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- Apr 4, 2013
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- 3,415
You may have seen me asking about what temp's are safe for DMT Dia-sharp stones recently, I'm still not sure the correct answer, waiting for someone more knowledgeable than the phone lady to confirm but I know 250*F to be safe so I went ahead with my plan.
I setup my small extruder to extrude a block ~1"x3"x however much HDPE I could heat (length) and just barely got enough melted to make an 8" long block. Right when it came out and was still mostly viscous (with HDPE the more clear it is the more viscous) I pushed a 6" stone about 1/2 way down into it and quenched it underwater. Afterwards I used one of those oscillating multi-tools with the a drywall/plung-cutting blade and slimmed the sides down so it wouldn't interfere with the knife handles on knives with tip to handle cutting edges. After that I built up ramps on each end of the stone to protect the blade from striking it, to attach them I "welded" scraps on with a micro-tourch and finished by simply gluing on the DMT feet.
The stones are a very snug fit and it can be turned upside down but a firm tap on a hard surface frees the stones and they (I have a D6E and a D6CF) interchange perfectly (you may want to check your stones tolerances against eachother first if you plan to do this)
Here's the one pic I can manage to upload.
Yes I could have made something alot more pretty out of wood (as seems to be tradition for sharpening stones) but I wanted HDPE because its completely impervious to water and pretty much indestructible while still being easy on the blade should I slip.
I setup my small extruder to extrude a block ~1"x3"x however much HDPE I could heat (length) and just barely got enough melted to make an 8" long block. Right when it came out and was still mostly viscous (with HDPE the more clear it is the more viscous) I pushed a 6" stone about 1/2 way down into it and quenched it underwater. Afterwards I used one of those oscillating multi-tools with the a drywall/plung-cutting blade and slimmed the sides down so it wouldn't interfere with the knife handles on knives with tip to handle cutting edges. After that I built up ramps on each end of the stone to protect the blade from striking it, to attach them I "welded" scraps on with a micro-tourch and finished by simply gluing on the DMT feet.
The stones are a very snug fit and it can be turned upside down but a firm tap on a hard surface frees the stones and they (I have a D6E and a D6CF) interchange perfectly (you may want to check your stones tolerances against eachother first if you plan to do this)
Here's the one pic I can manage to upload.
Yes I could have made something alot more pretty out of wood (as seems to be tradition for sharpening stones) but I wanted HDPE because its completely impervious to water and pretty much indestructible while still being easy on the blade should I slip.
