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Diamond sharpening whetstones are nowwell established as a medium for bring-ing a sharp edge to tooling in a very short

space of time. Even the staunch traditionalist hascome to accept that this medium has huge bene-fits over conventional means of sharpening, suchas retaining flatness, speed of cut and (in certaincases) long durability.

However, there is now a quagmire of diamondproducts in the market place which has resultedin much confusion to end users in deciding whatbest suits their needs. As in any range, there is ahuge variation of quality, appearance and mostimportantly price. As agolden rule remember thefollowing, “You get whatyou pay for.” There aregood reasons why youcan buy three grades of 6"stones in a set from as lit-tle as £15.00 and yetanother manufacturer will retail a single 6" stoneat £55.00.

Over the next few issues of “Yandle’s WoodClub magazine” I will try to cover the reasonsbehind these differences, answer the major ques-tions that are usually raised and also try toexplain things in plain English!

CONSTRUCTIONThis is the major factor to the reasons of varia-tion of quality and price.

There are two basic means of construction,impregnated or electro-plated.

� Impregnated: In basic terms it is like a layerof diamond being spread onto a covering of glue, cheap to produce and as good as the glue!

� Electro-plated: The base material is sub-merged into a tank of Diamond in a Nickel

solution which is then electro-plat-ed onto the surface. The Nickelgrows around the Diamond lockingit in place with two thirds sub-merged and one third exposed asthe sharpening medium.

There are two types of Diamondused: Polycrystallineor Monocrystalline.

� Polycrystal l ine Diamond is a frag-mented compound,which shatters off a

Examining Diamond Sharpening Whetstones

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new face after each sharpening, thus it wearsaway rapidly. Cheap to use in construction atthe expense of durability.

� MonocrystallineDiamond is a sin-gle structure thatdoes not breakwith use. It isstrong and has anexceptional lifes-pan. (The Trend range of Diamond productsuse a Diamond called Element 6 – previouslyknown as Debeers. To achieve precision prod-ucts you must use the premium components.)

There are two types of surface produced, Matrix(holes) or a continual surface.

� Matrix (holes): i.e. DMT (USA) / variouscheaper Eastern imported variations.

� Continual Surface: i.e. Trend (Made in UK– recent winners of The EngineeringExcellence Award 2006) / Atoma / Eze-lap

On balance, in my opinion, there are added ben-efits for continual Diamond surfaces,

1 50% more Diamond per square inch.

2 A “smooth feel of cut” – the Matrix systemsometimes gives a “lumpy feel of cut”.

3 No snagging when sharpening smaller orpointed tooling. Sharpening chisels or smalleron the Matrix system results in catching in the holes.

Therefore Diamond products vary greatly inquality and price between the cheaper end of themarket, impregnated / Polycrystalline to electro-plated / Monocrystalline.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IS WHICH?Quality manufacturers usually will have thedetails of construction on the packaging; howev-er, the cheaper ranges will not, so therefore, the

best guideline is the price and purchase a rep-utable make. Remember, you get what you pay for.

SHOULD YOU USE A LUBRICANT?Yes. If you use a Diamond Whetstone dry thenthis will result in clogging up the abrasive sur-face. The swarf has to go somewhere!

WHAT IS THE BEST LUBRICANT?Though companies such as DMT have alwaysstated that you can use water as a lubricant, overthe past few years there has been a significantmove towards using specialised products. Trendintroduced four years ago, a lapping fluid (petro-leum based) which has been used in the Engineering Industry for morethan thirty years. It was specificallydesigned and produced for use onDiamond abrasive products. Trendregard this product so highly thatthey now offer a five year guaranteeon all of their range of Diamondstones when using this lappingfluid. It has already been widelyrecognised in the press and Tradejournals as being the best lubricantto use. An Atomiser spray top ensures that theproduct, in normal use, can quite easily last inexcess of a year.

WHY SHOULD I USE A LAPPING FLUIDWHEN WATER IS FREE?To prevent rusting problems. Remember thatquality Diamond Whetstones are electro-platedusing Nickel. Nickel is porous. Any water-based lubricant can result in the threat of rustblemishes. You will get long life from a qualityWhetstone if you look after it. The lapping fluidis petroleum based so if, by mistake, you leaveany fluid on your whetstone it will evaporatewithin 15-20 minutes.

Used with water

Used with lapping fluid

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CAN I USE WD40 OR SOMETHING SIMILAR?It is too thick, you will “skate” over the Diamondsurface on the quality products.

EXAMPLEThe Trend double sided bench stones are finishedoff to a precision flatness of +/- 0.0005". On thefine side they use Diamond which is 11 micron(a human hair cut in half is approx 50-60micron). Only the top third of the Diamond is

*exposed, therefore the sharpening abrasion isone third of 11 micron…WD 40 is too thick !

