12" x 2.5" Diamond plate or 8" x 3".

[Iceni]

I'm looking at diamond plates.

Currently my plates are lacking, I've been using the plastic backed ones, then I moved up to the block type that seemed initially better. However all of these cheap plates have arrived at the same conclusion.

After using them they warp. Not just by becoming concave lenghtways, but also by becoming convex widthways.

It has not been a problem with the home cut hones they can have more pressure applied to them and that sorts out some of the issue, but in the long run I fear they will turn all of my synthetic hones slightly convex after some time.

I'm in the UK and that means the prices are all skewed. A cheap DTM in the USA is not a cheap DTM in the UK. They rock out at very close to a 1:1 conversion rate. Making them cost double what you guys pay.

So I have looked into some solutions and would like some feedback based on my usage.


My main usage is for synthetic lapping, and for finishing home cut hones. The home cut ones can be very hard (arkie hard).

With that in mine I think I should get a 400 grit stone. I can work lower grits with wet and dry (80-1200), and Drywall sanding mesh (120).

So the ones I have picked.

Eze-Lap 2-1/2" x 11-3/8" Medium Grit Diamond Bench Stone (400) (Ref: 91M) £58 = $96



Eze-Lap 3" x 8" x 1/4" Medium Grit Diamond Bench Stone (400) (Ref: 81M) £50 = $83



Eze-Lap 2-1/2" x 11-3/8" x 3/8" Medium Grit Diamond Bench Stone (400) (Ref: 121M) £65 = $108



Eze-Lap 3" x 8" Double-sided Diamond Stone Super Fine Grit (1200) / Medium Grit (400) (Ref: DD8SF/M) £72 = $120



DMT D8C £60 = $100


Has anyone used one of the Ezelaps for a direct comparison to the DMT?

[bill3152]

I would stick to the wet/dry. I was given 2 arkies from a neighbor. I will NOT destroy my plates with them. I have atomas and dmts. If I do lap them(havent decided) Im going to have at it with 60 grit to flatten and w/d up to 1k or so. I cant see a diamond plate holding up to hours worth of lapping like you will have there. JMHO.

[Iceni]

Wet and dry is all good when I can get a flat workspace. Trouble is when I hone I do it in front of the PC. And my PC desk has lost some of the Lacquer top. Meaning it swells in spots. It's fine to use stones on it, but it's not a good surface to lap on. I'm wanting something I can use without needing to go off downstairs and use the kitchen worktop, Or into the shed to get the steel table out. I'm thinking about winter here and the fact in winter I'll only be in the shed to cut the rock. I have another set of plans to modify my saw so it's going to cut cleaner and further reduce my lap out times.

I was hoping the longer stone would mean I can just sit at my desk with a bottle of water and some towels and finish the stones. I'm not going to buy it blind tho unless I can return it.

[Bram]

Trouble is when I hone I do it in front of the PC. And my PC desk has lost some of the Lacquer top. Meaning it swells in spots.

Repaired some razors on that desk now have you? (that's the reason my PC desk has holes in it)

do the cheap ones stay flat when you only use them on synthetic hones? if so, get one dedicated to your synthetics and continue distroying other cheap ones on your hone making projects the DMT's or Eze-lap's might stay flat longerbut with stones that hard the grit will become dull and slow I guess

[PHANTZM]

Couldn't you use a marble tile under the lapping medium ? Flatten it once and you're set. You can even have them cut it smaller (Lowe's does 3 cuts for free , but they usually won't charge if you have them do a few more.)

~Gary

[Iceni]

It's not razor repair that's caused the holes. I do a bit of tabletop wargames, and it's the constant abuse of superglue, paint, and tools that has done most of the damage. The desk is still good, It's just where there is a hole or a cut the wood underneath swells.

The cheap ones on the block are good until the water starts to mess with the glue binder, then the glue swells and pushes the corners out. I'll keep all of them for working the raw stone, But I can't finish with them in the long term as I think they will eventually cause me problems. In terms of flatness you can visually see some of them are bent, The better ones look flat but fail on a straight edge. I'd buy more but they have already cost me £30+ for 2 sets of 3 and the block, and I'm not happy with them so I'll not be buying more as a final solution.

I considered a marble tile. And a few lapping blocks for loose carbide. Those items are shed items and I am planning on picking up an engineers flat plate for loose carbide grinding, I'm not sure if that plate will be granite or steel atm, It'll depend on what I can get on Ebay when the time comes to move over, I don't think having to pull out the wet and dry in the bedroom at the PC is the elegant solution my wife would go for tho! Saying that I currently have a pack of 20 400 grit sheets next to me.

I think a plate of some form is the way to go for the bedroom. I'm not going to be using it to flatten the stones from rough, but I want it as a lapping plate that I can pull out without needing anything else. Stick on the hone and then put away as I'm working. More like the pro honers do at the start of every video.

[Proinsias]

I found the price of DMT's over this side of the pond to be a little depressing, I ended up finding a second hand DMT D8C with plenty life left in it. Have you looked at the Atoma's? I've not used them but they seem to be spoken of highly and you can get one delivered to the UK from Tools from Japan for cheaper then the EZE Laps & DMT's you've mentioned above. They also sell replacement diamond sheets, I think I recall someone turning it into a double sided plate by stciking a different grit replacement on the back.

[Iceni]

I heard mixed feeling about the Atoma plates from Niel Miller.

They work fast, But they leave a more visible scratch pattern. There was a thread I was reading that he was professing in that it upset him that the D8C he has leaves his stone looking better for sale than the Atoma 1200. He said the atoma was fast, But the design of it didn't lend itself well to working metal either. And I can imagine at some point I'll be wanting to reshape something with the plate.

I'll have a look at the pricing tho, It might be that they have a lower grit solution that I can work into the rock grinding.

Thanks for the advice!

[eddy79]

I have a d8c. I cut w&d to strips and used on top of the d8c. The grit and a bit of water hold the paper in place pretty well and I didnt destroy my plate with the ark.

[Proinsias]

I've read that too. I aprreciate the versatility of the D8C, beyond lapping and the occasional very sad looking razor it does a lot of work sharpening my knives & tools. For rough lapping of hard stones in the house I've been using a long, slim peice of marble & rolls of aluminium oxide paper.