definition, not going to meet my needs.
 
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The Mighty Ginsu said:
I appreciate the help. I thought there might be a difference in quality between DMT and KME.
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There is but not much. I find the DMT ones to feel smoother. They are not as wide, nor are they as thick as the KME ones. The KME ones tend to be more aggressive to my feel. I have DMT Dia Sharp coarse, fine, extra fine. I also have KME gold series Xtra coarse (140), Coarse (300) fine (600) and extra fine (1500). My preference would be the KME versions but they are far more expensive and really I was just looking for a replacement for some of the more well worn stones.

The DMT ones work great you just have to take into account that the stones are not the same size so switching between DMT and KME is not going to be exact on your angle. You are also getting less abrasive in that they are thinner which may matter to some folks.
 
Atoma 140
Venev Scorpion 60 or 80
KME Gold 100

Personally, I don't like the KME 50 "Beast". I have always felt that it creates more work in the long run than it saves initially.
 
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