DMT Dia-Sharp D8XX
- This is the coarsest diamond sharpening stone I've ever seen or heard or. I got it after I had to deal with the ultra hard, and long, 270mm-300mm Japanese kitchen knives. Before, whenever I needed to remove a lot of metal to cut initial bevel I'd just use my trusty Edge-Pro Apex sharpening system. Its waterstones cut fast and reliably. However, the very first time I had to sharpen Aritsugu 300mm Honkasumi Yanagiba, which is 65HRC+, I realized I did need something much harsher and bigger than those stones Edge-Pro had. Interestingly, Edge-Pro had no problems with another super hard blade - Akifusa Gyuto, which is 64HRC.In the end, I placed an order with Dave at Japanese Knife Sharpening, to be prepared for more knives like that. Another good use for this plate is flattening whetstones. Because diamonds are so hard, they can be easily used to flatten whetstones, as they tend to develop uneven surfaces during the use.
Next time, when two new Aritsugu knives came in, I was ready :) Both, Aritsugu 270mm Fugubiki and 270mm A-Type Gyuto. Check the reviews and take a look at this photo of Sharpened Fugubiki And Gyuto, you'll get the idea about the amount of metal I had to remove. if you have ever sharpened Aritsugu knife, you'll understand the feat. I've also used DMT D8CXX to flatten my Aoto whetstone. Handled that job perfectly, the stone was ready in 2 minutes. Overall, this is s very specialized tool and one should use it with caution. Initial cutting performance is extremely high. After a while, which is after first or second sharpening session, it settles to lower, its own standard performance level, which is still high, compared to anything else I've seen. Eventually it'll loose all cutting power, alas, such is the nature of any coarse stone. Therefore, use it judiciously. As usual, light pressure, lots of water and rinsing and you'll be happy with this stone for a long time. Let alone all the time it will save you. And for the curious minds, here is how DMT 8XXC looks manified 80 times.
DMT DuoSharp®
- DuoSharp® series of diamond benchstones(seen on the top of the photo) have two different surfaces. On DMT-W250EF those are: fine (25µm or 600 grit US/ISO) and Extra Fine (9 µm 1200 grit US/ISO). I've had it for a while. Originally, I intended to use it as a primary stone for bevel cutting, but turned out I've overestimated the fine grit :) It's not designed for that type of work. You can sharpen the knife with it, define secondary bevel, once the primary is cut, but the Fine grit, as the name suggests is the one for finer sharpening, not to cut bevels. On the other hand, if you don't need to do major metal removal, then it works just great. I've sharpened quite dull blades with it literally in minutes. Its sheer size 260mm(10") and diamond crystals do the job, just keep it watered well and you're good.Last updated - 05/19/19