Placing an Order - Sharpening Equpt.

cziv

cziv

Joined
Nov 24, 2005
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I'm getting ready to order my 1st 2 DMT Benchstones and something for finishing.

My plan is the 8" Diasharp in Coarse and Fine and then the Spyderco 8" UF for final polish before stropping. I'm on a limited budget so do you think these will work pretty well - adding anything I might need additionally, in a month or two perhaps?
 
Sounds like you have it pretty well nailed down to me. I haven't worked with the Spyderco before, but the DMTs are quite good. I think you'll really enjoy working with them.

Do you have a good strop and stropping compound?
 
Excellent. I'd bet with those three and your strops, you'll have no trouble at all getting some serious edges. I come straight off my DMT Extra-fine to leather for my chisels, actually, so adding the Spyderco in there will probably take it up a notch. I wish I was a better freehand sharpener, honestly, I'm only fair. Chisels and straight edges I can do just fine, but start getting a belly into the blade and I kinda fail. A lot. :D
 
If you're on a tight budget you could consider a Norton combination India stone and the Spyderco UF. For that matter, you could get a Norton SiC 8" combination bench stone for reprofiling / rebeveling / repairing really beat up edges, and the Spyderco medium and UF ceramic stones for finishing them off. I have a fine Spyderco and lapped one side into a UF - by far my favorite finishing stone.

Not knocking the DMTs, but there are cheaper alternatives that will do every bit as good a job, and can be made to work with recurve blade profiles. Another alternative might be a pair of Norton (big fan if you couldn't tell) combination waterstones in 220/1000 and 4000/8000 - pretty much everything you could ask for from the bottom to the top.
 
Thanks heavyHanded. I'll consider those. I've been watching a guy get mirror edges on waterstones and the UF ceramic to finish. I figured the DMTs would be a little less messy.

How'd ya pick out that handle? Are you a boxer/mma?
 
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Instead of the Spyderco, I'd save my money for a month or two and get a Shapton 2K glass stone to finish. :thumbup: Later on, add finer grits. :)

IME, Shaptons are worth waiting, and saving, for. :p
 
cziv said:
Thanks heavyHanded. I'll consider those. I've been watching a guy get mirror edges of waterstones and the UF ceramic to finish. I figured the DMTs would be a little less messy.

How'd ya pick out that handle? Are you a boxer/mma?
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The waterstones are a touch messy and require lapping, but its just water, and they (I've used King - much better than the poor rep they get - and Norton) have better feedback for freehanding than any other type of stone I've used.

As for my handle, yeah I used to be into fairly intensive weight training and MA. For a time I used to work out at home on a 7' piece of telephone pole wrapped with 1" of foam and duct tape. The wife told me she could feel it in the house when I was hitting it in the garage - a detached garage...

But really its because I tend to overdo things when first learning, I tend to wear things out or break them when I use them, I tend to overstate my opinions, I let my temper get the better of me, I can't stand most of the things I buy as is. Even good quality items generally get modified sometimes to the point of destruction - you get the picture. Most of that I outgrew, though I do still tend to break things, modify things, and tear my hands up in the process more than most of the 44 yr olds I know...
 
Well, being sick of being "under-stoned," using dia-folds, sharpmaker rods, small hardware store stones etc...lol, I decided to bite the bullet and ordered the DMT 8" Dia-Sharp Kit from Sharpening Supplies.

I bought "kit" with the X-Coarse, Coarse, Fine, X-Fine 8" bench stones for $179. I also left my order in place at Amazon, where I picked up an Ultrafine Spyderco 8"x3" bench stone for a finishing stone on sale for only $28. :) It appeared to be a hair finer than the X-fine DMT which came with the 4 DMTs that I bought.

So what's the drill guys, in breaking in the new stones? I have a couple of old beater bowie style fixed blades. Shold I re-profile them and will that brek them in? Where do you suggest sharpening at in the kitchen or something for the water supply.

I need guidance I'm new with these big suckers and although I can sharpen pretty well freehand, I've never had stones this big or of this type before. I'm looking forward to them coming! :D
 
Woohoo! Sounds like you've got an awesome set showing up there in short order. :D

I generally sharpen in our utility room where I have a big sink handy for rinsing things off and soaking waterstones. Should be handy for keeping your DMTs clean of swarf as well. It takes a few knives to "break them in" fully, but they're very usable right from the start. They just cut a tad more finely after the first few blades. I'd say give 'er a shot with your big fixed blades, I think you'll be very pleased with how smoothly and quickly that XC profiles them to whatever you want. :)
 
Thanks Komitadjie. :thumbup: I was feeling really butt-hurt while I was placing the order but now I'm almost as excited as if I was getting a high quality knife!

I've struggled with a load of crap for sharpening supplies for years, not that a full set of Dia-folds won't put a screaming sharp edge on my folder, because they will. I listed some of the junk I was using above along with butcher's sharpening steel rods (which suck unless you're a butcher, I suppose :)).

