Summer time is coming soon and that means there will be loads of jobs to do on boats that remain in the water. It also means that every time I want to sharpen a chisel I have to walk to the shop and I want to change that. I was thinking about getting an Atoma 1200 grit diamond plate since it seems to be the best diamond plate on the market. That way I only have to take the diamond plate, my small coticule and a small bottle of water with me and I can do all my sharpening onboard. The thing is I have zero experience with diamond plates so I don't know what to expect on how it sharpens. My small coticule is about 6000 grit. Is the step from the Atoma to my coticule too large or will it be just fine? Is it also possible to get a good working edge from the Atoma when used with very light pressure?
Thinking about getting a diamond plate.
- Thread starter Lemwise
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derekcohen
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Hi Nico
The downside of a diamond plate is that diamonds leave deeper scratches than natural- or man made water stones. The jump from a 1200 diamond stone may be too large as a result.
Having written this, I have an Easy-Lap 600 grit plate that is about 15 years old. It has worn to a point where it is still cutting, but acts more like a 2000-3000 grit waterstone. I can go from this to 6000. Unfortunately, you cannot purchase worn-in diamond stones!
It may be possible to use the 1200 Atoma if you add another stone. My recommendation would be a Medium Spyderco. These can be used without water (although I usually add a drop of water-soap mix). They are hard stones and never require flattening. However, they can arrive with a fine slight hollow. Use the Atoma to flatten the Spyderco. This will also wear the Atoma in a little.
Regards from Perth
Derek
The downside of a diamond plate is that diamonds leave deeper scratches than natural- or man made water stones. The jump from a 1200 diamond stone may be too large as a result.
Having written this, I have an Easy-Lap 600 grit plate that is about 15 years old. It has worn to a point where it is still cutting, but acts more like a 2000-3000 grit waterstone. I can go from this to 6000. Unfortunately, you cannot purchase worn-in diamond stones!
It may be possible to use the 1200 Atoma if you add another stone. My recommendation would be a Medium Spyderco. These can be used without water (although I usually add a drop of water-soap mix). They are hard stones and never require flattening. However, they can arrive with a fine slight hollow. Use the Atoma to flatten the Spyderco. This will also wear the Atoma in a little.
Regards from Perth
Derek
mouppe
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I use a DuoSharp diamond plate for reestablishing a primary bevel. It has a coarse side (c.220 grit) and a finer side (c.320 grit). I never use the finer side. From there I go to a 1000 Ohishi waterstone and a 10000 finishing Ohishi waterstone.
The diamond plate is also used to flatten the waterstones. I don't like sharpening on diamond plates generally as I find the waterstones leave a sharper edge than even the finest diamond plate, and they are not as tactile as waterstones. The waterstones are also much faster.
Like Derek, my feeling is that my diamond plate is now much finer than when I started using it. I am thinking of replacing it with a new one. It's probably 6 or 7 years old now.
I think you can bounce around from one method to another until you find one that works best for you.
The diamond plate is also used to flatten the waterstones. I don't like sharpening on diamond plates generally as I find the waterstones leave a sharper edge than even the finest diamond plate, and they are not as tactile as waterstones. The waterstones are also much faster.
Like Derek, my feeling is that my diamond plate is now much finer than when I started using it. I am thinking of replacing it with a new one. It's probably 6 or 7 years old now.
I think you can bounce around from one method to another until you find one that works best for you.
curiousdork
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Lemwise said:
My DMT XX-Coarse and X-Coarse cut pretty fast on O1 and PMV-11 but decently fast on A2. It does leave deeper scratches than my ceramic stones. My rented shop has a DMT Fine, X-Fine, and XX-Fine plates and they work just fine. Since those mean nothing, it is 600 mesh, 1200 mesh, and 8000 mesh respectively. I think the jump should be fine considering that at my shop we go from 1200 to 8000 which is a massive jump. Putting light pressure, let the diamonds do the work, and it can give you a very sharp edge.
So fine-tools.com in Germany is the only store in the EU that sells the 1200 plate. They don't have the complete plate, just the replacement sheet but that's even better because it's a lot cheaper, €60 vs €79. Now I just have to get a base but the metal shop across the road always has some scrap aluminium lying around. I just have to cut it to size and flatten it with some sandpaper on the table of the shop jointer.
Edit: I found something better I can use for the base. I still had some 13mm thick HPL lying around in the garage from a project last year. I've cut a piece to size and I've checked it with my DIN875/00 straight edge (guaranteed straight to within 0.007mm) and it's almost completely flat. I can see the tiniest bit of light coming through in the middle. My guess is it's out of flat by maybe 0.1mm lengthwise, probably even less. That's good enough for me. It's completely flat over the width. I've also glued some friction rubber to one side so it won't move around. Now I just have to wait on the Atoma sheet and I'll have a lightweight sharpening stone. The HPL is also waterproof so I can safely use it with water.
Edit: I found something better I can use for the base. I still had some 13mm thick HPL lying around in the garage from a project last year. I've cut a piece to size and I've checked it with my DIN875/00 straight edge (guaranteed straight to within 0.007mm) and it's almost completely flat. I can see the tiniest bit of light coming through in the middle. My guess is it's out of flat by maybe 0.1mm lengthwise, probably even less. That's good enough for me. It's completely flat over the width. I've also glued some friction rubber to one side so it won't move around. Now I just have to wait on the Atoma sheet and I'll have a lightweight sharpening stone. The HPL is also waterproof so I can safely use it with water.
As usual DHL is taking their sweet time getting a package to me. I ordered the plate last Sunday from fine-tools in Berlin and it still hasn't left Germany. It's just sitting in the export centre in Köln and it's not moving an inch. DHL has a nick name in The Netherlands, "Doe Het Langzaam" wich translated to "do it slow" and they're certainly living up to it yet again. And because we have a long Easter weekend it won't be delivered any sooner than Tuesday, if I'm lucky. It's always the same with these incompetent idiots.
I received my Atoma 1200 today and I really like it. It sharpens incredibly fast but it's still rather aggressive. I can still go from it to my Sigma 6000 or a coticule though. In the end I decided on aluminium for the base plate. There's too much risk of an HPL plate deforming due to temperature fluctuations. The metal shop across the road had a nice piece for me and I lapped it on their granite reference plate that's flat to within 0.002mm over the entire length of 75cm. I'd call that pretty much dead flat.
curiousdork
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Lemwise said:
I have an DMT XX-Coarse and X-Coarse for restoring bevels. They're pretty aggressive and cuts my O2's and PMV-11's with decent speed. It's hefty but it is aggressive.
I've been using the Atoma for a while now and I love this thing. It sharpens fast and predictively with a very consistent scratch pattern that's easily removed with a higher grit stone. The tactile feedback is also superb. Because of the dot pattern you can very easily tell when the bevel is flat on the plate. It glides over it with no resistance. When you're a little bit off you instantly feel the diamond clusters.
yetihunter
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Lemwise said:
DHL was/is good at getting odd things to weird places. I wouldn't go to them with a service that either Fedex, UPS or USPS offer. I noticed that that in the last few years (a decade after DHL became a division of the privatised Deutsche Post), German vendors have stopped offering Deutsche Post as an international carrier option. Did Deutsche Post eventually move their services over to DHL?
I'll put it like this: Deutsche Post was my favourite international postal service to deal with. Meanwhile, DHL from Germany is like DHL anywhere else....
Then again, Royal Mail used to take two to three days to get to me, and now it takes 3 weeks...so.. maybe it's on the US end?
