Official Luthiers Forum!

Wood craft is running a sale on the newish DMT Dia sharp bench stones, I ordered the 6 micron & 3 micron, D8ME & D8EE which I mistakenly though were similar to a 4000 grit & 8000 grit water stone. Turns out they are 4000 & 8000 mesh
My Blue Spruce chisel on the right is just off the 3 micron, pretty rough. I read quite a few reviews and they are mixed, some say they need a break-in period but I really don't think they will replace my water stones.

Hi Clinchriver,
While the D8EE will never equal an 8000 waterstone, it gets quite a bit better than what you see there.
I broke mine in initially with a 5 minute gentle rub with a stainless steel block, which did improve it a bit, but now I've been using it (3 years light use).
It's putting an edge on plane blade which gets 3/4 of a thou shavings with white oak no problem, and polishing the backs of chisels.
You can still see a few fine scratches, but the convenience and performance suit me.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I agree with Colin, I just recently bought their "Fine" and Extra FIne" 6" ones and have sharpened up all my plane blades and chisels. When I first used it I thought they were quite coarse but the last couple chisels I did I noticed they were not as gritty. So I think they will smooth out after being used.

When I noticed it I started using the whole "stone" when flatting the backs to even up the wear.

Bob

Same here; they get a lot better with age. Wonderful stones...!

Greg

I picked up the Fine and the 3Micron at Lee valley 3 years ago, and they were great from the start. Mirror finish from the 3Micron.

Bob

Hmmm, I sent them an email and have not heard back. I have had the eight inch (Red 600 grit & Green 1200) grit for years and use them weekly. I'll give them a chance, but I was really disappointed with the initial sharpening.

Latest from DMT:

Please give me your address and we will send a replacement. We recently had an issue with some of the 8000 mesh stones and have addressed the problem. Sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Kristina Byron
Kris
(508) 481-5944 x221
Fax (508) 485-3924
dmtcustomercare@dmtsharp.com
DMT Customer Care
85 Hayes Memorial Drive
Marlborough, MA 01752

Get the new one and give it a whirl……….

Result!
Let's know how it goes.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Well DMT did send a replacement for the D8EE. Its marginally better than the initial purchase but I cannot recommend these as a finishing stone.
In order of appearance my old faithful DMT Red 600 Grit, DMT Green 1200, DMT D8ME, DMT D8EE

I'm not much of a photographer, and got to get a tripod, but here's part of a LN 62 blade off my 3 year old "8000" for comparison.
The 25 degree main bevel is from a well used 1200 grit Diasharp.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin

I'm disapointed, DMT alleged that these were going to make water-stones obsolete. The D8ME actually has 4000 grit on the side.
I finished sharpening with my usual 4000, to 8000 grit norton waterstones, slow and messy but they give the desired result, scary sharp

All I can say is, keep using it and it will break-in and get much better. Here's a quickie shot of my chisel straight off of a very well-used "coarse" dia-sharp stone. I think it's listed as equivalent to 320 grit, yet it leaves a better surface than your 8000? You are using water to lubricate, right?

Yep, water with a drop or two of soap. Look at my pic with the DMT Green 1200 grit, I've had that for 15 years it leaves a just starting mirror finish, My 4000 grit then 8000 grit finish the hone leaving a very polished/mirror finish which is secondary to how sharp the tool is. I'm a long time DMT fan/user but these are not what I really need on my bench. Your well used 325 is appreciably rougher than my 1200, but neither is close to the water stones.

Where's that Link when you need him....

Also: WHERE ARE MY STINKIN CHISELS, LINK?????

Translation Link is my sharpening guru and as good as it gets with this stuff. Last year Link presented at the invitation only Northwoods Seminar which drew some of the biggest names in the biz. Link did a presentation on sharpening that stole the show.

Anyway we tend to like what we have and do, sometimes....

I've got the DMT course and extra course for step one and then I shine them up with a Norton combination stone, 4,000 and 8,000 respectively.

Works for me.

I agree 100% about keep using it.

This is one of my Stanley SW chisels that I just touched up on my Dia Sharp Extra Fine plate. I have no idea what grit they are but I have a Fine and Extra Fine 6" plates. They were both pretty course when new but now they are both really smooth. The Fine cuts just a bit and the Extra fine puts a high polish on as you can see in the picture. That is the reflection from the logo of my work lite you see in the finish. This is without running it over the piece of leather I use to put the final shine on them.

I would suggest you do what I did and flatten the backs of all your chisels and use the complete surface of the plate. That is when mine lost the gritty feel to them.

My chisels are beyond scary sharp and are easily as sharp as a new X-acto blade.

Cheers,
Bob

Thats been my method for several years, start with the DMT Red "600" grit, DMT Green "1200" grit then the Norton 4000 & 8000 water stone's. Also until you regrind no reason to use the 600 and 1200 grit. My tools are sharp, I was just hoping to speed up the process.

I'd settle for that.

Hmmm, I have to wonder what "system" their using to rate the grit of this new stone, then. There are some huge variations in grit systems; for one example, 8,000 grit micromesh is equivalent to 2,000 grit on the ANSI system. Water stones, have their own rating system, too. So maybe this is simply Dia-Sharp using a misleading system for this new stone, or line of stones?