But now, It should cut my time to a fraction and give me smooth and even scratch lines instead of the scrubby little swirly lines, cloudy finishes and gouges I was getting from using small guided systems where you have to saw away for a 1/2 hour or more per hone to raise a tiny burr and sometimes lose the spot where you were working on last. :mad:

I can't wait! :D
 
Yeah, the price tag kind of stings at first, doesn't it? :D

I think you'll be VERY happy with them, diamonds do not polish to the level that waterstones do, but they don't make the mess, are even faster, and never need to be flattened or anything like that. Also, don't throw away some of that older stuff! A Sharpmaker works extremely well with the fine or ultrafine rods to touch up an edge between sharpenings (once you've used your new plates to set the angles to something between 30 and 40 degrees initially), and a butcher's steel can likewise "save" a softer western-type kitchen knife's edge that is starting to roll without needing to take it back to the grinding stage.

That XC is a ruthless cutter, and will easily handle profiling tasks in a far shorter time than anything you're used to. You'll be surprised the first time you use it, for sure! :)
 
If I don't get a mirror edge coming off the DMTs, Spyderco ultra-fine and strop I'm going to sell all of my knives - except my Hinderers.

I'm going to watch some YT videos on how different guys use these things.
 
Use a light touch on those DMTs when new. Until they break in they cut so aggressively it masks the feedback - easy to loose the bevel a little bit and not feel the difference. This goes away fairly quickly, but YMMV. I still use a drop or two of dish soap and a few drops of water on my diamond stones - I feel it improves feedback and tones the cut rate down a little. If you can get nice even bevels, consistent scratch patterns tip to choil and shoulder to apex using diamonds, you'll be able to do it with any other stone too.
 
Agreed, HH, I used to use them dry, but after some reading here and on a couple other forums I've started adding just a few drops of water from the same bottle I use with most of my other stuff, which is just clen water with a couple drops of Dawn in it. Seems to make everything a little smoother.

You will be able to get very good edges, Cziv, although I'm not sure about mirrors because I haven't used the Spyderco stone myself. Stropping can go a long ways there, especially with some of the Hand American or Ken's sprays/pastes.
 
I think you can do it. (mirror edge)

Thanks for all the helpful tips you guys....can't wait to sharpen some beater knives that are already sharp but can't wait to take it to the next level! :D

Here's Crimsontideshooter (is that the name of a drink? :confused:) He has an excellent YT channel. I just subscribed the other day. :thumbup:

[YouTube]DmrQZCTOoWI[/YouTube]
 
I have the full set of 8" Diasharp and still do some finishing up using the Spyderco 8" UF. I don't get the full reading mirror that some here show picutres of but it is nice and reflective. My freehand still needs work/practice and then eventually I will add strops. I help my freehand along with the DMT Knife Sharpening Guide to train my muscles to get a better feel for it. I learned that from others here on the forums. In my opinion you are making a good set of choices.
 
rfguy said:
I have the full set of 8" Diasharp and still do some finishing up using the Spyderco 8" UF. I don't get the full reading mirror that some here show picutres of but it is nice and reflective. My freehand still needs work/practice and then eventually I will add strops. I help my freehand along with the DMT Knife Sharpening Guide to train my muscles to get a better feel for it. I learned that from others here on the forums. In my opinion you are making a good set of choices.
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Yeah, I read some of knifenut1013s posts that he still uses the clamp for a guide sometimes. I'm sure I'll have a load of fun figuring it all out. I have 6, 3, 1 dia-pastes loaded on balsa and strops loaded with 1 and .5 micron, 24 carat sprays to give me an assist too.

I got my Fedex tracking number for Saturday delivery - wooh hoo I'm gonna line up two old Bowies and a Centofante 3 that are 1/2 dull and have at it!! :D
 
I'm more or less on the same road myself.
I have the C, F and XF continuous DMT stones (mine are 6", I don't have big knives so it's more than enough for me), and I've noticed how aggressively they cut.
I've been using the Coarse for reprofiling, I don't know how much the XC cuts, but the C works enough for me.
Following some advices from other forumites, I've been using a DMT aligner when reprofiling V edges (until I feel I'm good without it), and so far it has worked fine.
It doesn't take much for the stones to "break in", but even after that, be careful cause, with softer steels, diamonds can cut more than you need, and make things messy.
I found out that, if I take my time and go with very light pressure, they just work fine.
I'm not interested in mirror polished edges so far, and after the stones I just finish with a bare leather strop, but my knives cut as fine as I want them to, so I'm happy with my DMT stones so far.
Good luck :)

:cool:
 
If you want a mirror finish use the DMT compounds after the EF hone, after 1 micron on balsa use 1micron on leather and you will have a scratch-less finish.

Something you will notice if you are accustomed to having the stone in one hand and knife in the other is a awkward feel using both hands to guide while the stone stays in place. You will likely have some issues holding the proper angle at first but you'll get the hang of it. Other things you will notice is how much faster you will be able to sharpen and a bit more uniformity to the scratch pattern. The diasharps surface also offers better feedback and a smoother grinding.

For break-in just use them. But use the whole surface or you end up with spots of higher wear than others. You can rub the F and EF stones together under running water and that will greatly speed up break-in.

You've probably heard it a 100 times but make sure to use a light touch. Trying to rush it will only mess up the bevel and hone. The XC and C hones are the ones you will need to be the most careful with, try and grind too much too fast and the edge of you hone will be short a few diamonds.

Congrats, having a good set of hones makes things a lot easier.
 
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