I’d like to get a recommendation on a good all purpose sharpening stone for scrapers, chisels, and planes. I see there are diamond whetstones, microcrystalline honing stone and diamond bench stones. Would one be better than the other for sharpening these types of tools? Not having to use water or a lubricant would be preferred, but not required.
I look forward to the suggestions.
Shawn
Replies
Are you looking for a specific brand? I'm guessing DMT and EZ lap are the easiest to track down.
I do not have a particular brand preference. The two you mentioned I know are carried by woodcraft.
Diamond stones
If you plan to buy DMT stones get them from their website, I paid upwards fo $40 less on their website than I would have other places.
Yes, they are, but there are much cheaper places to get them than woodworking shops. Knife shops and outdoor shops usually have a lot less markup on them. Check amazon, ebay, etc...
I have my favorites for brands (Atoma, namely, generally not available in the US except for a couple of people importing a few at a time), but in the end, they all work fine as long as they're flat. My only suggestion is to make sure that you get something with a flatness guarantee since you can't really do anything about it if they aren't flat. Er, two suggestions, the second is to make sure you are always sure you're ordering a hone at least 8 inches long (7 1/2 would be OK, I guess). There are a lot of places who show part numbers, and then the pictures don't match up. A 6x2 hone is a whole lot cheaper than 8x3, but there's a good reason for that.
I have used DMTs, a generic called Ultrasharp and Atomas, several of each. I like atomas the best, but they're expensive no matter what. The DMTs are fine, but all of them do wear fairly quickly and they will wear out, regardless of their "lifetime guarantee" (I think a lot of them say that). Of the 5 hones I have, I've completely worn out two in the last 3 years.
By the way, ignore the hype about some stones being monocrystalline vs. poly...whatever, they all wear about the same rate. A DMT stone with their monocrystalline diamonds, but worn out, cuts slower than one of the stones that has fracturing diamonds where they've been allowed to fracture. That is purely my nonscientific experience. I think in the end, they are all similar in durability as long as the plating holding the diamonds doesn't come loose. If it does come loose, they're pretty worthless.
Light touch on any of them is important - they wear out fast if you are hard on them. best to get a $20 kanaban and loose diamond grit for really heavy work (initial flattening of stones or really hard grinding). You can lean on it as hard as you want.
I would recommend opening your possibilities to go outside of diamondstones. I have diamondstones, oilstones, waterstones and sandpaper on glass and have gotten a lot of experience on each. I use DMT. They have four grits, Black, blue, red and green which translate to about 200, 200, 600 and 1200 grit (in sandpaper terms). 1200 is just not fine enough for plane irons and chisels, etc. You need to go to 2000 (in sandpaper terms), which is about 8000 in waterstone terms.
My suggestion is that you use waterstones, a 1000 and an 8000 Norton which can be had as a single two sided stone, for not too much money. That will take care of your HONING needs for plane irons and chisels. It is fast and cheap, and easy, once you get the hang of it. Of course, you do have to keep your waterstones flat. Some people use sandpaper on glass. I did that for a while but it is messy and a pain. So I started using a DMT Black (200 grit) diamondstone for flattening my waterstones. Thhis is fast and easy. i don't let any metal touch that diamondstone - I only use it for flattening waterstones.
I have gone through three black diamondstones in the past six years when using them to GRIND (change bevel angles) chisel and plane blades. NO MORE. Now I use a grinder to put a hollow grind on my chisels and plane blades. I flatten the backs of chisels and plane blades ON SANDPAPER ON GLASS. It is cheap and it works fast. I start with 80 grit or 120 grit for most plane and chisel backs and end up with 600 and then go to my 1000 and 6000 waterstones.
I hope you find this useful. I really have given all of the methods a long hard try. I believe that most of the woodworkers I know have switched to waterstones for doing chisel and plane blades, except for some of the old timers who still use oilstones. I have a beautiful translucent white Norton Hard Arkansas stone and a no name soft Arkansas oilstone. I use them once in a while, just for fun. It works well, but it is not as fast as waterstones, and it is a bit more messy.
Let me know if I can answer any questions for you. I believe my answer is fairly mainstream.
Mel
Diamond Slip Stones
While there are lots of diamond media out there, many of them have little diamond, or diamond that is poorly attached to the substrate. If you want a very long lasting diamond slip stone, look at those available a http://www.alanlacer.com. They are expensive (approx $90) but are a great addition to any shop. If you hollow grind your chisels, turning gouges, etc. you can touch them up for a very long time with these diamond hones. They have rounded edges, so are good for complex shapes also.
Jerry
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