Ultex Double Sided Diamond Plates on offer at ITS.

[Ed Bray]

Just to let everyone know that the Ultex Double Sided Diamond Plates are on offer at the moment for £19.95 plus VAT at ITS. They are pretty much the same as the Trend ones and for a plate costing £24 are very good value for money.

I just bought another pair of Coarse/Medium (300/600) and Fine/Superfine (1000/1200) but they do others.

Forgot to say, they are 8" x 3"

 

[No skills]

That's interesting, have you (or anyone else) used these for any length of time?

 

[Ed Bray]

Yes, I already have a set of the 300/600 and 1000/1200 and use them all the time (I paid 29.99 plus vat for each of them), I bought them about 12 months or so ago and use them at least once a week. I use them with a Veritas Type II roller honing jig with both the straight roller (chisels) and the cambered roller (plane irons). I typically use the 300 grade for flattening my 16000 ceramic Shapton stone, the 600 for grind, and the 1000 and 1200 for honing and preparing for the Shapton to polish.

 

[No skills]

Thanks Ed, good to know they are a tougher than the cheapy ones. I need a superfine so I might invest.

Cheers.

 

[Ed Bray]

Thanks Ed, good to know they are a tougher than the cheapy ones. I need a superfine so I might invest.

Cheers.

These plates are not in the same league as the usual cheap diamond plates. These are absolutely identical (apart from the name) to the Trend plates shown 5th down here: https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... Tools.html

 

[JSW]

Might be a glitch in my browser (Firefox) or a mistake on the web site, but all except the medium/fine show 6 additional images, the last one being for a free honing guide?

Many thanks for the heads up, might need to invest in one or more.

 

[Droogs]

Just ordered course/medium and fine/xfine, should get here for Wed. will post picks and quick reveiw then

 

[Ed Bray]

Just ordered course/medium and fine/xfine, should get here for Wed. will post picks and quick reveiw then

They usually deliver next day with DPD and give a 1 hour time slot.

My 2 spare plates arrived 1/2 hour ago, will put them away until the ones I am using wear out.

 

[Droogs]

I asked for Wed as of to adopt a dog tomorrow \/

 

[Ed Bray]

Did you get around to trying them, what do you think?

 

[Droogs]

My new plates arrived on Wednesday and they were put into action on the Thursday. I ordered 1 x Course 300 grit/Medium 600 and 1 x Fine 1000/XFine 1200. I put them to use on the Faithful #80 card scraper I bought from doris the other day. Many thanks to her as it arrived in tip top condition thanks to her packing ability. But being a nice "new" Faithful to sole was the typical smooth as a ploughed field so, I used the plates to tidy it up. Have to say was very impressed with the plates, they have a decent bit of heft to them and once on the little anti slip matt stayed in place through some pretty vigorous fettling. They did the job in about 45 mins (including honing up the blade bevel). Were nice and easy to clean off and I really like the webbing type case that they come in.

So over all well pleased, I now have some decent stones that are nice and true according to my straight edge and I don't need to lay out for any more emery. The size of the plates is a decent 8" x 3" and are just about 1/2" thick. Scraper performed perfectly on some hard maple and some Euro Oak I needed to do and can't fault the result.

So I say - take advantage of the sale and get some while there's 33% off

 

[Adam9453]

Thats good to hear as I've just ordered the same set myself, I was at the european woodworking show and I was disappointed at the so called 'deal' prices on offer. To put it bluntly most of the equivalent diamond stones at the show were around £80 each whereas I've just bought the two stones for the grand total of a shade under £48.00.
If mine are as good as everyone else's appear to be then i've made a hell of a saving. I also ordered they're pairs of quick clamps as they're on buy one pair and get a second pair free making them extremely cheap.
Suffice to say I can't wait until tuesday for it all to arrive

 

[JJ Woodman]

Any update on these stones Adam?

 

[Adam9453]

Any update on these stones Adam?

Sorry they don't arrive until Tuesday so I don't know yet, I'm hoping for good things though

 

[dazzer]

I bought the coarse/medium and fine/extra fine which were delivered today!

After opening them I checked them to see how flat they were even by eye you could see they weren't flat, but also checked them with a straight edge which confirmed they were hollow in the middle.

I phoned ITS who were very helpful and they are collecting the 2 I have and sending me replacements.

Just posted this in case anyone who has bought them and hasn't had chance to check them yet!

Dave

 

[Adam9453]

Thanks Dave I haven't checked mine yet, I'll have a look

 

[Wizard9999]

Mine just arrived. Thanks for posting re hollow, I'll go check them now.

Terry.

 

[shrimp]

Any more reviews on these stones as I'm looking to buy a set.