Thread: Killed my DMT 220 on bevel setters

So I was working out a ding in another homemade near-wedge in O1 from my first try (4th of 4) and trying out some new hones... a Hideriyama suita, a Henckels 3/8 that was given to me by a friend, and my King 1200. I had a bear of a time lapping all these stones, and when I was done, my DMT 220 was almost bare of diamonds!

I'm not sure which stone was to blame... I think it was the King, but the suita stuck to the DMT pretty dramatically as well.

BTW, is the two-sided diamond hone with coloured sides (Dia-Sharp/Duo-Sharp) flat enough to use as a lapping stone? My local shops don't carry the DMT 325, which I should have purchased in the first place.

Lee Valley has DMT plates. Water is the key when lapping, and lots of it. I often lap under water. Sometimes they just look dead, a good scrub with a nail brush and soft srub or vim cream and you should be good to go.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Lee Valley has DMT plates. Water is the key when lapping, and lots of it. I often lap under water. Sometimes they just look dead, a good scrub with a nail brush and soft srub or vim cream and you should be good to go.

+1. Water to carry away the swarf is essential AFAIC. Unless you did the lapping dry I'd be surprised if a 220 was shot. Like Shaun said, clean the plate up and see if it won't still cut. Take an old smooth bottle and rub it. Give you justification to have a beer .........

Only the diamond lapping plates are guaranteed to be flat not the hones. I have had a couple that were far enough out of flat to click on a table when trying to hone. I find I've gone back to wet dry paper on a marble slab for final lapping. The hones were and are designed to be knife hones and not lapping plates. They will often give you grief!
I tried to get a refund from the company and the emails were ignored.
YMMV as with any thing that pertains to shaving.
~Richard

Do not do alot of hones anymore,but I use my DMTs (325 and 1000) to sharpen carbide Lathe bits almost every day.
They get real swarfed up and ugly and smooth,some cleanser (comet) and a stiff brush,they are like new again.
Mine are about 5 yrs old.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Do not do alot of hones anymore,but I use my DMTs (325 and 1000) to sharpen carbide Lathe bits almost every day.
They get real swarfed up and ugly and smooth,some cleanser (comet) and a stiff brush,they are like new again.
Mine are about 5 yrs old.

+1 on that, sounds to me like it's just clogged, but I could be wrong.

As said it may be just clogged, a stiff brush, a Bix nylon stripping brush from Home Depot and some cleanser, I like Barkeepers Friend also at HD to scrub clean.

Lap under running water or in a pond, I use a plastic shoe box. You can strip the diamonds off if you clog the plate and continue to use it with pressure.

(CNTG) Chef Knives To Go has a great no name, 140 grit diamond plate for 30 buck. It is a great value and performer for lapping. It will get you to flat quickly then finish on a DMT 320.

Thanks, guys. I don't think it's clogged. Just smooth. Might still work, but it was a dramatic difference.

I also recently abused it on a massive Chinese cleaver in stainless that I was practicing on. I could see streaks where the diamonds ripped off and scored the nickel.

I will be acquiring some Choseras soon to augment on the low grits.

To repeat this ad nauseum...

The DMT plates are honing plates, not lapping plates. They are not designed to be lapping plates. The ONLY exception is the DiaFlat plate. The 335, 220, and 120 DiaSharp plates can be used to lap water stones and work well for it (IF you do it right) but that is at your own risk.

Very true, also SOFT naturals like a Coticule or Escher probably won't hurt a diamond plate, but an Arkansas or Chinese polishing stone etc will damage a plate, I know this from personal experience.

Originally Posted by Utopian

To repeat this ad nauseum...

The DMT plates are honing plates, not lapping plates. They are not designed to be lapping plates. The ONLY exception is the DiaFlat plate. The 335, 220, and 120 DiaSharp plates can be used to lap water stones and work well for it (IF you do it right) but that is at your own risk.