Thread: Diamond Hone FYI

I know there's not many people who use diamond hones for razors, but, I found this little tidbit in my lee valley catalogue and figured it'd be good to know. It's about monocrystaline vs. polycrystaline diamond hones.

http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/TechInfo.aspx?p=43475

The extra fine by DMT is only 9 micron. This is about equivalent to a black arkansas stone. Great for a knife but a little course for a razor.

Norton claims translucent and black arkansas stones are about 5-6 micron. Fine arkansas stones actually work fine for razors because they're so slow cutting, they produce a much better edge than you'd guess based on the grit diameter. I've got a razor I honed on pink translucent that shaves great, about like you'd get from a barber hone.

It says here (in the last paragraph)..
http://www2.woodcraft.com/pdf/77A40.pdf

..that diamond stones are getting popular for reflatining medium to course waterstones, but diamonds stones will eat up 8000 grit stones like nothing.


Is there such thing as a verry fine diamond stone or hone (good enough for straight razors)?

Originally Posted by icecow

Is there such thing as a verry fine diamond stone or hone (good enough for straight razors)?

Shapton makes diamond hones in a variety of grits, some are incredibly high grit. I don't know of anyone that uses them for razors, so, whether or not they work well with straights, I don't know.