EZE-LAP sharpening stones worn out after flattening a couple of plane irons
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Just wondering where you ended up with this Martin?
I have two double sided 200mmx75mm plates; 250/600 and 400/1200.
I have had pretty much the same experience as you, they worked ok for a bit but quickly became fairly ineffective. I started with flattening my plane iron also.
I took them into the place I bought them from and they suggested cleaning with methylated spirits and a scotch bright scouring pad. That made zero difference and I’ve also tried cleaning them pretty much every way I could find suggested online, they feel very smooth and really don’t seem to do anything except maybe some very slow polishing.
As a comparison, I’ve got some 400, 600 and 1000 grit wet and dry that I use on glass and I can get a decent edge very quickly whereas I really can’t do anything much on the diamond stones.
I’m basically at the point where I’ve given up on them, it’s pretty disappointing to have spent quite a lot of money on what I thought was one of the best options out there and they’re now useless and I’ve wasted hours and hours thinking I’ve done something wrong.I have a small Trend diamond that I use for honing router bits. That came with a pencil eraser to use to clean the plate. Seems to work very well. That may be worth a try.
For my day to day plane and chisel sharpening / flattening, I have a system that uses the diamond plates from one of those cheap and cheerful four sided plastic box systems. I have used this for many years with no issues, and if I need to replace any of the plates, the cost would be relatively low.
I disassembled the plates from their box (relatively easy to do, just be careful when you bend the tabs, so that you don’t deform the plate at either end), and have them held to a flat surface (rear shoe of a DW power plane that just happens to be the right size) using strong magnets. Means that I can use all four grits on the same flat plate.
I am able to get flat backs on chisels and plane irons, as well as chisels I can shave with and plane irons that give shavings I can read through (which is sharp enough for the work I do). I have used both the eclipse type honing guide and freehand methods.
(I also have some very fine wet and dry that I use for polishing.)Sandpaper and a flat surface is pretty good. I bought a coarse diamond stone to get a shape quickly. I found that 60 grit paper works better and has the added benefit that you can get a longer stroke than a 8″ stone. Big difference. I think buying belt sander refills might work even better because of the long stroke. I just use a formica countertop, which is pretty flat.
The key is to get back to using the tool quickly. After all the project is the whole point not hours at the stone.
Hi Justin, I ended up with worn out stones, local dealer refused to do anything about that (quite common in our country). EZE-LAP is probably not what it used to be (assuming it was once according to what Paul says) and not worth the money. Cleaning the stones with alcohol or whatever might slightly help if the stones are very clogged but the difference is negligible.
I’ll revive this old thread to report that my own Eze-lap coarse diamond plate, which I bought a few years ago, wore out almost immediately and is now useless. It’s definitely not coarse anymore. I can get a mirror-bright polish from portions of it! Unfortunately, a non-uniform plate that produces ultra-fine scratches some of the time and giant scratches 2% of the time is the worst of all worlds, so I guess the plate is destined for the trash.
On the other hand, my medium and fine Eze-lap plates seem to be working fine and I’m using them routinely.
Back when I bought these plates, I couldn’t find a dealer other than The Usual Online Retailer, so I used them. The medium and fine plates came in one package, and the coarse plate was a separate order. So, in addition to questions about Eze-lap’s own quality control, I have to wonder if my coarse plate actually shipped out of Eze-lap’s front door, or if — for example — some enterprising people rescued a rejected plate from a skip and repackaged it as new.
Anyway, I now have a used bench grinder equipped with a Norton 60-grit 3x wheel to touch up damaged edges, and I have 80-grit sandpaper belts on a big marble tile to flatten things with, so I’m not bothering to replace my coarse diamond plate at the moment. If I decide I do want such a plate again, I’ll try DMT, which I can buy from a reputable dealer.
As far as course stones go I have given up. I also use a coarse belt sander belt cut open and taped to a flat surface. Just like all woodworking a long stroke takes off more material and the belt allows you to take almost a 3x long stroke than a stone. The point is to get that edge back to work, so getting the primary bevel asap is good. The other stones work fine.
I had the same issue with diamond stones, went through a few and became continually frustrated standing there for what seemed like an age to get any results, getting continually worse very quickly – tedious af…..
I switched to shaptons: considerably better.
I know Paul gets good results with diamond stones on his 01 steel but A2 and pmv-11 just hands the diamonds their ass on a platter….. I lap the shaptons in seconds and its just like the first time I used them.
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