Sharpening (again)
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Tagged: DMT Sharpening diamond
- This topic has 12 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by Ed.
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23 July 2014 at 9:32 am #59676
I’ve been wondering about what to do with sharpening for some time now. I realise this is not the first time someone asks about this here, but searching through the forum I couldn’t find anything that answers my question.
Up until I joined Woodworkingmasterclasses I always wanted a Tormek, and even though I might get one some day, I’ve decided to go for diamond stones first. At the moment I only own a smaller diamond stone, but now I’m building a workshop for the first time, and I need something more permanent.
Here in Norway I haven’t found eze lap stones, but there’s a dealer that sells DMT. They have Diasharp 6″, Duosharp 8″ and Duosharp plus 8″. The diasharp has continous surface, the Duosharp has interupted surface (with holes) and the plus modell has 6″ interupted surface and 2″ continous. The Duosharp models has two sides. So that’s what I have to choose from.
The setup Paul uses seems to be very good for most tasks, and I’m tempted to replicate that. The diasharp stones would be the ones closest to this. There only one thing that makes me uncertain about this. Gluing the stones to a base plate must make it hard to sharpen some tools like a drawknife and maybe even a regular knife. Any thoughts on this?23 July 2014 at 9:54 am #59677I glued my plates down using a clear silicone sealer, so if I need to remove them I simply pull them out and peel the glue off. It doesn’t leave any marks and if you’re careful you can put the plates back down on the same glue when you’re done (it doesn’t hold the plates, but it acts as a non-slip cushion).
The key is to cut a recess in your backing board so even if the glue and the plate are separated the plate will still be held in place by the step in the board.
Oh, and the continuous plates are well worth the money. When I was on Paul’s foundation course I seem to remember him advising against using plates with an interrupted surface.
23 July 2014 at 1:18 pm #59688Thanks for your advise Dave. I think I’ll try to get hold of 8″ stones with continous sharpening surface. Seems like a good idea to unmount the stones when needed. If I mount the short side close to the edge of the board, sharpening knives probably could be done from that side.
I use the eze lap stones (you can get them from fine-tools.com) and I didn’t see any reason to glue them. I have a backing board with recesses made for a tight fit and the stones stay in place without any glue.
I can also take them out easily with a scredriver if needed.24 July 2014 at 8:28 am #59712Thanks for the adress. I’ll check it out. 🙂
Like the idea of making a very tight recess to hold them in place.18 August 2014 at 6:47 pm #61421I bought the DMT continuous plates, 3″ x 10″ if I recall correctly. I used a piece of pine for the base and cut my recesses 3/16″ deep. This holds the stones tight, without the need for glue. Pop them out when you want. Go to Paul’s blog and search for sharpening plate holder. He gave dimensions and instructions 1-1/2 years ago.
Plus one vote for DMT Duosharp stones 3×10″, they’re extremely good. I have a whole line up to 8000 grits, plus a smaller 2×8″ EZE-Lap 150/250, since DMT doesn’t have this grit.
I was using DMT products before, mostly for sharpening all my knifes and fishing hooks, was extremely pleased by durability and portability. Also, price-wise they’re couple of bucks cheaper than EZE-Lap.
Both companies produce nice products, so this is mostly a personal preference.
4 October 2014 at 9:50 am #118876After 6 weeks og waiting, my Diasharp stones arrived. Really pleased with them! One thing suppriesed me though: they are amazingly heavy. I think they are thicker than Eze lap. But I’m not planning to carry them much around, so I should be allright 🙂
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.4 October 2014 at 4:24 pm #118886I use some silicone shelf paper to keep my eze-lap stones from sliding. Seems to do the trick on the plywood surface of the table I’m using.
28 October 2014 at 2:32 am #120227I hope the DMT plates worked out for you. In case you’re still working on a solution to holding the plates in a wood holder, may I suggest rare earth magnets with the countersunk screw hole. The DMT plates are steel and only about 2 pounds.
Recess the plate rectangles in the board like Paul does, and then take a 3/4 forstner and bore out 1/8″ deep to set the magnet in. Screw it in with a brass screw, and your plates will not move unless you move them. 9 pounds of holding force. Good grip but you can still remove the plates to clean them (they get pretty soaked with water) and to put on the corner of the bench of some other edge for tricky sharpening tasks.
28 October 2014 at 8:05 am #120231I just cut 1/8th deep recess’s into a pine board and just use friction to hold my diamond plates in place, they are quite a tight fit. If you drill a hole in the centre of the recess through the back of the board you can push your plates out and swap them around should you need access to the long edge of your centre plate/plates.
28 October 2014 at 6:48 pm #120274I like the idea with the magnet @delong1974 !
Glued it with silicone, but if I have to remove them in a while I will surely use your method next time! Thanks for the tip 🙂The diasharp are good- I use the extra coarse 220 grit to supplement the 3 standard EZ lap stones that Paul suggests. It is excellent for grinding and shaping although typical sharpening just needs the standard 3 EZ laps.
I tacked two battens (paint mixing sticks) onto a piece of ply, spaced equal to the length of the stones. A ply cut-off is screwed to the bottom to grab with the vise.
I often want to sharpen off the edge of the stone, e.g., when flattening the back of an iron, and having them between battens means I can move any stone I want to the edge of the holder and can rotate it to use both edges. I would never want to glue down the stones for the way I use them because I would not be able to push the stones to the edge.
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