Question about DMT XX stone

S

Spydercoguy

Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
15
Hello. This is my first post. I have been lurking around for quite a while however. Great forum!
I was wondering if anyone here owns the DMT 120 grit 'Double X' stone. What are your experiences with it? How much rougher is it than the extra course (220 grit) stone? I own the extra course stone and have noticed that it cuts less aggressively now than when I first got it; has anyone else experienced this?
Thank you.
 
Yes that sounds normal. They all do wear a little right at first. After a few sharpenings you shouldn't notice any difference. I don't have the XC DMT but I do have the XX 120 DMT and it really removes alot of steel quickly. It's the best stone I've used for reprofiling ever.
 
Diamond hones wear in with use. At first the grit is not even at the top surface (some of the grit is higher than the rest) and while the hone cuts fast it does not cut as smoothly as you would expect. With use the highest diamond grains break down to match the height of 90% of the other grains. The hone will cut a bit more slowly, but much more smoothly after that. Note that the hone is not wearing out, it is just getting to where it is supposed to be.
 
How much pressure do you use with your diamonds? I tend to only use diamond in the field for emergency touch ups during hard work and I go through one about every 6 months. Maybe 30 uses but they come in a metal tube that you have to slide it in and out of every time you want to use them. It seems that for a little while (5-7 months) a light touch is all thats required. Then at some point you have to press firmly and then shortly after they work very poorly or stop working all together. I've strayed away from buying a nice field kit since by nature of what I'm doing its prone to loss. In this case I'm only out $6.
 
Thank you all for your replys. Yes, the first few times I used it I noticed that it left deep scraches on the edge and profiled very aggressively. I never thought that it was wearing down the diamonds that were sticking up to the level of the other lower diamonds. Very intuitive Jeff! It does indeed cut much more smoothly now, but still cuts aggressively.
Db, I have heard nothing but good things about the DMT Double-X and really want to get one as I cannot really use a belt sander at this time and the Double-X has been compared with a grinder in it's aggressiveness. I usually just sharpen holding the stone in my hand with the butt of the stone resting against my leg, so I suppose I will have to buy the plastic thing that the double stones rest in...does the Double-X stone fit in that plastic thing?
LHD, I press firmly on the stone, but do not bear down on it. I use probably 3-5 times the weight of the knife itself and finish off with a quite a few lighter strokes (maybe the weight of the knife only) once the edge bevels meet. I do not want to break off all of the diamonds on the stone as I want it to last me a while. That is why I am considering the Double-X because I figure that once all of the unusally high diamonds break off or wear down it will cut like the X-course stone did when it was brand new (I was very happy with how aggressive it was at first).
 
The D8XX probably won't fit into the plastic base that the 8" and 10" Duo-Sharp sharpeners use. The best bet would be a stone holder like this one.

This link barely scratches the surface of the stone holder, but it makes using many types of stones/ceramics/diamonds more manageable.
 
A little follow-up:

I've used the D8XX to reprofile a small handful of knives; once to grind in the initial bevel for a knife Broos has; and several times to reflatten my combination grit waterstone. It still cuts aggressively.

The best places I've seen to obtain one are All Pro Tools and an Ontario-based ebay seller named Tools For U. $62USD for a quickly shipped stone from a foreign land isn't bad in my book.
 
Thank you Thombrogan. The stone holder you refer to looks very cool.

Yeah, $60 something dollars is not bad for that stone, but I think I will use my regular old one-X stone for a while and see how it goes. I just bought the X-course stone and I don't know how the wife would react to me buying two stones in one month. ;o)

Hey, what is the size of that stone anyway? I could not find any measurements listed on any site I visited.
 
Spydercoguy said:
I just bought the X-course stone and I don't know how the wife would react to me buying two stones in one month.
Click to expand...

Smart thinking!

db once showed me this link and it made hand sharpening a lot easier and my stones cut faster. For diamonds, skip step one. ;) Step two's all you need for your extra coarse stone.
 
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