For you Diamond Stone Sharpeners

[AHill]

...What brand diamond stone do you use?

What grit do you finish up with?

Do you use any lubricant with your stones?  If so, what lubricant do you use?

Do you strop after using the diamond hones?

I've seen Paul Sellers' blog and noticed he ends up with 1200 grit, then strops vigorously (30x) to get to a 15,000 grit equivalent edge.  He didn't think an 8000 grit hone added anything.  I've also seen articles that recommended using water or some other liquid when using the stone, since it increases the life of the stone.  I have two Atoma diamond hones (400 and 1200).  I've been out of the shop for awhile, so I haven't been able to use them.  I did use some smaller DMT hones to flatten the backs of a couple of Aldi chisels I purchased as an experiment.  (Small detour - I was fairly impressed with those chisels.)  I think I still like the feel and feedback of my Sigma Power waterstones better than diamond stones, but the diamonds are faster (especially for first time prep of an edge or to correct a chipped edge).  I also like that a diamond stone is far less likely to get a gouge from an errant blade, and they don't need to be flattened.

[Mike Brady]

I encourage you (for chisels) to keep your diamond stones, but finish with a ceramic stone like the Spyderco (fine).  Ceramic delivers a wicked edge quickly and outlasts diamonds (and everything else) by a long shot.  I'll go so far as to say that ceramics last a lifetime if you don't drop them.  The bad news?  Ceramics are usually not very flat and are thus satisfactory only for your narrower blades.  Ceramics also don't leave a mirror edge like a waterstone does, if that is important to you.  You should follow the ceramic or diamond with a strop.

I should add that I'm not a fan of diamond stones because they seem to be short-lived.  I probably would not purchase further diamond honing products but also don't worry about the ones I do have because they still have some useful , but diminished, life in them.  Paul Sellars can probably get by with them because he is usually honing old, soft steel; and almost any media can be used to get an edge on it.  I don't recall him saying how long he uses the same set of diamond stones.

[overland]

I second Mike's reservations. I used my Atoma 400 to flatten the backs of some chisels. It's not been flat since, and of course there's no way to flatten it.

[Steve Friedman]

I second Mike's reservations. I used my Atoma 400 to flatten the backs of some chisels. It's not been flat since, and of course there's no way to flatten it.

That's interesting.  I have the Atoma 400 and 140, but only use them to flatten stones.  I remember there being some complaints several years ago about the Atoma 400 wearing more quickly when used for steel or for flattening super hard stones like the Sigma 400.  In fact, I got the 140 just for that stone, but now use it more often than the other one.

But my point is that I don't recall ever hearing of an Atoma going out of flat.  Have had that experience with DMT stones, but am really curious about that happening with an Atoma.  That would be disappointing.

To answer Allen's question, I'm not going to be much help, but do have some EZ-Lap plates that I bought to re-shape edges and for gouges.  I have them down to 150 grit and use just water, although I have read lots of folks suggest a little dish soap mixed in.

But, I have to say, that I almost always get frustrated by how slow the EZ Laps are (mostly A-2 and a couple of PM-VII) and typically end up going back to 80 grit PSA 3M sandpaper on granite.  So much faster than anything else for re-shaping an edge.  After that, a few swipes on 220, a few swipes on 400 grit, bump the angle a bit, and on to a 1000 grit stone.

For gouges, I like the Spyderco stones better, but like my bench grinder and Bear Tex wheel (attribution to Curtis Buchanan) better than anything else.  

Curious to see what answers you get.  Especially if anyone is using the Dia-Flat for steel and how long it lasts.

Steve

[hbmcc]

This-
https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/stor...DIAMLAP.XX

These (mine) are a Norton brand. The 45 is pretty coarse, which I use only when removing chips or setting a bevel. A grit between 15 and .5 is needed. I use this material on Veritas honing plates. With each session I squeeze out about a 1/16 th inch of paste, although grit from previous work remains and is imbedded in the plate. The tool and guides are cleaned between each grit. Cross contamination is a concern, and water lube and paper napkin clean up is easy and safe enough to do in the kitchen. 

I actually use the 45 on the back of a DMT plate that promptly wore down.

[Bibliophile 13]

I have a DMT coarse diamond stone that I've been using for about 8 years now. It's worn, certainly, but it does still cut. I lube it with mineral spirits. I'm not a diamond-stone purist, though. My next step in the sharpening process is a soft Arkansas stone, and I finish up with a strop.

