DMT Dia-Sharps
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matthewwh
Established Member
I haven't had much success with the pencil rubber approach on mine, but hot water, washing up liquid and a nail brush has proven much more satisfactory.
I've had good results with Bar keepers Friend, stick the stone on a flat surface, (kitchen worktop next to sink), wet it a little, put some of the powder on, mix to a slurry, leave for a bit then scrub and wash off..
Bingo clean stone, then pat dry as stated to prevent rust,
Cheers!
Bingo clean stone, then pat dry as stated to prevent rust,
Cheers!
Heath Robinson
Established Member
Acetone can help with gummy stuff, as can orange oil.
Argus
Established Member
.
It was Vim (Ajax look-alike) for me, too, as it's readily available under the kitchen sink, followed by a scrubbing brush.
However, for what it's worth, I was viewing Paul Seller's vid on hand sharpening the other day and he used 'glass cleaner' (Windolene?) as a lubricant on the stone.
I tried it and with no scientific basis at all, I reckon that as well as keeping the bits in suspension when sharpening it cleans the diamond plate easily with a quick sluice under the tap as soon as you've finished.
It's a washing job, so in the end it comes down to what's under the kitchen sink........
Hope it helps.
It was Vim (Ajax look-alike) for me, too, as it's readily available under the kitchen sink, followed by a scrubbing brush.
However, for what it's worth, I was viewing Paul Seller's vid on hand sharpening the other day and he used 'glass cleaner' (Windolene?) as a lubricant on the stone.
I tried it and with no scientific basis at all, I reckon that as well as keeping the bits in suspension when sharpening it cleans the diamond plate easily with a quick sluice under the tap as soon as you've finished.
It's a washing job, so in the end it comes down to what's under the kitchen sink........
Hope it helps.
matthewwh
Established Member
Has anyone used the 3 micron XX Fine one yet? I've been using one for a couple of weeks and while it's immensely fast, and the finish left is way better than any other diamond stone I've used, the polish is still only about the same as 30 micron lapping film.
They do say that the finish improves as the surface beds in (they are pre-bedded to an extent at the factory, presumably to accelerate this process) so I was wondering if anyone has had one for longer and can shed any light on the degree of improvement and timefame involved?
They do say that the finish improves as the surface beds in (they are pre-bedded to an extent at the factory, presumably to accelerate this process) so I was wondering if anyone has had one for longer and can shed any light on the degree of improvement and timefame involved?
jimmyhenson
Established Member
Any recommendations on what combination of grits to get for general chisel and plane sharpening? I was thinking of getting 3 dia-sharps, the xx fine a certainty. How good would they be compared to other sharpening stones as they would be the first sharpening stones to buy. Thanks.
custard
Established Member
matthewwh":3lyt3dkg said:
I've been using the XX Fine for a few months now, so that's probably about 50 or 60 A2 plane iron sharpenings. It still leaves exactly the same "matt" surface I got when new, rather than the polished surface I'd expect from an equivalent 3 micron waterstone or shapton stone.
When DMT say the surface will improve with use, maybe what they really mean is that the odd, errant diamond that's proud of the stone will get knocked off, rather than it will suddenly start delivering a truly polished surface?
But, one other thing, as you say it's super fast, and I've recently started using irons straight from the XX Fine stone. I was sceptical, but the results (only so far on fairly straight grained oak and sapele) have been first class. Maybe the highly polished surface on a plane iron makes the user feel better but the wood really couldn't care less!
custard
Established Member
Matt, by the way, when I first got the stone I posted exactly the same question as you're now asking, and a forum member who'd been using the XX Fine for some time said, no, it doesn't improve with time and begin to deliver a polished surface.
matthewwh
Established Member
Thanks Custard - that confirms what I have experienced so far.
David C
In Memorium
Matthew,
At 3 microns we are getting close to an 8,ooo or 10,000 waterstone. Do you notice any functional difference?
I have long been suspicious of Polish as a mark of sharpness and believe that we can perfectly well have sharpness without polish.
David
At 3 microns we are getting close to an 8,ooo or 10,000 waterstone. Do you notice any functional difference?
I have long been suspicious of Polish as a mark of sharpness and believe that we can perfectly well have sharpness without polish.
David
matthewwh
Established Member
Hi David,
Based on a completely unscientific 'try it and see', I have just honed a chisel with the the 3 micron DMT which produced an acceptably sharp edge with visible scratches, and then used it to pare endgrain Eucalyptus without any trouble.
I then re-honed the same chisel on 5 micron 3M lapping film to produce a polished finish and repeated the exercise, again a success BUT with the chisel honed to a polish using (numerically coarser) 3M lapping film it required noticeably less effort to push it through the timber and felt much more controllable.
Just for completeness I compared the edge from the diamond stone with and without stropping and found that a light stropping with chromox improved matters too.
My feeling is that at this scale the difference between mono-crystalline (one big crystal) and poly-crystalline (clumps of crystals) becomes highly significant. Monocrystalline grit is more aggressive and more durable, but traditionally abrasives for creating a very fine polish (chromium oxide for example) are poly-crystalline. That would certainly fit with everyone noting how fast the DMT D8EE is.
DMT are to the best of my knowledge the only manufacturer to use monocrystalline diamonds - one of the factors behind their strong reputation for fast and durable diamond plates. I can understand that when you have a world beating technology it would seem totally counter intuitive to not use it, but perhaps on this particular product they would have got a finer finish by using polycrystalline diamonds instead?
If you expect it to replace an 8,000 or 10,000 waterstone you will be disappointed, more like a 4000, BUT that is still finer than any other diamond plate on the market and if you are doing less demanding work than paring endgrain eucalyptus, probably sharp enough.
Based on a completely unscientific 'try it and see', I have just honed a chisel with the the 3 micron DMT which produced an acceptably sharp edge with visible scratches, and then used it to pare endgrain Eucalyptus without any trouble.
I then re-honed the same chisel on 5 micron 3M lapping film to produce a polished finish and repeated the exercise, again a success BUT with the chisel honed to a polish using (numerically coarser) 3M lapping film it required noticeably less effort to push it through the timber and felt much more controllable.
Just for completeness I compared the edge from the diamond stone with and without stropping and found that a light stropping with chromox improved matters too.
My feeling is that at this scale the difference between mono-crystalline (one big crystal) and poly-crystalline (clumps of crystals) becomes highly significant. Monocrystalline grit is more aggressive and more durable, but traditionally abrasives for creating a very fine polish (chromium oxide for example) are poly-crystalline. That would certainly fit with everyone noting how fast the DMT D8EE is.
DMT are to the best of my knowledge the only manufacturer to use monocrystalline diamonds - one of the factors behind their strong reputation for fast and durable diamond plates. I can understand that when you have a world beating technology it would seem totally counter intuitive to not use it, but perhaps on this particular product they would have got a finer finish by using polycrystalline diamonds instead?
If you expect it to replace an 8,000 or 10,000 waterstone you will be disappointed, more like a 4000, BUT that is still finer than any other diamond plate on the market and if you are doing less demanding work than paring endgrain eucalyptus, probably sharp enough.
David C
In Memorium
Thanks Matthew,
Just curious,
David
Just curious,
David
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