Diamond Stones And Soft Metals

[custard]

Workshop Heaven have recently become stockist of Atoma diamond stones. I've been using these for a year or more now since my DMT stones started to look a bit threadbare, and I'm very pleased with them. However, on the Workshop Heaven web site the following advice was given,

Avoid using them with soft metals like brass, wrought iron or aluminium as these will gum up the surface and are impossible to remove.
Avoid using them for the bevels of laminated blades as the backing material is often soft and will gum up the surface.

That caught my attention as I regularly use older Record plane irons which are laminated. I'd not noticed any gumming up of the stones from the Record laminated irons but I decided to compare the used ones with some unused ones that I have in stock..

Here are the stones at my sharpening station. From left to right they are Atoma 400, 600, and 1200 grit, followed by an XX Fine DMT stone which I think is rated at about 6,000 grit. I normally clean up the diamond stones every month or so with some Vim or Ajax and a stiff brush.

And here they are after cleaning,

And here is a 600 grit Atoma stone, the used one on the left and the unused one on the right.

I can't see any difference and no evidence of gumming up by the softer backing steel from the laminated irons, that's the case even when inspecting with a x10 lens. I should emphasise that I'm using these stones almost every day, so I guess the used one has seen several hundred honings with laminated Record plane irons.

I'm not doubting Workshop Heaven's advice, Matthew is an honest broker and furthermore he knows his products inside out. However, as far as Record or Stanley laminated plane irons are concerned I can't see any problems at all.

 

[Racers]

Most good Japanese chisels and plane blades are laminated so can't you use them on the stones?

Pete

 

[custard]

I've got some Japanese chisels but I rarely use them so I can't really comment. If I get the chance I'll dig out my old DMT stones and try honing the Japanese laminated chisels on them to see what happens.

I guess the other issue is that plenty of people use diamond stones to flatten off the soles of planes, I guess that's a potential issue too.

 

[mbartlett99]

I'd be loathe describe any steel as soft let alone the cast iron of a plane body; brass sure, ally definitely but never noticed a file clogging with steel. Oh well, guess the proof will be in the eating.

 

[custard]

I'm no engineer or metallurgist so I've no special knowledge in this area. However, when filing the aluminium body of an Eclipse honing guide I noticed the file clogged with aluminium swarf which was then impossible to remove, and I've experienced the same thing when filing brass furniture fittings. I bought a specialist file for soft metals and the difference was chalk and cheese.

To test laminated chisels on a diamond stone I dug out an old DMT stone and gave it a hundred or more strokes with a laminated Japanese paring chisel that has a single bevel.

Even under close inspection with a x10 magnifying glass I can't see any evidence of the diamond stone clogging from the chisel's softer backing metal. Of course, this is just one chisel on one diamond stone, so if anyone has different experiences then please post some photos.