Thread: DMT

Hello Guys

JUst a quick question, what is a DMT hone? I hear a lot about these hones when talking about bevel setting. Just curious what are the advantages of them compared to say a chosera 1K stone? Are they cheaper or something?

Thanks.

Here's their homepage; Knife Sharpening Products | DMT® - Diamond Machining Technology
They make diamond hones, they stay flat, eats hard steel for breakfast and the 325 is good for flattening your other hones.
As to sharpening razors, not many use diamond hones.
They can be used for setting a bevel tho.

The main competitor is the Atoma.

The course DMT is arguably the fastest and easiest way to flatten and refresh the surface of water stones that must be done when they are new and frequently after use. They can also be useful for restoration work such as chip removal by honing down the edge until the chip is gone. Normal honing for setting and maintaining an edge is usually done on a progression of manmade or natural stones such as Norton 1K and 4/8 K etc. Dull undamaged edges may need only a 4/8 combo stone and stropping to get a shave ready edge. Edges in good condition can also be refreshed on pasted strops, without honing, when daily stropping on unpasted strops starts losing effectiveness.

My DMTs were originally acquired for sharpening stainless steel knives. I do not use them on razors, only to flatten stones or sharpen knives.

HTH

Diamonds are unforgiving. They eat steel fast. Every pass on the stone is an opportunity to do damage. But when you want to sharpen a dull knife, chisel, hatchet, etc.; diamonds will get the job started quickly.

+1 to what everybody else has said ...... I have the DMT 8" in 120, 325, 600, 1200, and what they call 8000. I used to use the 1200 for setting bevels but went to the Chosera 1K and glad of it. I will use the 600 for chip removal once in a great while but that is about it. The XX eats any waterstone for breakfast but it leaves significant scratches. I stick with the 325 for lapping more often than not.

If I'm lapping a synthetic for the first time I may start with the XX to get the heavy work done. Once flat go to the 325 to clean up the mess the XX leaves. So IME get a D8C 325 for lapping and a Chosera 1k for setting bevels. AFAIC the DMTs are too much of a good thing when it comes to honing razors. YMMV.

DMT 1200 for bevels for me. They cut fast and no lapping or soaking. I love mine and stopped using my Norton 1k. A little water and a drop of dish soap. Nice and easy. To each his own. Last blade I honed I used the 1200 dmt then straight to 3 micron al/ox film, then 1 micron film then crox on linen hanger. Perfect. HHT 4-5 and a great shave.

When I did bevels on my DMT 1200 I noticed that I had to spend a bit more time on the next higher grit than I would if I had used a water stone to set the bevel (My favorite is Chosera (the best feel) I also have Shapton GS and its also very good) in the first place. I know that no two people hone or get their results the exact same way. The water stones cut about as fast but seem to product smoother results that seem to be less taxing for the next step in progression. So, lately I've put the DMT back into my knife sharpening kit and keep it over there. Before I used the 1,000 water stones I actually had no complaints with the DMT. But, since I have been able to compare they just seem to produce slightly better results for me.

Edit; I really don't mind the maintenance of lapping my stones. It doesn't take that long really.

As you have said theres a few ways of doing things. I recently started using lapping film. From 1200 dmt to 3 micron film to 1 micron film and 15 laps pasted crox hanger. I find the edges better and faster than using nortons and a naniwa 12k. When I first tried it I felt as if the jump from 1200 to 3 micron was too much as it is equivalent to 8k. Anyway I tried it and am very happy with the results. After bevel set 60 laps on 3 micron on granite and 50 laps on 1 micron with a piece of wet copy paper underneath. Super smooth yet incredibly sharp.