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

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?

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.

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iceni

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.

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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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Try some dry wall mesh Proinsias.

Toolstation > Painting & Decorating > Sanding Paper > Sanding Mesh

It's silicone carbide on a really hard wearing webbing. It takes an absolute pounding before it fails. And doesn't clog.

Thanks, will give it a shot.

Yup, they work, used them for years.

There is a guy on EBay selling thin 1k plates 8X3 for under 20 bucks ( about $17, last time I purchased they were 12, when I first bought). I use them as is, but you can glue them to a tile.

And CKTG has a great, thick 30 dollar 140 grit plate for lapping stones.

For slurry the credit card plates work well.

Some of these may not be dead flat, but they are not potato chip ether, really it does not matter unless you hone the blade on the exact same spots each lap, impossible.

Loose silicon carbide on a cookie sheet on a marble tile or cement floor works great for flatting a stone, and quickly. The cookie sheet contains the mess. Gotgrit.com for loose grit.

Here is the link for 3 grits diamond plates, he also sells them individually and other sizes.


EBay diamond plates

For doing Ark type hardness stones, you need much more that 400 grit, I start at 60 grit loose Silicon Carbide to get to flat, a teaspoon is all you need add as it wears out. A little goes a long way, go up to 120 grit with loose then drywall screen and then Wet and Dry. With the cookie sheet on the floor you can use your weight on the stone.

The EBay diamond plate guy sells 12X12 plates also, but Ark hardness will ruin any diamond plate.

For lapping, pick up a plastic tray, the kind use in fast food restaurants. I get them at thrift stores for a buck.

Right been into town today, and I found a granite worktop saver in one of the supermarkets. After following some of the advice given.

It's 400mm (15 - 3/4) x 300mm (12) x 15mm (5/8). Looks to be made very flat. My 24" steel ruler is only showing very minor light leak on the 400 length, and almost no light leak on the 300mm length. I think this was a good buy for £10 (wilko).

Wilko Granite Work Top Saver at wilko.com

I'll continue to look into diamond plates as well as I get to grips with my new surface.

Have you tried your local kitchen worktop company? Often they have offcuts in their skip which they are willing to give you for free.
I will have to go soon too again as I managed to break my 40x10" plate into three pieces. Then you can just either use loose grit or stick on it belt or paper. If you look against light they will show if they are warped.

If I want a bigger section for a table in the garden I may well just go and do that :D

This little one I picked up has so far been really good. It's small enough to sit on my knee in the computer chair.

I started with some 400 grit wet and dry and went to work on a failed home made hone (big inclusion streak). The face was coming off very clean and level you could see where the stone wasn't flat at the edges. The wet and dry then dissolved as it does. So I thought bugger it. Got out the Naniwa stones 5K, 8K 12K. And on the now loose grit I started on them. Instantly flatter, but the finish was rougher. So I then cleaned up and worked the stones just on water on the plate. Within about 30 mins all 3 stones were polished, smooth, and very flat.

I then did the King 1/6, Slate/silkstone, and my thuri.

All of my stones that should have been flat before were really shown to be out by a considerable margin.


I think I still need a diamond plate, But I don't think I need a 12" one. An 8" will be fine. And I can get some loose grits for this plate (which is also now acting as a footplate under my PC).

I'm going to hone a razor up at the weekend on the new flatter stones and see if my edged improve any! I still have to glass block burnish the 8K and 12K to get them to the finish I desire so I don't have time to test them now.

Iceni,

I bought all my DMT continuous plates from the USA.

Even with the rip-off handling charges, duty etc. that the Customs and carriers impose, they still worked out a lot less mony than buying them here in the UK.

Have fun :)

Best regards

Russ

The dmt 325 is worth every penny. I wish I would have bought 3