Thread: Cheap diamond hone/turbo

Just wondering here, I've got a cheap/generic perforated(or interrupted? Whatever it's called) diamond hone, like the ones on eBay, that I use for lapping and flattening hones. It is perfectly flat and the grids range from 200-1200(has 4 sides). Do you guys think this would be okay to use for heavy nick and chip removal, mainly on the 900 or 1200 sides, or should I stay away from it and purchase a higher end one for razor work(when needed). I know some of you will say not to use diamond hones on razors at all, but that's not really what I'm asking here. I generally stick to the 1k shapton or norton I have but sometimes more is needed. Thanks.

I don't know why it says turbo in the thread title, it was supposed to say "hone/plate" but I think spellcheck changed it. I hate that feature.

I know in the past I've read threads asking that about the DMT interrupted plate and members who've got them have said that they've used them for honing with no problems. I can't speak from experience with anything but the continuous plate but I would say give it a try. Just keep checking with magnification as you go on your first one to monitor the progress in case it isn't working out.

I use the DMT interrupted plates for what you're talking about, the worst I've had happen is some microchipping on the edge, but I've only seen that a couple times. A long as you keep an eye out for it and clean up the edge with a good bevel setter (like your shapton) before progression you should be fine. I'd be very wary of a 200 grit interrupted plate, though.

I was using the interrupted version of the dmt 1200 for bevels last year and I hated the edge it gave. It would set the bevel nice and proper but there would be big big scratch patterns in the bevel and sometimes it would chip the edge on one of those circles on the plate. I would use a continuous over the interrupted now, I since I used Naniwas at the 1K level and I like it a lot better than any DMT.

Burns

I bought one like you discribe from Harbor Freight for around ten - twelve bucks to try on lapping stones.

They do cut well but the grit is inconsistant. I took mine and sharpened an ax that seemed to knock off most of the bigger chunks. Look at the stria untill you get an even pattern, then put it to the stone.

I believe these plates are too agressive and inconsistent for a razors unless you are bread knifeing. Even then I use a high grit DMT diamond plate and only remove as little material as needed.

I think the one I have the coarse plate is rated around 220 and will hog off material on a warped stone in a short time, or I should say shorter time. Some of those old stones are just HARD.

Many hard stones old Arks and other naturals will trash a diamond plate in short order. So a ten dollar investment is a small price to play to restore a flea market jewel.

After lapping any stone I sharpen some kitchen knives on them and look at the bevel for constistant stria pattern before putting a razor on them.

Bottom line these cheap diamond plates do have a good use for our purposes.

Marty