Thread: Atoma 400 vs DMT 325

I have a question for those of you that use the Atoma 400's

I have used and still use a DMT 325 that to call well worn would be a huge understatement as evidenced by the pic





There is one use that is very important to me for professional honing that the DMT handles in stride, that I would like to ask whether the Atoma can do the same.

If you look along the edges of my DMT you can see the evidence of where I have fixed the heels of many razors, the DMT can do that, and has done 100's of heels.
The DMT can also be used for 90° Breadknifing and the fixing of damaged bevels as you bring that 90° down in stages using circles to 60° and 30°

So the question that I am asking: "Is the Atoma a continuous Diamond surface so that it can handle that kind of abuse" ??????


Many thanks for the experienced responses

Short answer, yeah, sort of.
It has a more pronounced pattern on it that will affect how to use for your stated tasks.
That said, I have breadknifed on it, and I have reprofiled heels too.
Circles on a raised razor sounds not ideal for the Atoma imho.
It, to me, seems to be a tad too patterned for that.
On the 1200 however, I would think it would work just fine.

The big advantage of the Atomas are the lack of suction compared to the DMT's.
That and they seem a bit faster too.
The 140 will chew away at most any stone out there, be it JNsts, Suehiros or PHIG's

I've got the dmt 325 and use it for the same things you do.
I also have a 1200 atoma and it feels like to me that you could use this for the same purpose, but it "feels" more coarse than the grit implies due how the grit is distributed in dots.

Honestly, I don't think I'd ever touch an edge to my atoma 1200. Just feels like the discontinuous distribution might promote a little microchipping unless you use very light pressure. That's pure speculation on my end, as I've never sharpened on it, and only use it for lapping. I think though it says something that I would rather start sharpening on a dmt 325 than a 1200 atoma.

My .02 says stick with the dmt for your need and save the money over the atoma.

To kind of answer the last post, I have used the Atoma 1200 to set bevels on every razor I've honed for the past must be going on 4-5 years now. And I don't hold back on the pressure with some of them. So I think they are OK for that purpose if you wanted to.

As far as the Atoma 400 goes, mine doesn't get a lot of use to be frank. Lapping other stones, and sometimes fixing geometry/grind issues is about it, and those don't come up for me that often. I will say that of those times I have used it for that kind of thing it does fine. But I've never used a DMT so I cannot provide a comparison. I think Birnando is your man when it comes to informed opinion on this one so far.

James.

I made the call !

All I have is the 1200 and all I've used it for is lapping. I don't know if it is so good because it is not worn or if that is just the nature of the beast, but it outdoes my well worn DMT 325 and my GDLP in terms of speed for lapping water stones by far.

I was thinking of getting the 400 for preliminary lapping to have the 1200 do the finish lapping. A knowledgeable Atoma owner told me that if he had it to do over again he would get the 600 rather than the 400. That is all I know.

Anything the DMT can do, the Atoma can do 10X better 😝. Cut better, more consistent, won't stick to a stone if you use it to lap and lasts longer. They cost twice as much for a reason. I've had my 400 for a couple of years and have worked dozens of Gold Dollars,(they need lots of work) and laughs them off.

Use it daily to bevel set and/or lap. By far, the most used "stone" in my arsenal.

Glen, all I can say is that the Atoma can do everything what you asked, but I am not sure how much you would like to work with it. It has a patterned surface, so when you breadknife or reprofile a heel, you feel a bit like you would hone on a file. The bigger pressure you use, and the smaller the contact surface is, the more pronounced it is. If you raise the spine not much, than only the sound is a bit different, but when grinding small bits on a heel, than the file feeling kicks in, even more so if you use heavy pressure.

If you use a Shapton DGLP for lapping, than IMO the Atoma isn't worth the extra money. The Atoma is much better in lapping, but I wouldn't say it is better for honing too. It works well, works fast, and wears much slower than a DMT, but I am not sure you would get used to the honing feel on it after hundreds of razors on the DMT.

I am happy with mine, because I don't hone that much, so I lap and grind with the same stone. And for lapping, the Atoma is hands down much better, so I got used to the different honing feel of the Atoma, so I don't have to buy two coarse diamond hones

I have and use dmts for lapping, blade correction and prebevels. If the atoma "lasts" much longer than a dmt wouldn't that be a nightmare to break in then if you needed to use it on a razor occasionally?

Originally Posted by bill3152

I have and use dmts for lapping, blade correction and prebevels. If the atoma "lasts" much longer than a dmt wouldn't that be a nightmare to break in then if you needed to use it on a razor occasionally?

Au contraire.

All my DMT's needed a good break-in when I bought them
My Atoma's, much less so.

Not that any of them where all that hard to get to a good and usable state, a screwdriver drawn over it a few times was all that was needed for my DMT's.