Review on 🔪 DMD Diamond Whetstone Sharpening Tool - Special Edition by John Koch

I used to want to sharpen whetstones, so I bought this whetstone and a cheap set of waterstones. I'm very glad I chose this tool as the first thing I used was to align the set of water stones properly! This set is really simple. You get a three-sided diamond whetstone (150#, 325#, and 1200#), a sturdy plastic base with grippy feet, and a one-page manual that's pretty much useless. The highlights are that you can use the 150 grit side to smooth out other rocks, don't use water (wrong!) and lay it on the edge to try after cleaning. As it is basically one piece the whole setup is quite large and I will keep it in the box for safekeeping. First I checked the stone for flatness with a good ruler. Everything was going well, so I set about preparing the stone for use. You can find all sorts of instructions online, but basically with new diamond stones you need to prepare the surface and remove any diamond residue that might otherwise ruin what you are trying to sharpen or level. You will need some water and a disposable knife or piece of hardened steel with a relatively straight edge - in my case I used a disposable scraper. Run the steel over the stone for 2-3 minutes with the same motion and pressure you would use to sharpen a knife. Be sure to keep the stone lubricated, washing it several times as you do so. After this process, the surface of the stone is visibly smoother and free of protrusions. The instructions that came with it said not to use water but I used it anyway as almost all other instructions you will find for a diamond stone use soapy water or plain water as a lubricant. as this will help move the material away from the polishing surface rather than getting stuck in it. The very first "real" thing I used this for was to smooth out a leveling stone from a cheap water stone kit. After soaking the leveling stone for about 10 minutes, I set the 150# side, poured some water on it and spread it around to coat the stone. I placed the stone face down and began smoothing it out using light, even pressure and random circular motions. It took me about a minute of sanding to get a very flat surface, after which I used #325 grit to polish the stone a bit to make it more suitable for finer grit waterstones. Cleaning was easy, just rinsed in the sink. , dried and laid on the line to dry. I have used 325# and 1200# stones to bring acceptable sharpness to a small disposable pocket knife that has never had much sharpness before. One thing that struck me right away is that the blade of the knife is able to capture the design engraved on the stone. Although the pattern looks irregular, it actually features regular horizontal lines throughout the stone. The knife recognized this and I think it affected my ability to get a good edge as I had to constantly adjust the angle of the knife or excessively reduce the pressure to avoid cutting into the groove. I haven't tried sharpening a flat-edged blade yet, but I suspect this will be a problem, especially when using a bevel tool. at all or angled to the sharpening motion which I think will result in a superior cutting edge. For the price it's not too bad. Basically you get three inexpensive diamond stones plus a stable base for $15 each. This is equivalent to the cheapest stones you will find. It makes an excellent lapping stone for whetstones, but the regularity of the pattern caused problems with the smaller blades I tried.