Trend diamond plate

[Jason White]

I have the 300/1000-grit Trend diamond sharpening stone. Used it occasionally for 3 months for sharpening plane blades and it barely cuts anymore.

Anybody else have one they like better?

[Jim Koepke]

I have the 300/1000-grit Trend diamond sharpening stone. Used it occasionally for 3 months for sharpening plane blades and it barely cuts anymore.

Anybody else have one they like better?

That is why my preference is for Arkansas stones or water stones.

jtk

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I have a DMT Diasharp extra coarse diamond stone purchased over a year ago to replace a Norton 220 grit waterstone. I’ve used it frequently and it still cuts well. If I ever wear out any of my remaining waterstones I’ll replace it with the equivalent Diasharp. I hate the mess and constant flattening of waterstones.

[Chuck Hill]

I've used DMT, maybe some others. Now I am a big fan of Atoma. LV and Amazon carry then, I don't know who else.

[Jim Koepke]

I have a DMT Diasharp extra coarse diamond stone purchased over a year ago to replace a Norton 220 grit waterstone. I’ve used it frequently and it still cuts well. If I ever wear out any of my remaining waterstones I’ll replace it with the equivalent Diasharp. I hate the mess and constant flattening of waterstones.

My first diamond stone (an E-Z Lap mounted on a block of wood) impressed me a bit. Though it proved best for kitchen knives. It was becoming slow cutting and was replaced a with a DMT extra fine.

After Oiling.jpg

The DMT plate came unmounted. The post on making the mounting block is here > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?287057

The "mess and constant flattening of waterstones" didn't bother me as much as not being able to sharpen in my shop during the colder months. It was freezing water driving my change to oilstones. The water stones still get used on some irons.

For heavy metal removal sandpaper is good enough for me. Now days there isn't as much of that as there used to be going on in my shop.

jtk

[chris carter]

I’m assuming you’ve already tried cleaning the plate, but just in case…..

Have you cleaned the surface? The best thing for this is a white eraser (like the Papermate style, for erasing pencil marks). Even if you are using window cleaner or water or whatever your lubricant of choice, it will still eventually clog up with metal dust and prevent it from cutting effectively.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I’m assuming you’ve already tried cleaning the plate, but just in case…..

Have you cleaned the surface? The best thing for this is a white eraser (like the Papermate style, for erasing pencil marks). Even if you are using window cleaner or water or whatever your lubricant of choice, it will still eventually clog up with metal dust and prevent it from cutting effectively.

You know, sometimes you’re so used to using something that the obvious escapes you. I didn’t know about the eraser, but I do clean my stone with a small fingernail brush after every use. Good advice Chris.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have both medium and fine DMT 1" x 4" stones in leather sleeves which I use for knives in the kitchen. They were part of a 12" cube cardboard box full of the stones I got when I worked for Cadillac Plastics back in 1979 or 80. DMT was a brand new company then with limited cash flow and our district manager traded a case each of 1/8"x 48" x 96" sheets of sign grade red and blue Lexan for the sharpening stones. The 2 stones I have are now 40-41 years old and work as well as when they were new. I only use them wet at the kitchen sink so they are constantly rinsing the swarf away. Care and maintenance is important no matter what sharpening media you use.

[Jason White]

Yep, I’ve used the eraser and spray with hone-rite during use. It’s possible I used too much pressure while sharpening. Still pretty new to hand planes and I’ve done a lot of sharpening with this stone.

I’m assuming you’ve already tried cleaning the plate, but just in case…..

Have you cleaned the surface? The best thing for this is a white eraser (like the Papermate style, for erasing pencil marks). Even if you are using window cleaner or water or whatever your lubricant of choice, it will still eventually clog up with metal dust and prevent it from cutting effectively.

[Tyler Bancroft]

I'll second the recommendation of DMT DiaSharp.

[Thomas Wilson]

I have most of the DMT Duosharp and DiaSharp stones. I agree that they seem to wear with initial use. I have heard other people describe it as "breaking in the stones." I think that the larger diamond particles tend to get dislodged and the resulting stone both cuts slower and leaves a smoother surface. Even with the finest DiaSharp Extra Extra Fine I find I get a sharper edge if I follow with a strop. I check the sharpness using the Edge-On-Up Industrial Sharpness Tester. Stropping improves typically 40-60 grams (220 to 180 grams). While this is quite sharp, water stones give a measurably sharper edge. I use the DiaSharp stones for sharpening gouges for carving. I use the DuoSharp mostly for flattening backs of chisels and plane blades.

[Russell Nugent]

I've used a trend combination plate for a couple of years, no issues but I wanted an extra fine and found a deal on dmt diasharps. Both have performed very well

[Rob Luter]

I have the 300/1000 Trend and find that the 1000 side cuts just fine. I will say that the feel is different than when it was new (feels smoother) but it still cuts just as well. I only use the 300 side for flattening my Shapton stones.

[James Spangler]

I've used my Trend 300/1000 diamond stone for about 3 years now and it has always worked well.
I only use the Trend lapping fluid with it, and never use the stone dry. As I use the stone, I occasionally mop up the lapping fluid off the surface when it becomes dark. I've convinced myself that this prevents much of the metal debris from getting embedded in the grit.

My experience is that the the Trend white eraser thing doesn't work too well right after I'm done using the stone. Perhaps the surface is still a bit slick from the lapping fluid, causing the eraser not to bite into the grit enough. So I just put the stone away after a final wipe-up with a paper towel.
However, the next time I use it (days or weeks later) the eraser does it's job. I use one edge of the eraser and rub the surface in a circular motion, which leave tiny black "noodles" (pieces of the eraser that have picked out metal debris from the grit) that I can then brush off. As the stone gets clean, it lightens-up, so you can see where you've cleaned it and where it need more work.

I think by doing this each time I pull out my Trend stone for use, it's kept it in good working order.

[Luke Dupont]

In my experience, my DMT plates were some of the worst for wearing out. That was 7 years ago or so that I last purchased a DMT plate though.

I think it depends a lot on what you use the stone for, and how heavily you use it.

A lot of guys are fine with the same diamond stone for years and claim they last forever, or a long time, anyway.

For some reason though, I haven't found a diamond stone that I wasn't able to wear out in a year, or, more often, even within just 3-6 months. And I don't mean "wear in" but really "wear out."

I use them primarily for flattening the backs of new and old (to be refurbished) tools, and it seems that this process wears them out pretty quickly if you're like me and are often working on tools that are in need of quite a lot of work (old plane irons and the like).

The backs of Japanese chisels wear them out exceedingly quickly. So does lapping Arkansas stones. I've quite using them to lap Arks, except for a quick few strokes just to roughen up the surface when I want a stone to cut quickly.

Overall, I'm yet to find a diamond stone that will last. I'd love to. But no luck so far... Worse yet, there are no shortage of ones which are out of flat from the factory.

Maybe I'll revert to sand paper for all of my grinding and flattening needs, but I'm always questioning whether the sand paper is flexing too much and coming out of flat.