Diamond Waterstone

I was over at the DMT factory a couple of weeks ago and they showed me their brand new "Diamond Waterstone". It's an 8000 grit diamond hone. They've not been announced yet and I haven't seen them on their website but I ordered a case of them and got them last week. I and a couple of other honemeisters are now working with them. If anyone wants to play with one, let me know via hschechter@theperfectedge.com, they're $85 plus $8 shipping. I'd be very interested in hearing other folks experience with them. I work with new stones for about a month before I come to any conclusions about them. My first impression though is that they cut quickly! Like all diamond stones they have a "breaking in" period after which the stones true potential comes out. The demo I saw at DMT wowed me!

My concern would be that an 8k diamond hone may be in an awkward valley where it's too coarse for finishing work on a razor but too fine for rough work. Shapton makes a set of diamond hones (their glassstone series) that go to 0.5 micron. Joe Lerch tried the Shapton 0.92 micron hone and seemed pleased with it.

I really have not had much success with diamond hones. I have found them to be to harsh on a razors edge. Both the 400 and the 1200 are now relegated to the duty of lapping other hones.


Just my two cents,

I have a DMT fine diamond hone - its slightly coarser than 1000 (I think).

It cuts very quickly and I only use this hone on razors that need a fair bit of metal removed very quickly - the primary use is kitchen knives and lapping barber's hones.

I'd be interested to hear about the 8k hone - especially as compared to the 8k Norton, Thuringen, Escher or Coticule.

FWIW, I agree with Randy that it might put a harsher edge on the blade than the other stones I mentioned.