Diamond sharpening stone
 

Anyone tried something like this? It's a diamond sharpening stone I just bought, however I have trouble getting a sharp edge. I have a traditional sharpening stone which works great, but I got this new one to save weight.

I've noticed that there is a tiny metal protrusion on the side, so I avoided that area when sharpening but still I can't get a sharp edge. I use it just as my old stone: spit and rotate. Am I doing something wrong or is this just a bad product?

I believe diamond stones should be used dry. I'm not sure if that is the problem.

Diamond stones are just too aggressive, even on really hard steels. I presonally like ceramic stones.

diamond stones generaly are used dry- and are better for when you need to remove a lot of metal, rather than touch up work- I also prefer ceramic for most uses

I guess you're right. The stone is just too coarse. I'll shop around for a ceramic one, but the ones I've seen so far are kinda heavy for hiking.

Find this and buy it. eBay maybe... Spyderco sharpmaker. Best damn sharpener in the world. It'll run you at LEAST $50...but well worth it.

You can get a good pocket ceramic sharpener (about 6 inches) from spyderco for less than $20. I forget the grit counts but i can get a nice edge on just about anything i put to it.

I picked up a fine grit 1x5" Spyderco stone for $18. It works great! I've found that the diamond stone is only good for rougher jobs - for my axe for instance, which gets sufficiently sharp in no time.

Give me a good ol' spit-stone anyday. Something relaxing about it, though most people tend to be weirded out when they walk into the house and I'm watchin TV sharpening my Buie knife..

Diamond "stones" can be found in different grits like anything else. They're identified by the color, and red should be a fine grit. My DMT red stone is 500 grit, but it may vary.

They definately have to be used with water for lubrication, and new stones will cut faster than they should for a little while until they break in.

That said I have the Spyderco ceramic sharpener too. Different tools for different jobs I guess. Ceramic is best for touching up an edge btw. If your edge is completely gone, a good set of stones of any type will best to get it back.

My diamond stone is 750 grit, but it feels way rougher than that. Seems to me it's only good for sharpening a blunt or chipped edge.

Be careful with it. You can remove a lot of metal with just a few swipes when using diamond.

totally off-topic but i opened this ready to refute a sharpening stone for diamonds :-)

Your technique is wrong for any type of stone or diamond sharpener. Do not rotate your blade in a circle! You are ruining the edge you just put on. ..... This is hard to explain, but very easy to demonstrate. For the very best cutting edge one needs 3 grades of whet stone; coarse, medium and fine. The angle of the cutting edge needs to be between 11 deg. and 15 deg., depending on what you have to cut and what you are sharpening. Start with the coarse stone and shape the blade uniformly from hilt to tip by placing it on the stone at the correct angle, edge facing the movement and drawing the blade towards you one to three times. Short blades can be totally covered in one pass, long blades might need to be done in halves, ie. back half-front half. Reverse to the other side and push it away from you one to three times maintaining the correct angle. When the blade is shaped go to the medium stone and do it all over again. When you are satisified that you can not improve the cutting edge with the medium stone go to the fine stone only go down to one to two strokes max per side and then reverse.

I like artificially made stones for coarse and medium always used with lots of cutting oil and then a natural "hard Arkansaw black" fine stone. The cutting oil should be medium weight for the artificial stones and then very light weight for the natural fine stone. The technique is hard at first, then you develop muscle memory and it becomes easier. After a blade is shaped once, one very seldom needs to use anything except the fine stone to resharpen. Brownells Gunsmithing Supply catalog is a good source for the Arkansaw Black fine stone and the proper cutting oil. You can find the artifical stones at any hardware or Sears. Old black/fine whet stones can be found in used tool stores for next to nothing because they are "cupped" from use. Buy them! Any rock hound with a polishing table can true them up for you with minimum effort.

For a razor sharp cutting edge, after the above is finished find a hard piece of plain leather. Place it on a hard surface and "strop" the blade a few times on each side. Stropping is backwards from sharpening. Place the edge away from the draw and pull/push the knife blade backwards with light pressure on each side. If everything has been done properly, one can shave the hairs from one's arm. This is assuming that the steel in the knife blade is of good quality. Usually only expensive knives have decent steel in the blade.

Your diamond stone should be use dry and only as a "coarse" grade stone. All cutting edges should be customized for what you are primarily cutting. A hunting knife for gutting and skinning a deer can be sharpened to a medium sharpness with a saw tooth effect whereas your caping knife needs to be much smaller and just as razor sharp as you can get it. A "Swiss Army" knife large blade for general use can stop at the fine stone and omit the leather stropping. Strop the little blade on your Swiss Army. It is nice to be carrying at least one blade that is razor sharp. Your steak knives can get by at the "medium" stone level. If you are an electrician, you can just go find a concrete step and sharpen your knife there on the concrete. :)

No machine sharpener will approach the edge that one can get by using the above technique. The effort is worth it to learn. You will also find that you are no longer interested in "cheap" knives that will not hold that great edge that you so laboriously created.

Thanks for the elaborate guide :) My favourite knife is a trusty old Victorinox Swiss army knife with two blades. Very good steel in those imo. I try to keep the shorter one razor sharp, but I haven't gone beyond a two-grade sand stone and now my newly aquired Spyderco stone.