Do diamond grit sharpening stones wear out?

[Geoff_S]

That’s it, do they?

 

[thetyreman]

not if you look after them, don't try and sharpen hardened stainless steel on them for example, steels above a certain hardness will ruin them, I've had mine almost 2 years and they are still going strong.

 

[Glynne]

It depends very much on the quality of the stone and what you sharpen.
I have had some of the cheaper Trend ones and the grit size effectively reduces as you sharpen so as you can still use them but they will give a less aggressive cut.
I would have thought that they will last a long time with carbon steel but with A2 steel (I have LN chisels and Veritas planes) then the life expectancy will reduce.
I did post (many years ago) asking to what you could use a worn out diamond plate and didn't get too many useful suggestions.

 

[Peter Sefton]

The sales guy told me they wear in, I think he meant wear out or that's my experience. I did notice DMT changed the wording on their website at some point last year.

Cheers Peter

 

[ColeyS1]

I've just bought a dmt 8000 grit stone and it's savage compared to my 10+ year old 1200grit dmt !!! Dmt said it will take time to break in the 8000grit so I'm gonna lose the 1200 in a drawer until the fine one starts being having . At the moment I've got scratches on the back of chisels I haven't seen since the coarse side India oilstone days.
The thing I find slightly frustrating is I wanted a fine 8000 grit stone. At the moment it's behaving like a 600 grit (not exaggerating) which makes me wonder why dmt can't to a better job of breaking them in.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[tony_s]

Eventually, yes, I believe they will . Tho' having said that I'm still using a couple of DMT's (a red and a blue) on a near daily basis for about 20 years or more. They certainly don't perform like they did when they were five years old.
I've cleaned them only once in all the time I've had them, that was about two years ago and I very often use them dry, with no lubricant at all; so no special maintenence or anything

 

[Sheffield Tony]

The sales guy told me they wear in

:lol: :lol: =D> Nice try.

 

[Rorschach]

I think the problem with new stones is that the abrasive is stacked up a bit on the surface so for a little while it is very aggressive, I have always found though that it soon levels off and then they behave more like the stated grit and seem to last a very long time.

 

[bugbear]

That’s it, do they?

It's difficult to wear away the diamonds.

But.

If you apply excess pressure, you can strip diamonds off the plate, quite quickly.

BugBear

 

[Dokkodo]

Ive also been meaning to ask a similar question, in the last couple of years I have had two axminster rider double sided stones, 400 and 1000 grit, and both have started to show bald patches after 6 months medium duty use. Is it the quality of the stones or my technique thats doing this, or both? Only ever used on planes, chisels, spokeshaves etc, maybe the occassional axe or drawknife. Id like to invest in some DMT stones but cant yet justify the extra expense...

 

[Peter Sefton]

Eventually, yes, I believe they will . Tho' having said that I'm still using a couple of DMT's (a red and a blue) on a near daily basis for about 20 years or more. They certainly don't perform like they did when they were five years old.
I've cleaned them only once in all the time I've had them, that was about two years ago and I very often use them dry, with no lubricant at all; so no special maintenence or anything

I have a red mesh DMT Whetstone which has been very good and around 15 years old but my newer more expensive DMT Dia-Sharp has worn after not much work. We used to sell them but I stopped after my own disappointed me.

Cheers Peter

 

[adrspach]

Yes they do especially if you use them with increased pressure with hardened steel or even worse for flattening oilstones.

 

[Jacob]

Oil stones last for life.

 

[bugbear]

Oil stones last for life.

Although they do wear hollow with time.

BugBear

 

[thetyreman]

Oil stones last for life.

Although they do wear hollow with time.

BugBear

which is why diamond stones have largely replaced them

 

[Geordie Joe]

I found this interesting

Stumpy Nubbs
WATCH THIS before you buy diamond stones for tool/knife sharpening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBND6emsSE4

 

[MarkDennehy]

Oil stones last for life.

Although they do wear hollow with time.
BugBear

Can they be fixed?

 

[bugbear]

Oil stones last for life.

Although they do wear hollow with time.
BugBear

Can they be fixed?

There are rumours...

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Although they do wear hollow with time.
BugBear

Can they be fixed?

There are rumours...

BugBear

[/quote][/quote]
I see I'm am being stalked again. I'll just have to keep my back to the wall!

 

[ED65]

That’s it, do they?

Of course they wear out. What doesn't? The question is really, how slowly do they wear? And whether this is good enough for you.

IME they can last just fine. I've abused the cr*p outta my oldest ones and they're still going strong, gotta be going on ten years now.

Ive also been meaning to ask a similar question, in the last couple of years I have had two axminster rider double sided stones, 400 and 1000 grit, and both have started to show bald patches after 6 months medium duty use. Is it the quality of the stones or my technique thats doing this, or both? Only ever used on planes, chisels, spokeshaves etc, maybe the occassional axe or drawknife. Id like to invest in some DMT stones but cant yet justify the extra expense...

That's very fast wear, even in a professional setting that would be considered excessively fast.

It could just be a weakness in the stones themselves, or you may bear down too hard without realising it.

I suspect even if you don't bear down hard normally during honing that the axe and drawknives might be responsible for more that their fair share of the damage. With a tool of much inherent weight or where you can bear down on it with two handles it may be worth altering your honing style from back-and-forth to side-to-side.