Thread: DMT WTF

I had rust develop rather quickly on my D8E as well and then stop just as quickly. It is a very faint orange stain looking thing, only on a portion of the hone. My D8C still looks great, though.

DMT sent me a cleaning kit when I returned a defective plate. They sent it along with the replacement. Their customer service is first rate. I also had the rust and it isn't an issue. The cleaning kit includes something like Comet or something similar and a scrub brush with brass bristles. Every now and then it is good to give it a good going over with the brush and some cleanser. Here is a grit chart for DMT.

+1 on the rust not being a problem.
And if it is a raised diamond, try breaking it in with the back of an old chisel or so until the raised diamond is gone. Try to find out where exactly it is. You may have missed it when you used that screwdriver.

The only thing that managed to break in my D8C was
(attempting) to lap a Spyderco ceramic hone.

- Scott

I don't recall having the scratching problem you have, but I did have the rust problem. The end of my extra course was a little bit raised and the stones I was lapping eventually lapped the dmt flat and removed the diamonds from the end. That exposed the surface underneath the nickel and diamonds. I think that's why mine rusted. I have a rubber holder I use from time to time and if I don't take it out so it can fully dry, it will develop rust where the water was trapped between the hone and the rubber.

I must wonder at what exactly "prepping" the DMT actually does. If we're removing diamonds through that process, it doesn't sound too good IMO. However, I can't think of any other plausible explanation. Maybe pushing the diamonds down into the nickel substrate? I find that unlikely as well. We can't wear down the diamonds because nothing is harder than a diamond. Thus, the removal of "offensive" diamonds is the only theory that makes logical sense. Anyone have thoughts or findings?

Well, diamonds are hard, but they fracture. I think the initial break in fractures off the high points.

Diamonds are super-duper hard, but even they wear down over time. They aren't adamantium after all.

Originally Posted by joke1176

Well, diamonds are hard, but they fracture. I think the initial break in fractures off the high points.

Diamonds are super-duper hard, but even they wear down over time. They aren't adamantium after all.

That makes sense.

The diamonds that are going to get worn/fractured first are the few that are projecting higher than the rest as they are going to get the brunt of the force either from the tool you are using to break it in or from a hone. After it gets down to the level of the rest of the diamonds, the force on the diamonds is uniformly distributed and then you get scratch-free lapping.

Did you send them the pic you posted here? That can't be "normal". It might not make much difference/damage to the hone you're lapping but I can't imagine that being good if you honed something on that DMT...