New To Diamond Stones, Lubricants?

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Srjs28

Joined
Aug 17, 2022
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What’s up everyone? I’m new to the forum and also to using diamond stones. I am going to practice on a few different blades I don’t really care about. I’m interested in knowing what type of lubricants are used with diamond stones. I’ve heard of honing oil, windex and plain old water being used mostly. But me not having used diamond as an abrasive ever, I have no experience with any of the above. I obviously want a clean edge but also would like to preserve or maintain the stones as well. Seems like an oil or light petroleum based lubricant would get absorbed in the stone which would never come out while making the efforts to keep them clean next to impossible. Water just seems to me like it’s just not enough of whatever, to thin in the viscosity area and I don’t like the idea of there being a chance of water getting inside the handle of OTF’s and some automatics or inside bearings/hinge mechanisms with folders and flippers. That leaves Windex, which I’m assuming the type being used is specifically the “blue” window cleaner only, not any other type, such as aerosol or foaming.
So what’s the number one choice?
 
No lubricant is strictly necessary, but a light oil will help the diamonds stay sharper for longer. Even water is better than dry in that respect. Of course, diamonds are quite wear resistant anyway, and even using them dry it will still take quite some time to dull them.

This is for electroplated diamond plates BTW. For a resin bond diamond hone I would not use anything but water unless the manufacturer explicitly says it's okay.
 
(Assuming you're referring to plated diamond hones...)

A plated diamond hone isn't porous enough to absorb any lubricant, whether it be oil, water, Windex or whatever. All it's got is (1) a steel plate, with (2) nickel plating over that, and (3) diamond grit embedded in the nickel plating. There's nothing to worry about, in terms of filling up a plated diamond hone with anything at all. It just can't do that.

Lubricating any hone, be it a diamond hone or something else, is about keeping the metal swarf from either clinging to the grit on the surface or clogging the pores of the hone (as with porous oil stones). For a diamond hone, it's largely about keeping the swarf from clinging to the surface of the grit in a galling-like fashion. When that 'galling-like' thing happens on a dry hone, the metal swarf can really STICK to the surface of the diamond grit, sort of covering it like a wet blanket and not coming off easily without some serious scrubbing. That renders the cutting action almost nil on the hone.

A plated diamond hone is the easiest of all sharpening stones to clean after it's used with oil. Because it can't actually absorb any of that oil and the oil itself keeps swarf from clinging, it can easily be cleaned with some dish soap & water with minimal scrubbing. It's basically like washing any other metal object in the same manner. Use an old toothbrush to scrub it - it takes maybe 2 or 3 minutes to clean the surface completely of any oil residue.

For most light honing or touchup work on a diamond hone, you don't absolutely NEED to lubricate it. But if you ever do any heavy grinding of blades on a diamond hone, especially in some low-alloy stainless steels, that 'galling-like' effect can clog a dry hone very quickly. It'll start feeling very slick under the blade, and you'll notice it's not removing metal anymore. That's when the benefit of lubricating the hone will make a difference, to keep that metal from sticking to the grit.
 
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Glass cleaner (Windex). Couple of squirts, and you are good to go. Keeps the diamond plates clean, too. Just rinse under the hose, when finished. :)
 
I clean my DMTs with BreakFree CLP. Lifts the swarf right off. Leave a light film on for an hour (or overnight) for best results. I've used the same DMTs for more than two decades without any reduction in honing effectiveness.
 
I run mine dry, but if I have a lot of grinding/metal removal to do, I switch to silicone carbide. That way I can really apply a lot of pressure on the stone without worrying about popping out the diamonds. I've cleaned them with Comet and water, but I'll try the BreakFree. Sounds promising.
 
A couple drops of dish soap and water in a bottle is what I use now. Bar keepers friend and a toothbrush work great to clean them. Just rinse off and let em dry.
 
kane22 said:
A couple drops of dish soap and water in a bottle is what I use now. Bar keepers friend and a toothbrush work great to clean them. Just rinse off and let em dry.
Click to expand...
If I only need a few passes I'll use it dry but for the most part this^ has been how I have done it for years. Although, I just rub the BKF into the plate with my finger.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
(Assuming you're referring to plated diamond hones...)

A plated diamond hone isn't porous enough to absorb any lubricant, whether it be oil, water, Windex or whatever. All it's got is (1) a steel plate, with (2) nickel plating over that, and (3) diamond grit embedded in the nickel plating. There's nothing to worry about, in terms of filling up a plated diamond hone with anything at all. It just can't do that.

Lubricating any hone, be it a diamond hone or something else, is about keeping the metal swarf from either clinging to the grit on the surface or clogging the pores of the hone (as with porous oil stones). For a diamond hone, it's largely about keeping the swarf from clinging to the surface of the grit in a galling-like fashion. When that 'galling-like' thing happens on a dry hone, the metal swarf can really STICK to the surface of the diamond grit, sort of covering it like a wet blanket and not coming off easily without some serious scrubbing. That renders the cutting action almost nil on the hone.

A plated diamond hone is the easiest of all sharpening stones to clean after it's used with oil. Because it can't actually absorb any of that oil and the oil itself keeps swarf from clinging, it can easily be cleaned with some dish soap & water with minimal scrubbing. It's basically like washing any other metal object in the same manner. Use an old toothbrush to scrub it - it takes maybe 2 or 3 minutes to clean the surface completely of any oil residue.

For most light honing or touchup work on a diamond hone, you don't absolutely NEED to lubricate it. But if you ever do any heavy grinding of blades on a diamond hone, especially in some low-alloy stainless steels, that 'galling-like' effect can clog a dry hone very quickly. It'll start feeling very slick under the blade, and you'll notice it's not removing metal anymore. That's when the benefit of lubricating the hone will make a difference, to keep that metal from sticking to the grit.
Click to expand...
Thanks, great explanation. Since posting this, I have used a couple drops of water per stone and now that you mention it, I can see the build up occurring. Sometimes it seems to be magnetic looking once the stone is away from the blade.
 
I chose to use KME’s system and started off with 140, 300, 600 and 1500 grit stones as recommended by Brian (I think his name was) at KME. I have done practice runs on 5 different blades, of which I don’t really care about, and I’m glad I did. On my first blade, from start to finish, I could really see where my mistakes were. I think I have a good handle on the system now and would like to take the edge another 2 steps further past the 1500 grit Diamond stone.
 
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