Another person you might know about who uses diamond stones is Mary May. Gouges will do a number on a lot of stones, so I understand why she uses the diamond stones. IIRC, she uses the three finest DMTs available before finishing on a strop.

I think one of the tricks with diamond stones is to get them in a grit one coarser than you think you need, because they lose their initial aggressiveness pretty quickly. But they stay good long after that, as long as you don't actually scrape the diamond/nickel coating off the top. Once I do have to replace mine, I'm not sure what I'll get. I've been thinking about the ceramic stones, but I'm not sure yet.

[Anji12305]

I highly recommend the coarsest Atoma for establishing a basic edge, straightening or cambering but use two Arkansas oil stones before stropping.

I use WD40 on the Atoma and the oil stones.
Paul used a glass cleaner, Alan Little (AskWoodMan) likes diluted Simple Green detergent as a lubricant.

If you're making convex bevels on your cutting edges, you need not purchase a grinding wheel.

It bears mentioning that I use Marples chisels and simpler (lower hardness) steel in my planes; modern steels are superior to what I favor, but are fussier about proper handling.

What do you currently use, that an additional stone might improve? How much fuss will you REALLY exert?

I've seen amazing results with some methods thst border on devotional acts of meditation. No sense spending miney on something you won't use because it doesn't suit you...

[jgourlay]

I've fiddled around for a couple of decades with sharpening as almost a second hobby.  I think I've used darn near everything out there for woodworking tools, knives, and razors. The principle I've landed on is that honing stones are (no surprise) just like sandpaper:  more gradations of grit generally works better.  About 2-3 years ago I settled on the following, and have been moderately happier with this combination than with any other combo.

Atoma 140gr--I really like this stone.
DMT "fine' diasharp
Chosera 1k
jnat- "Aoto".  I have also used a Shapton #5000 here.  I like the Aoto marginally better, and gave the Shapton to a friend.
jnat- 'hideriyama'   I used to use na 8k shapton then a 15k shapton here.  The jnat is faster than the 8k and gives a better edge than the 15k.  Gave the shaptons to same friend.

Unless there is a chip in the edge, or it's visibly crumbly, I start with the aoto and go to the ohira.  They are very fast.  I generally sharpen freehand, and after the DMT stone I don't spend more than five or six strokes on the other three stones.  If I'm touching up, 5 or 6 strokes on the Aoto and 5 or 6 on the last stones and that's it.  I've got one blade made from Lee Valley's powdered metal alloy.  The jnats and that blade have a love affair going.

 I have a Black Arkansas I've used a bunch in the final spot as well.  It stays in the kitchen now.  Stropping:  stropping is essential for razors, but I don't like it for woodworking tools because I keep stabbing the strop.  For me...stropping is not faster than the stones I use.  Is a helluva lot cheaper.  Stropping is also essential for me when I use carving tools.  I've got soft, hard, and translucent Arkansas stones and they just don't get used at all any more.

I took a few of Paul Seller's classes.  He noted that I kept going back to the sharpening station too often.  I take that to mean that I'm overly ticky about keen edges, so take the above with a grain.

[AHill]

jnat- "Aoto".  I have also used a Shapton #5000 here.  I like the Aoto marginally better, and gave the Shapton to a friend.
jnat- 'hideriyama'   I used to use na 8k shapton then a 15k shapton here.  The jnat is faster than the 8k and gives a better edge than the 15k.  Gave the shaptons to same friend.

Unless there is a chip in the edge, or it's visibly crumbly, I start with the aoto and go to the ohira.  They are very fast. 

What is "jnat" and is the Hideriyama the same as the ohira?

[jgourlay]

What is "jnat" and is the Hideriyama the same as the ohira?

Japanese Natural = JNAT.

jnats are generally referred to by their minesite (ohira, hideryama, nakayame, okudo, etc), by their rough purpose (middle stone-aoto, finishing stone-awasedo), color (kiita-yellow, asagi-grey/green), sometime other features (suita--little gas porosity holes), and if they know something about who dug/graded the stone (Maruka, for example).  When we hear "black Arkansas stone", the words are color and origin.  But we know what that means in terms of performance to expect.  In the same way, with these stones, people will expect certain things based on origin and the words attached. 

For example, "Ohira Renge Suita" more or less means "A stone from the Ohira mine with microscope gas pockets and lots of little red flecking".  What that means to a user is, "can't use it to finish razors, but if I need to sharpen plane blades I better buy that bad boy before some other guy does".  In addition, the jnats are graded in a way that is not the same as but meaningfully similar to our "grit" system.