* A useful reference guide to all sharpeningwith Diamond products is the Trend DVD on sharpening available from Yandals shop. Complete with live demonstrations &practical advice.

A Guide to Router, Saw Blade and Spindle Knife Sharpening

Featuring the Trend double sided (Fine & Coarse) Credit Card Whetstone.

Regular maintenance/sharpening to any toolingensures that you are able to maintain a sharpedge without too many problems. A little bit andoften is the key. Router cutters, either H.S.S. orcarbide, can be sharpened in as little as three orfour strokes using Diamond abrasive products.Remember, compared to Diamond, Tungsten iscomparatively soft.

This works out more practical as well as findingthat you can prolong the life of your cutters by upto 10 times. Follow these steps:

� Always sharpen your cutter on its flat face,never touch the profile side otherwise youwill change the shape of the cutter.

� Count the amount of strokes on one face and the repeat on the other sothat you keep it in balance (removing thesame amount of material from either edge).

� Sharpen your cutter wherever possible from new to make sure that you havean edge as it was designed to be. Some cut-ters need honing before use.

� Sharpen your cutter regularly; don’t waituntil the cutter is getting blunt because thenyou will find that it is working too hard to dothe job. This is when you end up damagingthe cutter and throwing it away!

� Use a Fine grit for Carbide Use a Coarser gritfor H.S.S. This is why the Trend CreditCardstone (the only double sided type on themarket) is ideal for sharpening cutters andsaw blades. As well as the narrow width(0.8mm) enables you to get into sharpensmaller and fluted cutters.

Rather than having to send cutters or saw bladesaway to “Saw doctors” to be sharpened, losing30%-40% of the face after it has been excessive-ly ground away, maintain your own cutters.

FLAT SIDE OF THE ROUTER

COUNT ON EACH FACE

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� Saw Blades are very similar.Sharpen on the flat face with only three or four strokes overeach tooth.

� Use light pressure in forward andbackward strokes.

� Put the blade in a vice, chalk upthe first tooth and slowly workyour way around the blade.

� Regular maintenance with preventyou having to send your blades to a saw doctor resulting in being charged for having 30%-40% of the carbide face beingground away.

� Spindle Knives again are a similarto router cutters in that you mustsharpen from “the back side” andnever touch the profile edge unlessyou wish to change the shape ofthe cut.

� It is paramount that sharpeningspindle knives is done on aDiamond Whetstone, which is pre-cision flat.

� Use a fine grit.

� The most suitable stone available isthe Trend double sided (Fine & Coarse) precision 7" x 2.5" benchstone. It is finished off toa flatness of + / - 0.0005", the flat-test Diamond stone on the market.This product was one of the ranges,which contributed to the manufacturers inEngland being awarded the EngineeringExcellence Award for 2006. Suppliers to thelikes of British Aerospace and Rolls Royce, it isthis type of pedigree which is needed whensharpening precision tooling such as spindleknives. This stone will again feature in our latersection on chisel and plane blade sharpening.

� These stones are also suitable for sharpening,in exactly the same way, Horse & dog clipper blades. James T Barry

JAMES T. BARRY has beeninvolved in Diamond sharpen-ing abrasives for twenty yearsand is regarded by many as anexpert in his own field. Havingworked worldwide for DMT(USA ten years) and gainingfurther experience with Atoma(Japanese) Titan (Swiss) prod-ucts. In 1998 He decided that itwas time to try and put all hisexperience into creating thebest quality engineered rangeof Diamond Whetstones, mostimportantly using the top qual-ity engineering experiencesfrom UK manufacturers.

This was achieved inJanuary 2000 and TrendMachinery & Cutting tools ltd.requested the sole distributionrights for UK and Ireland. They duly did this anddropped the DMT range fromtheir portfolio.

The product range has thefollowing unique properties:

1 The only Diamond range inthe World which is producedin the UK.

2 The only range which usesdouble sided continual dia-mond whetstones.

3 The only range which offersa five-year guarantee.

4 The only bench stones which are avail-able at a flatness of +/- 0.0005".

The product range has gone from strength tostrength, now available in the USA, Austria,Scandinavia, France and Australia.

In March of 2006 the manufacturers havebeen awarded The Engineering ExcellenceAward for 2006.

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With all chisels andplane blades oneof the most impor-

tant factors is making surethat the backs are totally flatbefore trying to hone them toa razor finish. The coarsergrits of Diamond whetstonesare ideal for this procedure. Once the back hasbeen flattened it is then a matter of seconds toachieve the required edge.

� Sharpening with a Diamond Whetstone isabout 95% quicker than traditional methods.

� Do not apply too much pressure, “Let theDiamond do the work.”

