Veritas honing plate and diamond paste

[JSpill]

I'm wondering if anyone here uses the Veritas honing plate and their diamond paste when honing plane blades and chisels. I always am attracted to Veritas products and this sounds like a good addition to my sharpening process. If you use this Veritas  honing plate and diamond paste I would like to know how you use this system. There are three diamond pastes of different grits available. Do you use each grit on a separate honing plate as Lee Valley recommends?

[Mr Eddie]

I got one for Christmas.  I'm going to see what grit my stones are that I'm currently using and order the next grit up in diamond paste.  I'm just going to go with the single grit and plate.  I try to keep most of my sharpening to as little time as possible.  It's a slippery slope - easy to spend all day if you're not careful.

Lonnie

[JSpill]

Lonnie, if I try their steel honing guide, like you I would just like to use one plate and one diamond paste. I just don't know which grit of diamond paste to choose.

[Timberwolf]

Lonnie, if I try their steel honing guide, like you I would just like to use one plate and one diamond paste. I just don't know which grit of diamond paste to choose.

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I ordered a diamond lap from Amazon last week for my Veritas MKII and I am super pleased with it..I got the 800grit but they have them in much finer and much coarser grits..The diamond is plated onto a stiff aluminum disc in high concentration and cuts like a dream..Matter of fact, I will be ordering another one tomorrow in 1200grit...My point is, this disc is 8" in diameter and would work just fine for freehand honing on a flat surface...You would not need to power it like I do..just hold the tool in hand and stroke it back and forth parallel to the edge.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Lapi...+polishing

[hbmcc]

I use two Veritas honing plates, a worn out Dia plate (back side) and the three Norton diamond pastes offered by Tools for Working Wood. Mine were #45 micron (p320), #15 micron (p1200), and .5 micron (j8000?) polish. For my purposes, I think those pastes want intermediate grits, although I do use them all when setting new bevels. When using HSS and Japanese steels, even A2, diamond is the preferred medium. The tubes last forever.

The Veritas pastes seem to be redundant fine honing grits. I would consider honing starting at about 15 micron, then a p4000, finishing with a strop or under 5 micron diamond. You can always buy practically any grit you want in the cute syringes on-line at competitive pricing. However, sharpening (bevel shaping) and honing techniques diverge quickly. If you CBN wheel a hollow-grind bevel, then a couple swipes on honing medium at the edge may be your tooth fairy.

Very pleased with the Veritas plates. 

I religiously avoid contamination between grits, even to clean guides and wheels, but don't remove paste or swarf from the plates. Note, the plates are a rusty dry blood color from doing Japanese chisels under finger tips. I have not noticed rust degradation from other lubricant on the plate surfaces. They may bloom and pit if left sitting more than a few weeks. I assumed they were stainless steel; apparently not.

I was disappointed with the manufactured diamond 'stone'. For the price, it wore down far too fast and the grit degraded to an unknown immediately. I also don't tolerate ambiguous grit descriptions. It was USA made.

[Bruce Haugen]

Lonnie, if I try their steel honing guide, like you I would just like to use one plate and one diamond paste. I just don't know which grit of diamond paste to choose.

I use a cast iron plate, two actually. I don’t mix grits on the same side of either plate. On one side, I use 3 micron and the other side has 1 micron. On the other plate, I use 15 micron and 3 micron.  The 15 is used for flattening, regrinding a bevel and nick repair.

[DavidRobertson]

I've had a couple for ~3 years.  Thought they would be less mess/hassle than my oil and water stones.  They seem fine, just doesn't seem to give the same cutting/honing feedback as any type of stone does; for me at least.  I do like them and still occasionally use them.  Never had a rust or corrosion issue.  If the paste gets thick, I would just add a small amount of mineral oil.  I still have plenty paste left after about 3 years (although I use my water stones way more).

The only downside for me is (I'm sure no one else has this problem though) if I accidentally gouge it while sharpening, which is easy to do as the metal plate is pretty soft compared to a chisel or plane iron.  Fixing a gouge in a water stone is pretty easy, the frequent flattening of these get rid of any oops moments.  Although I have yet to do this to any of my diamond plates.

Dave

[Rick Barton]

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I ordered a diamond lap from Amazon last week for my Veritas MKII and I am super pleased with it..I got the 800grit but they have them in much finer and much coarser grits..The diamond is plated onto a stiff aluminum disc in high concentration and cuts like a dream..Matter of fact, I will be ordering another one tomorrow in 1200grit...My point is, this disc is 8" in diameter and would work just fine for freehand honing on a flat surface...You would not need to power it like I do..just hold the tool in hand and stroke it back and forth  parallel to the edge.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Lapi...+polishing

Jack, do you have to use a bushing with these diamond discs on your MK II?

[Timberwolf]

Rick, the hole in the disc is 1/2" and the screw holding it is 1/4"..So I center the disc on the base plate by eye and it works fine at the speed the MKII rotates. I substituted a plastic knob that is a good bit larger than the original screw and secures the diamond disc nicely, with no tools needed....A wood knob with a 1/2" diameter shoulder about 1/16" deep and with a 1/4' screw epoxied into it would ensure the disc stays centered but so far I have not found it necessary to make one...I expect to receive my 3,000 grit disc tomorrow..I have plenty of 1/8" thick flat aluminum plate that is 12" wide that I want to make into 8" lapping discs for use with diamond paste, if I ever get around to it..The aluminum is soft enough that the diamond grit will embed into it and can be charged up to at least 50K...Just use it with a dab of vaseline for lube.

[Rick Barton]

Rick, the hole in the disc is 1/2" and the screw holding it is 1/4"..So I center the disc on the base plate by eye and it works fine at the speed the MKII rotates. I substituted a plastic knob that is a good bit larger than the original screw and secures the diamond disc nicely, with no tools needed....A wood knob with a 1/2" diameter shoulder about 1/16" deep and with a 1/4' screw epoxied into it would ensure the disc stays centered but so far I have not found it necessary to make one...I expect to receive my 3,000 grit disc tomorrow..I have plenty of 1/8" thick flat aluminum plate that is 12" wide that I want to make into 8" lapping discs for use with diamond paste, if I ever get around to it..The aluminum is soft enough that the diamond grit will embed into it and can be charged up to at least 50K...Just use it with a dab of vaseline for lube.

Thank you for the input. I think I might just have to give these a try on my MKII.