Diamond stones

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I don't know the Vaunt ones but I was just about to say they're very likely to be generic plates from China that they're just selling under their name. And in the background of one of the product pics for a so-called Vaunt plate you can see an Ultex box!

Plates like these as well as less-expensive types seem to all be made in China and are sold by numerous vendors on AliExpress, often for less than you see them on eBay. The thin, unbacked, type are regularly about £3 each (with free shipping!) and are available in a very wide range of grits, e.g. 80 to 3,000. Even these cheapest ones can hold up well according to user reports.

I've been using one since the beginning of 2016 and posted an update pic of the plate recently showing that it appears no more worn now three years later. It has seen regular, occasionally heavy, use.

I'd recommend one coarse plate for any major work an edge needs and a very fine for day-to-day honing, along with a strop or a fine stone like a slate if you prefer not to strop.
 
Thanks for that I have the trend double sided one but the fine side is showing its age,it's over 20 years old and the coarse side has hardly been used.I was hoping to buy a fine one without the expense of a hundred or so for another trend one hence the look at the Vaunt ones.I still want to buy quality so looking for reccomendations.Merry Christmas to all and best regards from Kevin.
 
kevinlightfoot":mch4v7cj said:
Are the Vaunt diamond stones any good?
I think that this is just a rebranding of the stones that ITS were selling previously. I have several of the latter and they are excellent value for money.
 
Well let's say your budget is £30, you could buy 10 of the cheapies and if each one only lasted a year you'd be breaking even.

Not that they'll last only one year of course; five years is a perfectly reasonable minimum expectation for lifespan. 10 plates like this, of any grit a user will use regularly, should see the average woodworker out even if they're only in their 20s when they buy 'em.
 
can't speak to that specific stone, but I've bought some of everything. The strange brand chinese two-sided stones with interrupted surface (not the ones that are plastic, etc, but the 8x3 double sided stones on a milled steel plate) have all been fine, all the way down to $20.

Here in the states, we can sometimes get stones directly from china for $20 with a base that would normally sell for $20 at least separately here. Right now, they're $27.

The only consequence? They're reasonably flat, but not perfectly flat. Do your back preparation on new tools on sandpaper on a flat surface and it won't matter.

There's a huge divide between $20 milled steel plates, like "DMD" chinese brand and Atoma. Atoma are wonderful - tough and flat, but nothing lasts forever. I think the DMD types are better economy for bevel work and if you do something to damage one, you won't be that upset. The territory in between and the expensive chinese-made recognizable brand stones are something to be avoided. If you recognize the brand, but the stone isn't made in the first world, avoid it. It's just marked up.
 
or just spend more money and get a DMT, EZE lap or Atoma stones, quality isn't cheap, but you get what you pay for, the most cost effective system by miles is scrary sharp with 3M microlapping film, it lasts at least 6 months, all you need is a glass plate, float glass ideally 10mm thick, as long as it's dead flat without diamond stones that's the system I would use, especially for flattening backs of chisels and plane blades, and indeed this is the system I use for all initialising new blades.
 
The trouble with films is that unless you never do anything but hone smoothing plane irons and straight chisels, it's a transient system. You'll move away from it. Eventually, you'll cut films or get a dot of something under a film or just get tired of taking old films off of glass and moving them around.

I've used everything, so it would be difficult for me to say what's most economical or most sensible, but it probably wouldn't involve films or diamond hones - rather something like a combination crystolon/india stone in oil, 220 grit PSA sandpaper roll, a glass shelf and a decent finishing oilstone. You'd be out on high speed steel, but that's it (and you can live without that). I guess the trouble is that the finish oilstone is a natural product and unless you have someone like me picking one for you, then you don't know what you're getting. Total cost of a system like that is about $100 US, and it's good for a lifetime, and a long glass lap with PSA roll gives you something that will allow tool making beyond iron preparation and grinding. It also assumes that you are willing to wade through understanding edge geometry (freehanding) right away, which again, would be a tall order without being in a shop like mine learning the first parts of it.

All that said, the DMD plates are fine for day to day sharpening and should last years (ultex? brand there?). Atoma and the plastic backed DMT stones are the only ones that I've seen that are actually always flat (excluding the giant plate by DMT that's guaranteed flat - it's big, coarse and expensive). Ezelap used to be cheap here, and they're close to flat (close enough), but they're no longer cheap (each 8x3 plate was available on amazon for about $35 - now they're $60 or so most of the time). DMT and atoma are about the same price, and the quality of the work and construction type in the atoma plates is double what it is in a DMT product.
 
thetyreman":3qsqg8m9 said:
or just spend more money and get a DMT, EZE lap or Atoma stones, quality isn't cheap, but you get what you pay for, the most cost effective system by miles is scrary sharp with 3M microlapping film, it lasts at least 6 months, all you need is a glass plate, float glass ideally 10mm thick, as long as it's dead flat without diamond stones that's the system I would use, especially for flattening backs of chisels and plane blades, and indeed this is the system I use for all initialising new blades.
Or spend less money and buy an oil stone. They are abrasive all the way through, not just a thin scatter in the surface like a diamond plate, and last for life.
 
thetyreman":3b7iuo4r said:
phil.p":3b7iuo4r said:
Can someone shoot that f***ing groundhog? :D

aren't sharpening threads so much fun :lol:
I think Phill has been here longer than me:
tenor.gif

I'm still finding all this useful.

I promise ;-)
 
Exactly what I didn't want ,another sharpening thread,I am perfectly happy with the system I use,Tormek for reshaping bevels,diamond plate for initial honing,fine water stone and leather strop to get my final sharpness.If I am working away from my workshop I take an oilstone.All I was asking was which are the best one sided diamond stones.I don't need to buy a trend double sided one but if they are the best then I suppose that's the way I need to go.Does anyone know of a fine grade single sided quality stone that will last me out ,I hope that will be another few years yet.Merry Christmas everyone.Just looked at the DMT ones they look good is that the opinion of many,this last sentence is an edit,took me ages to work out how to do it.
 
I have a DMT I bought well over 30 years ago, was expensive then even with staff discount but there's hardly a mark on it. You pays your money etc.
 

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