Atoma 1200 diamond plate vs King 1200.

[PalmRoyale]

I currently use a King 1200 water stone for my day to day sharpening needs followed by the Sigma Select II 6000. The King is a very nice stone, probably one of the best on the market in the 1200 grit range. However, it dishes rather quickly because it's a soft stone so I'm thinking about replacing it with a diamond plate, the Atoma 1200 to be precise. Does anyone have any experience with the Atoma and can I go from it to the Sigma without an in-between stone?

 

[ED65]

I go from a #1000 diamond plate directly to a loaded strop, and my stropping compound is considerably finer than a 6000 grit Japanese stone. So FWIW I very much doubt you'd have any issues with the jump even before the diamond plate wears in.

 

[D_W]

Shapton pro 1000 would be my choice over the Atoma for day to day - in the long run, it'll be faster. Harder to flatten than the king, but stays flat much longer. The atoma is a very nice diamond hone, though, probably the flattest of the cheaper hones and very durable.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Nico

I agree with David - The Shapton Pro 1000 is the stone of choice. It is the best 1000 I have used (and continue to use).

The downside of a diamond plate is that diamonds leave deeper scratches than natural- or man made water stones. The jump from a 1200 diamond stone may be too large as a result.

Having stated this, I have an Easy-Lap 600 grit plate that is about 15 years old. It has worn to a point where it is still cutting, but acts more like a 2000-3000 grit waterstone. I can go from this to 6000 Sigma (and do). Unfortunately, you cannot purchase worn-in diamond stones!

It may be possible to use the 1200 Atoma if you add another stone. My recommendation would be a Medium Spyderco, if you are attempting to avoid waterstones. These can be used without water (although I usually add a drop of water-soap mix). They are hard stones and never require flattening. However, they can arrive with a fine slight hollow. Use the Atoma to flatten the Spyderco. This will also wear the Atoma in a little.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[PalmRoyale]

Hi Nico

My name isn't Nico. I don't know why you think it is.

Anyway, I can't find it anywhere in the EU, at least not the complete stone. Feine-werkzeuge in Berlin only has the replacement pad in stock. They also sell Shapton Pro stones and the price isn't too bad at €48 for the 1000 grit. I think I'm going to give it a try.

 

[ED65]

€48! Much cheaper options are available on Aliexpress and from a few sellers on ebay if you just want to see how you get on with diamond plates of 1000 grit (or 2000 or 3000). The quality of some cheap plates appears to be every bit as good as some of the name brands, just not a match for the very best, and it's not a big commitment because at current prices they'll set you back less than a large coffee usually costs.

If durability is a concern I've never managed to wear one out. Although my plates wouldn't see the same level of honing use you'd put them to they have been used for many additional tasks far more wearing than working on steel, including polishing the edges of glass, major reflattening of SiC waterstones and the same on some natural hones. So nobody can say they haven't done their fair share of work and they're still going strong after more than 10 years.

 

[--Tom--]

Naniwa Chosera and Bester are good in the 1k grit range, much quicker cutting than the king 1200 particularly with harder steels. The Chosera is also much less thirsty than the King so can be treated as splash and go rather than needing a presoak.
Atoma used to be available from a few places in EU, have you tried Maksim@japanese natural stones?

The jump to 6k would be fine for microbevels, for wider bevels it'd be a bit slow in my experience

 

[PalmRoyale]

€48!

€48 is the price of the 1000 grit Shapton Pro stone.

Atoma used to be available from a few places in EU, have you tried Maksim@japanese natural stones?

He doesn't sell the 1200. It doesn't matter anyway because I've ordered the Shapton Pro 1000.

The jump to 6k would be fine for microbevels, for wider bevels it'd be a bit slow in my experience

The Sigma Select II 6000 is a very fast cutting stone. It's actually specially developed for HSS and other types of very hard and wear resistant steels so I'm sure you can imagine how it chews up conventional tool steels. Sometimes I don't even bother with the King 1200, that's how fast cutting the Sigma is.

 

[D_W]

Naniwa Chosera and Bester are good in the 1k grit range, much quicker cutting than the king 1200 particularly with harder steels. The Chosera is also much less thirsty than the King so can be treated as splash and go rather than needing a presoak.
Atoma used to be available from a few places in EU, have you tried Maksim@japanese natural stones?

The jump to 6k would be fine for microbevels, for wider bevels it'd be a bit slow in my experience

Bester 1200 would be my choice of the porous stones. The only problem is that it needs to be soaked. I think that's a pain, especially if you have a cold shop - grabbing cold wet stones is undesirable. The sigma power II 1200 is also a good hard stone, harder and a bit finer than the Bester 1200.

The Bester 1000 is an entirely different stone than the 1200 - it is softer and not as aggressive - I'd avoid it for woodworking tools.