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They are very easy to prepare with just a few squirts of distilled water. Again, these plates are NOT FOR HONING your tools; they are useful primarily for FLATTENING the STONES that hone the tools.3. If you feel a need to justify the cost, figure out the cost per square inch of cutting surface; regardless, the larger ones are just much more versatile and easier to use.A few other things I've learned about these plates over the past 10 years or so that I've used them: 1. trust me, just buy it). Also, buy the big 10-inch Duosharp plates, not the smaller versions.
As always, let the tool do the work and if it doesn't do the work, you may be using the wrong tool. This may seem contrary to my five-star rating of this tool, but for direct metal removal, you're much better off using a soft white grinding stone, flat waterstones (or oilstones), or wet-dry paper glued to thick glass or a slab of granite. It may seem cheap that they don't include the base but. These are MUCH better than the big ceramic flattening bricks whose pores get clogged up with gunk, and they're much faster and less messy than aluminum oxide sandpaper. The base keeps the plate very stable. DMT markets these diamond plates broadly for all-purpose sharpening, but that promises more than can be delivered.
This is the best tool available, to my knowledge, for that particular job, and that's the basis for the five stars.Now here's a question I asked myself when I first encountered these plates and I've never figured out: How do they press a couple of thin sheets of metal into a piece of yellow plastic and know that it will be perfectly flat and stay perfectly flat. (Buy the black plastic base too, by the way. You must dry them off thoroughly before you put them away or they will rust. If I had to use them as my ONLY sharpening tools, they'd get ONE star and I'd probably quit using hand tools altogether. 2. They ARE, and they DO, but I'm curious how they do it.
The little circular recesses, even on the finer Duosharp plates, will leave myriad nicks that must be cleaned up. Either side is coarse enough to flatten the 1000 and 8000-grit stones I use for honing chisels and plane blades. It also adds some elevation, which makes a world of difference when you're trying to flatten the back of a plane blade or, especially, a chisel without rounding over the edge. This large, coarse/extra-coarse (two sides) DMT Duosharp diamond plate is the best instrument I've found for flattening water stones.
These plates are also easy to flush, clean and store. It wasn't from reading the Company literature.I've discovered one of the keys to honing an excellent working edge on hand tools is keeping your stones flat, and you're more likely to do that regularly if you have a fast, easy, convenient way to do it. If you wrap one of these in a few semi-moist paper towels, put it in your toolbox and come back for it a month later, you may find you're the owner of something that looks like Chia Pet roadkill.I don't need to tell you how I learned these things. I use all three, depending on the job, but as I said, a couple of good Norton waterstones is what I use for day-to-day edge honing.
The little rubbery mat they come with is a poor substitute. You CAN wear the diamond grit off trying to do heavy metal removal, such as flattening the sole of a new plane. In fact, I quit using them many years ago, after a few notably unsuccessful forays, for direct sharpening and honing of tool steel edges. These plates are NOT the best tools for grinding a new bevel, and certainly not for honing a fine edge on your best handtools.
I have used the coarse 6" (blue) stone and all grits of the folding smaller stones(red/green, and blue/black), and they are quick cutting, do not require any oil, and have kept my knives sharp for years. They also make a credit card sized "stone", with which you can sharpen a blade anywhere (with a little care because of the size).It takes a bit of use and breaking-in, which is a brief process, before the stone is at its best. I prefer the 10", but the price is steep.However, there is no substitute for putting a good edge on garden tools and high carbon steels of all kinds (including D2 steel).
Not much to say about a sharpening stone except that this is one of those tools that you don't want to scrimp on. The stand is also great to give your knuckles some clearance; it's just a plastic jobby, or you could just as easily make your own. The DMT is well made and makes short work of chisels and plane blades, if I ever had to buy another stone, this would be it. Don't forget the fine/extra fine stone, they complement each other.
Large stone is expensive, but given the size, well worth the $.Cuts worn plane and chisel blades nicely.Good prep for the fine / medium stone.
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