� A continual Diamond surface prevents snag-ging when sharpening smaller tools as canoccur when using Diamond stones with theMatrix (holes) type surface.

� Diamond Whetstones sharpen both on theforwards and backwards stroke.

� High quality Diamond Whetstones do notdish or groove.

� “Back off” the chisel or plane blade and thenwith a few light strokes apply a razor edge inseconds to the bevelled edge. Finish off by wiping off the burr that youhave created.

� Use with a lubricant to dispose of theswarf. Highly recommended is the Trend Lapping fluid, which prevents rustand clogging.

� Honing guides can be used on qualityWhetstones without the fear of dishing or grooving.

Turning and Carving tools come in many differ-ent shapes, which often can cause problemswhen trying to sharpen on a flat surface.Therefore you will probably find that a combi-nation of a slip stone (The double sided CreditCard) and a file which will enable you to pene-trate those normally inaccessible areas.

� Gouges have either an internal or externalbevel edge.

� The majority have an external bevel edge,place the bevel edge flush with the Diamondsurface then gently roll to sharpen the edge.

A Guide to Sharpening Chisels/Plane Blades & Turning/Carving Tools

� To remove the burr use a file, the DiamondPenfile is ideal for this as well as being the best for sharpening carbide tipped ring tooling.

� Turning gouges should mainly be sharpenedusing the coarse grit.You more often thannot need a “coarsesharp edge”.

� For the variation ofcarving tools Needlefiles can prove ahuge benefit in acc-essing difficult areas.

� Needle files are available in a variety of shapes. Triangular / Tapered Flat Halfround / Flat & Tapered Round / TaperedThe Trend Diamond files are of the highestquality (as supplied to British Aerospaceand Rolls Royce) Sold individually or in aset of four.

DOMESTIC GENERAL SHARPENINGAway from the workshop or site work, there isstill plenty of sharpening to be done in thehome, in the garden or maybe even on fishing orhunting trip.

Diamond Whetstones are not just highly effi-cient on woodworking tooling but also Knives,secateurs / pruners, shears, scissors, axes, craftknives, serrated blades, hoof knives etc.

� Scissors / ShearsAlign the slip stone flush with the beveledge then stroke softly along the blade.Remove the burrthat you have raisedby one clean strokeflat to the other sideof the blade. Repeatprocess to the otherblade. For domesticscissors use theFine grit for garden

shears or other heavy-duty applications usethe coarse grit.

� Secateurs / Pruners Similar to the sharpening of the scissors orshears, secateurs have a bevel edge and aflat edge. Align theDiamond slip stoneto the bevel edgeand in a circularmotion slowly godown the length ofthe blade. Onceyou have put theedge on the bevelside, turn it over and remove the burr youhave created keeping the slip stone flat tothe blade.

� Serrated knives / Hoof knives For serrated knivessimply use a Dia-mond file to go intoeach serration andlightly sharpen thebevel edge. Once youhave done this turnthe blade over and,keeping the file flat to the other side, removethe burr you have created with one simplestroke. Hoof knives have always created aproblem with the hook at the end of theblade. With the Penfile you can easily access& sharpen this area.

� Knives: Domestic /Hunting & UtilityWith Diamond Steelsor the universal Pen-file it is possible toput a razor edge backon knives in secondsand then maintain it.

� Many people have problems maintaining an edge to their kitchen knives as when theyare purchased from new. The old tradition-

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Diamond Penfile

Pocket 5Double sidedfine / coarse

Needle files

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al method of using ordinary steel can be avery “hit or miss” affair. The major problemwith conventional steels is that all you aredoing is re-aligning the edge, so eventuallyyou end up with a blade with very thickshoulders to it that would probably need re-grinding. Some people try and use any ofthe vast array of “pull through” sharpeninggizmos. Again the major problem withthese is that the pair of wheels (or whateversharpening medium is used) leaves a veryrough, bumpy almost saw like quality to the blade.

� The main advantage with using Diamondproducts is that you are removing a smallamount of material from the blade on each stroke, so therefore you only need a few alternate light strokes to achieve the edge.

� A flatter angle for a filleting edge. A steeper angle for a boning edge. For themajority of domestic knives use approxi-mately a 20% angle.

� Use a shallow angle / alternate light strokesdown the length of the blade as in the diagrams shown on the right.

� Stroke awayfrom the bodyfor safety.

� Sharpens stainless steel.

� To clean use a damp cloth to remove theswarf or rub down with a drawing officetype rubber (putty rubber)

� These Diamond steels have been used bysome of the leading Chefs on the Television(e.g. Harriot & Oliver).

� Alternate strokes / Shallow angle / Little pressure.

James T Barry

“The main advantagewith using Diamondproducts is thatyou only need a few alternate light strokesto achieve the edge.”