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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
knife sharpeners
- Thread starter USAR
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 27, 1999
- Messages
- 6,117
Generally diamond sharpeners work well, but...
When diamond hones are new they are coated with diamond grit that is pretty uniform in size, but it is not neat little spheres or cubes. It is a variety of oblong crystals laying at a variety of angles. This leads to an uneven surface. This grit is sharper than most other abrasive grit and harder. Initially a diamond hone cuts very fast, but rougher than you would expect for its grit size. The diamond grit is so hard that it takes time for the tallest grit to break off and the hone surface to become more uniform. It starts cutting slower and smoother at this point (some people think that the hone is wearing out at this point, but in reality it is just getting broken in). At this point the diamond hone cuts faster than most other hones and just about as smooth. The slight surface texture left by the clean-cutting diamond grit can even be an advantage for slicing.
The coarse diamond hones are for reshaping a knife edge more than for sharpening. If you have a knife with an obtuse primary grind you might want to reprofile it using a coarse diamond hone. I usually use a water stone or a belt sander for this purpose. They both leave a cleaner finish than a coarse diamond hone. What I really like are the fine and ultra-fine diamond hones. These cut faster than other hones in this grit range. They also tend to clean up burrs left on the edge. I am talking about broken-in hones in this case. An ultra fine diamond hone leaves a very effective edge on a knife. It will also do a good job on extremely hard or otherwise uncooperative stainless steel.
When diamond hones are new they are coated with diamond grit that is pretty uniform in size, but it is not neat little spheres or cubes. It is a variety of oblong crystals laying at a variety of angles. This leads to an uneven surface. This grit is sharper than most other abrasive grit and harder. Initially a diamond hone cuts very fast, but rougher than you would expect for its grit size. The diamond grit is so hard that it takes time for the tallest grit to break off and the hone surface to become more uniform. It starts cutting slower and smoother at this point (some people think that the hone is wearing out at this point, but in reality it is just getting broken in). At this point the diamond hone cuts faster than most other hones and just about as smooth. The slight surface texture left by the clean-cutting diamond grit can even be an advantage for slicing.
The coarse diamond hones are for reshaping a knife edge more than for sharpening. If you have a knife with an obtuse primary grind you might want to reprofile it using a coarse diamond hone. I usually use a water stone or a belt sander for this purpose. They both leave a cleaner finish than a coarse diamond hone. What I really like are the fine and ultra-fine diamond hones. These cut faster than other hones in this grit range. They also tend to clean up burrs left on the edge. I am talking about broken-in hones in this case. An ultra fine diamond hone leaves a very effective edge on a knife. It will also do a good job on extremely hard or otherwise uncooperative stainless steel.
I use a course DMT whetstone for reprofiling. I use it dry and it is pretty efficient at removing steel on a blade edge. You go easy with it.
http://www.dmtsharp.com/general/basicsharp.htm
http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/whetstone.htm
http://www.dmtsharp.com/general/basicsharp.htm
http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/whetstone.htm
Cougar Allen
Buccaneer (ret.)
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 75,827
Welcome to Bladeforums!
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2003
- Messages
- 346
I started using Diamond hones with my EP as I was getting tired of having to pre soak the water stones and the additional mess the water makes.
I have been very happy with the Diamond and as Jeff says above, once it is broken in and settles down the sharpening results are very uniform.
I have been very happy with the Diamond and as Jeff says above, once it is broken in and settles down the sharpening results are very uniform.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2006
- Messages
- 19
i don't know if it answers your question but personally based on reviews i have seen and testimony on the web I am goign this route for a sharpener...
http://edgeproinc.com/
http://edgeproinc.com/
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2005
- Messages
- 4,527
All that I use is diamond- particularily a Buck Diamond Tapered Rod for serrations and the small DMT Keychain models in coarse, medium and fine- they have probably been used thousands of times over the last ten or so years. Great- especially if you like toothier edges
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
- Messages
- 47
Proud owner of the Apex model and love it. Pricey but worth it to me. I'm sure I could learn to use a basic stone but I like the ability to have every pass at the same angle. Gets knives razor sharp.