Reply To: Poor Man's Diamond Plates
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After reading the first posts of this topic I have ordered some of these plates from e-Bay. The cost was about £2.25 (if I remember well) with free shipping.
I have ordered 80, 120, 250, 600, 1200 and 2500 grit. The plates arrived after about 20 days from China. They were mostly flat and, apart of one that has some slight rust marks on the back, in good condition. The edges were a bit rough, but this is not an issue for me.
For the plate holder I had a different approach. Since I already had a Veritas glass plate in hand I used some double sided tape and fixed them on the glass plate. On one side I have put the 120, 250, 600 and 1200 grit plates, since they were these that would be used most, and on the other side the 80 and 2500 grit plates. I use a piece of anti slip mat to keep the glass stable on the bench top and to compensate for the unevenness of the side that has only two diamond plates on.
So after five months of use and abuse (I tend to push hard on the plates when I sharpen) I would like to share my observations:
a) The plates are very sharp when new and the best way to settle them evenly is to flatten an old plane iron using the whole width and length of the plate.
b) When the plates settled I had no issues with uneven diamond particles and I can get razor sharp edges on my tools.
c) They don’t last forever. Mine are showing some signs of wear (after restoring many plane irons and chisels, plus regular sharpening of tools) I expect them to last a year at it’s best, but given the price they are excellent value for money and way cheaper than sandpaper.
d) In terms of use, compared to sandpaper this is a hassle free process and compared to the double sided diamond plate I was using before I like more the continuous surface instead of the diamond pattern, especially for small tools, and the ability to use more than two grits.
e) The most useful grits, for me are 80 (for restoration of badly abused, pitted etc tools) and 250, 600, 1200 (for regular sharpening) so probably I will put all four of them on the same side of the glass and leave the other side clear.
In conclusion, I will back the previous recomendations of these plates since they are easy to use, work well and they have great value for money.