Sharpmaker diamond rods or diamond stones

C

candlelight001

Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
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OK, fairly new to all this, need some advice. Have sharpmaker and a strop for sharpening bark river, spyderco and benchmade folders, kitchen knives. A few of my knives have chips in the edges and need major work. Takes too long to do on the sharpmaker. So, am I better off getting the diamond triangles for the sharpmaker, or a coarse diamond stone and doing rough work freehand?

Thanks!
 
I have the Diamond rods and the UF rods. The UF are well worth the money, however, I think it would be a better investment to purchase say a DMT XX coarse stone. It would be much more aggresive, work faster, and last longer.
 
I agree with Chinese Man.

Considering the cost for the 204 diamond rods you are better of with a XXC dmt. If your not comfortable yet freehanding you might opt for thinner continues surfaced dmt's which instead of the dotted surface older ones.They are thin enough to lean against the flat side stones in 30 degrees setting on 204 imo.
;)
 
Wrap the Sharpmaker rods in aluminum oxide wet/dry sandpaper...start with 120 grit and finish with 400. Then go to the UF.
 
that's a cheaper solution SPXtrader;)

I however dont like the paper clip sandpaper rumble... on the 204.

I am tenacious on the old fashioned benchstone DMT freehanding... Getting better every day.

Skills come from practice and learning. Next to that; no production knife comes off factory with a perfect let's say 15 angle...on both sides. So eyeballin and manual control is the real deal. ;)

Still learning.
 
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Agreed, but cutting the paper to fit the rod properly and using binder clips will work on the cheap! I freehand, too. The sharpmaker is there for when I just want to fiddle with a knife while watching TV. Another alternative is to check out richard j's cardboard wheels.
 
I guess with the flat Dmt's you can still fiddle before the telly but it will cost you more SPX:D.
 
i recommend small paddle DMTs, the same ones you'ld edge skis with, for nick removal. 'rounding' out the nick and then moving to a diamond (or other) bench stone is a little faster and less annoying as the knife won't drag and 'catch' on your stones.

That's bad enough if you're using DMT stones but REALLY annoying on fancy waterstones..

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/TD2K.htm FOR EXAMPLE ONLY.. price may not be lowest, don't know the vendor, YMMV.

if you ever want top grade waterstones that compete with DMT I recommend Shapton (for large bench stones, synthetic & not cheap).. or Belgian Coticules (garnet abrasive, very fast, top shelf by anyones standard, and VERY not cheap... but worth owning anyway)

and the finest grade DMT ( EX-EX-Fine) is an 8000 grit (3 micron) single sided plate that is one fancy tool, about 70-80$ for the 8x3 , and too specialized for most folks needs.. but it'll do fine touchups on very hard steel and make it look easy. HIGHLY recommended to put a scary sharp finish edge on hard steel without spending weeks at it..

and they have a 4" version for 22$.. catalog # DMA4EE.

FWIW i remove knicks with a 1.25" x 6" belgian garnet stone. it's faster than silicon carbide but slower than diamond, and polishes as it goes..

diamond scratches aren't easily polished out and cleaning up the edge & flats on the blade might take more time than the sharpening. Belgians have an extremely wide spectrum of utility, and sharpen faster than most alternatives.. while still allowing a mirror polish if you prefer that. I have several fancy japanese waterstones that polish as well.. but they're much slower to actually grind metal.. and vice versa, the ones that cut faster don't polish so well.

There may well be sufficient utility in synthetic stones now to make natural ones redundant.. but I don't know of anything else with the RANGE of belgian coticules, nor anything more pleasant to work with. If you get a chance to use one, try it out. Hard to put down..
 
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