Sharpmaker reprofiling with DMT benchstone?

[vtvman]

I was wondering if anyone here has ever tried laying a DMT bench stone against the sharpmaker rods for reprofiling? I was thinking about buying the 6 inch DMT D6C coarse plate. This would be similar to the congress tools stones with a little less hassle of having to flatten the stones and such. Hopefully this will be enough to tackle the tougher steels and do it efficiently. What do you guys think about this?

 

[DylanMW]

I use the SharpMaker diamond stones when I want to reprofile but before I had those I would take sandpaper and wrap my rods with it and it seemed to work pretty well.

 

[grybsh7]

I used the method you're describing for years. It beats the diamond rods imo. Get a package of those fat rubber bands
from an office supply store. Use them to secure the plate to the rod at the very bottom. I used to do this with all sizes of DMT
plates.

 

[SPNKr]

I do that with my 4" DMT plates and rubber bands, it's a great setup. I used to use sandpaper but they cut much slower and don't last very long.

 

[tiguy7]

I rubberband those folding (balisong) DMT "stones" to my Sharpmaker stones. It works just fine. Use the coarsest Spyderstones so you don't scratch the finer ones.

 

[vitatyranni]

I had an old Smith guided system that I pulled the course diamond plate off of and tape it to a Sharpmaker stone for reprofiling-works great. A larger DMT stone would probably be even better. Just make sure that you have it secured well-my diamond is only slightly wider than the SM stone but I could see an issue with anything much wider coming off 'true' angle if pressure was directed off-center (say as you're moving to the tip). I use narrow strips of electrical tape, but would try fat, small diameter rubber bands if I had any .

 

[vtvman]

Thanks for the replies. Would you guys recommend the coarse or extra coarse diasharp stones for factory reprofiling? I'm wondering if the extra coarse stone would be too wide of a transition to the Spyderco medium ceramics.

 

[bdmicarta]

I made a little stand from some scrap wood to hold my DMT stone. I can reprofile an edge with this stone and then finish it on the Sharpmaker. I set the angle of the DMT stone a couple of degrees steeper than the Sharpmaker stones so when I use the Sharpmaker it is in effect creating a microbevel. It goes a lot quicker that way.

 

[vtvman]

I made a little stand from some scrap wood to hold my DMT stone. I can reprofile an edge with this stone and then finish it on the Sharpmaker. I set the angle of the DMT stone a couple of degrees steeper than the Sharpmaker stones so when I use the Sharpmaker it is in effect creating a microbevel. It goes a lot quicker that way.

That's a neat idea. How coarse is that diamond?

 

[bdmicarta]

That's a neat idea. How coarse is that diamond?

Mine is coarse and extra coarse. I've only used it on cheap knives so far and it leaves a coarse looking edge. If I was going to use this system on a good knive I would have to buy a finer stone so the resulting edge wouldn't look so bad.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thanks for the replies. Would you guys recommend the coarse or extra coarse diasharp stones for factory reprofiling? I'm wondering if the extra coarse stone would be too wide of a transition to the Spyderco medium ceramics.

More often than not, I'd say that's a very, very big jump in grit. HOWEVER, it also depends on how you want your edge to turn out. If you happen to like the toothiness of your edge after the XC DMT, but just need to clean up some burrs from the edge after using it, the medium ceramic can be useful for that. If, on the other hand, you want more refinement in your edge, I'd recommend following the XC with the Coarse & Fine, at least, before the ceramic.

For reprofiling a factory edge on a large or thick blade, or on a 'super steel' blade, the XC would be a good bet for those. If most of your reprofiling jobs are done on small or medium-sized blades (up to ~4" length, 1/8" thick or less), or on relatively simple or low-alloy steels, you can probably get by with the Coarse. That's what I've been doing so far, with my blades (mostly small/medium folders). I do have a 6" XC/C Dia-Sharp hone (double-sided), but I've never yet used the XC side of that one. I probably should spend more time with it, but I don't.

 

[vitatyranni]

For reprofiling a factory edge on a large or thick blade, or on a 'super steel' blade, the XC would be a good bet for those. If most of your reprofiling jobs are done on small or medium-sized blades (up to ~4" length, 1/8" thick or less), or on relatively simple or low-alloy steels, you can get probably get by with the Coarse. That's what I've been doing so far, with my blades (mostly small/medium folders). I do have a 6" XC/C Dia-Sharp hone (double-sided), but I've never yet used the XC side of that one. I probably should spend more time with it, but I don't.

Good point. The blades I've reprofiled from their factory edges with my setup described above were 7" Ka-Bar in 1095, Tenacious in 8Cr13MoV, Military in S30V, and Endura in VG-10. The Millie took the most time (both due to the steel and the greater care taken with the more expensive knife).

Long story short-the C -> SM Med ceramic -> F -> UF -> 1u/CrO/Plain leather strops works awesome for me to get some hair whittlin' on. (My roommate recently OK'ed me to start sharpening his good kitchen knives after playing with my edges some.)

 

[vtvman]

Long story short-the C -> SM Med ceramic -> F -> UF -> 1u/CrO/Plain leather strops works awesome for me to get some hair whittlin' on. (My roommate recently OK'ed me to start sharpening his good kitchen knives after playing with my edges some.)

Thanks I was looking to have the same set up as the one you described. How do you clamp down your diamond stone to the sharpmaker?

 

[vitatyranni]

I put one of the M rods in the angle I want (usually 30*), and lay the stone against it. I carefully pull that out (without moving the rod/stone relative to each other), and using a strip of electrical tape cut in half length-wise, tightly tape the top and bottom edges. I usually shoot for 1-2 wraps, and since electrical tape stretches some this seems to hold it pretty tightly to the SM rod. There's been a couple suggestions above of using wide rubber bands-I just don't have any on hand. If you go the route of a DMT stone I'd suggest putting some paper/cloth/etc between the two to minimize scratching up your SM rods. My Smith stone is just plastic backed so no worries for me.

Really as long as you're using light enough pressure you shouldn't induce any real wiggle/movement between the two-that took me some practice to get used to. Before joining/reading these fora I always assumed more pressure = better cutting and that carried through some initially when I started trying to learn better practices for my new knives. (Thx OWE, knifenut, and all the others!)