Your order has shipped

[Rob Luter]

Well, I had a sip of the Kool-Aid. After years of sharpening on glass blocks with 3m PSA Abrasive Film I finally made the investment in a couple big boy stones.

I watched the Rob Cosman video where he goes directly from a 1000 grit Trend Diamond plate to a 16K Grit Shapton and achieves a stupid sharp edge in under a minute. I thought, sure...how can that work? I was down in Indy earlier this year and stopped at Woodcraft to do a little window shopping and the resident sharpening guru was promoting the same system. He gave a demo where he dulled up a plane iron in a big way then put a new edge on it. Darned if it didn't work.

This week I was at a point where I had to order some more film. It works well but isn't durable at all. Santa determined it was time to take the plunge so he ordered me the same setup Rob Cosman and Woodcraft were promoting, a 300/1000 Trend Diamond Plate and a 16K Shapton. They should be here tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

[Phil Mueller]

I’ve been quite tempted to try this as well. Looking forward to your feedback.

[Clark Hussey]

I drank the kool-aid a while ago. Couldn’t be happier with the results. My planes and chisels are sharper than they have ever been.

[John Keeton]

Rob, the only hiccup in your plan is the "They should be here tomorrow." So far, I have had three packages lost by the USPS somewhere in a deep, dark hole. I hope your order comes via UPS or FedEx. I don't mean to derail your thread, but just venting after spending some time this morning filing claims with the PO.

[Rob Luter]

Rob, the only hiccup in your plan is the "They should be here tomorrow." So far, I have had three packages lost by the USPS somewhere in a deep, dark hole. I hope your order comes via UPS or FedEx. I don't mean to derail your thread, but just venting after spending some time this morning filing claims with the PO.

I feel your pain. USPS has let me down a few times. Thankfully my stuff was just inexcusably late. It always showed up eventually.

This stuff is coming UPS. Tracking shows it hit the Indy UPS Hub this morning and is off to South Bend later this morning. The Brown Truck has a pretty good track record in these parts

[Todd Trebuna]

Looking forward to seeing feedback on this system. My current set up is a Coarse/Fine/Ultra Diamond stones with stropping, but I am tempted to get a 12000 or 16k.
As for the USPS, We have 8 Christmas gifts in various stages of lostness. It's very frustrating to be in between. Can't get a refund because it's in the shipping stream and USPS is falling apart so you just have to hang on.

[Jack Frederick]

I think, Todd, that the USPS has been taken apart rather than falling apart! I ordered some brake cartridges from Rockler in 8/1 and they shipped on 8/3 arriving on 8/23. I too, look forward to hearing about your experience here Rob.

[Winston Chang]

I think that going from the 1000 grit diamond plate to 16000 grit Shapton can work, but there are some things you should keep in mind.

Rob Cosman makes that jump, but he also uses the ruler trick on the back, and a tiny microbevel on the bevel side, which both greatly reduce the amount of work that needs to be done by the finer stone. If you don't do those things, I think you'll be spending a LOT of time on the finer stone.

Until it's broken in, the Trend stone will have some large diamonds sticking up causing deep scratches in your blade. It may be hard to get those out with the 16000 grit stone. (There was a recent discussion about this on this forum.)

Finally, make sure your diamond plate is flat. The first Trend plate I got wasn't quite flat -- one side was slightly convex and the other side was slightly concave, and that made it difficult to fully sharpen the blade. Fortunately, they replaced it, but it involved shipping it to them and waiting for a replacement. Hopefully since you bought it from Woodcraft, it would be easier to get a replacement if needed.

[Rob Luter]

I think that going from the 1000 grit diamond plate to 16000 grit Shapton can work, but there are some things you should keep in mind.

Rob Cosman makes that jump, but he also uses the ruler trick on the back, and a tiny microbevel on the bevel side, which both greatly reduce the amount of work that needs to be done by the finer stone. If you don't do those things, I think you'll be spending a LOT of time on the finer stone.

Until it's broken in, the Trend stone will have some large diamonds sticking up causing deep scratches in your blade. It may be hard to get those out with the 16000 grit stone. (There was a recent discussion about this on this forum.)

Finally, make sure your diamond plate is flat. The first Trend plate I got wasn't quite flat -- one side was slightly convex and the other side was slightly concave, and that made it difficult to fully sharpen the blade. Fortunately, they replaced it, but it involved shipping it to them and waiting for a replacement. Hopefully since you bought it from Woodcraft, it would be easier to get a replacement if needed.

I've heard about the stray diamonds on the Trend stone. I have another diamond plate I can use to take care of those. I agree that the jump from 1K to 16K is extreme but I practice not only the ruler trick (plane irons only) but also use a micro bevel. If I need an intermediate step I have my 3m abrasive on glass until I can invest in a 4K grit Shapton. These are both coming from Woodcraft so I have an easy path for returns if required.

[lowell holmes]

You will love your purchase. I have been using diamond hones for years.

[Michael Fross]

I've been using the Rob Cosman sharpening method for years after I took a class from him. Changed my woodworking. It's not hard to do at all, but does take a bit of practice. I think you'll be really happy. Just stick with it and you'll pick it up soon enough.

Michael

[Jerome Andrieux]

> Finally, make sure your diamond plate is flat

This was my experience with two consecutive purchases from trend. I just bought the DMT which are just as flat as anyone would expect.

My preference is then to strop on hardwood or greased leather with some compound.

[Nathan Johnson]

Anxious to hear your results, OP.
I've been agonizing for a month over which setup I want to move to.
I've narrowed it down to strictly diamond plates and stropping or the Shapton glass stones.
I really, really want to make diamonds work for lack of mess and maintenance.

[lowell holmes]

My DMT's are flat.

[Curt Putnam]

Quite a number of luminaries go from a 1K stone to either the finish stone or strop. I am more comfortable with an intermediate step which is why I just bought the DMT 4000 grit (6 micron) stone. So, in diamond my progression is now 1200, 4000, 8000, strop, with waterstones, it is 1000, 6000, 13000. With Unicorn it is 1200, buffer. So much for picking a system and sticking to it.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

My DMT's are flat.

So are mine - DMT Dia-Sharp extra-coarse (220) and fine (1200). I have the DMT lapping plate as well. I’m gradually replacing my water stones as they wear down with these. I’m very pleased. I still have Norton 4000 & 8000 water stones that I finish with. I doubt I’ll need to replace them, but if I do it will be with diamonds. 10 strokes on horse butt leather with green compound for a final hone.

[Rob Luter]

Well, my shipment made it to the UPS hub in South Bend in great time. Then I got the tracking message no one wants to get: "Your package has been transferred to the USPS". Great. Hybrid shipping. The Post Office has screwed this up the last three times, adding at least three days to the delivery time just to get the package three miles.

Fingers crossed.

[John Keeton]

That is NOT good news!!

[Rob Luter]

They were in the mailbox when I got home. Whew! I unpacked both and gave them a cursory look. The Trend plate seems perfectly flat when checked with my granite surface plate. The Shapton stone is like a jewel. For a 16k stone, it really cuts fast. I freehanded a cutting edge on a LN fishtail chisel and a big paring chisel I like to use. Both were stupid sharp after a half dozen gentle strokes. This looks promising. I’ll spend some time in the shop tomorrow and sharpen some plane irons and report back.