The clean and convenient aspect is a legitimate argument. That being said, value wise, the Norton Crystolons will sharpen the hardest of knife steels. I've sharpened Rex 45,121,76, cpm 10V, 15V, and 110v with Crystolons and Gritomatic Sics with great results. Yeah, they need conditioned but the value is still better. I also like the feedback from years of using them. Thanks for sharing your experience Joe! Cheers.
I got into diamond stones in the 90’s when I started sharpening my own carbide router bits and saw blades. They are great for their aggressive nature but that can be a disadvantage with someone new to sharpening. I started off with my dad’s Crystolon, India, and Arkansas though. It’s all about using the proper tools for the job.
I have got DMT D8X Dia-Sharp Extra-Coarse, it works well with chisels, planers and chipped knives, but it requires refining it by finer water stones or oil stones.
If you are getting into the super steels, diamonds are the way to go indeed. It is doable on regular stones, but ive found that you need to go as low pressure as possible and just keep at it foreeeeever if you want a good result on those. If you sharpen with the same pressure you would on a "regular" steel, it just abrades the steel matrix faster than the carbides in it, rounding them over and give you a very glassed out edge that feels horrible to cut with. I have had some success with doing the profiling and getting the apex properly on a coarse diamond, then moving to regular stones for polishing afterwards though, but it still needs to be done very carefully. Have you looked into bonded CBN stones though? CBN is not as hard as diamond, but its still so hard that it makes 0 practical difference as ive not found a steel it wont cut so far (ive tried up to maxamet, not gotten my hands on REX121 yet though). But the big thing with CBN imo is that it lasts longer than diamond. And especially if you get a bonded stone (abrasives dispersed into it) instead of electroplated (thin layer embedded on top of the surface) as those can be resurfaced whenever they start wearing. Fair warning though, those stones are really expensive. I dont know if they are the right thing for you, but it just struck me that if you make and sharpen this many knives then that cost might be justifiable for you. I use mine for a sharpening service.
i have not looking at those cbn stones before, but they look interesting, thank you for mentioning them! i do not think that i will be getting into supersteels that much. i have a bar of magnacut that i started playing with a couple of months ago, but then mostly lost interest in it, i hope to get back to it next year, but i can sharpen it easily with the norton crystolon and dmt 325.
I was looking for a do-it-all stone, and I found Alex' video (outdoor55) on the sharpal 162N. I bought one, and combined with a good 2-sided strop; you can get anything hair popping sharp. And I haven't seen any wear on it yet; besides steel dust and fingerprints. And I use it dry, I don't know haow the fingerprints got there.
@joecalton1449 my pleasure. By the way I am having quite a a good experience with my Fallkniven diamond and ceramic hone-whetstone. I believe it's the DC3. It must I suppose be made for them by a 3rd party. You might like to try one.
I just received a DMT course diamond lap for Xmas. I haven't tried it yet. I also bought another Norton Cristolon JB8 stone here in Panama. They are cheap down here at only 11 dollars.
@@rickwhitson2804 I have 2 of those stones. My first one cost me 7.50 cents several years ago. I didn't know what I had. I found out by looking at these youtube videos that Norton makes on of the best oil stones so I bought another. Some things are cheaper in Central America I guess.
The clean and convenient aspect is a legitimate argument. That being said, value wise, the Norton Crystolons will sharpen the hardest of knife steels.
I've sharpened Rex 45,121,76, cpm 10V, 15V, and 110v with Crystolons
and Gritomatic Sics with great results. Yeah, they need conditioned
but the value is still better. I also like the feedback from years of
using them. Thanks for sharing your experience Joe! Cheers.
My Norton crystolon course side cuts so good. That's why I don't have any diamond stones. But I'm going to get one and try it out.
its tough to beat the norton crystolon stones!
I got into diamond stones in the 90’s when I started sharpening my own carbide router bits and saw blades. They are great for their aggressive nature but that can be a disadvantage with someone new to sharpening. I started off with my dad’s Crystolon, India, and Arkansas though.
It’s all about using the proper tools for the job.
diamond stones work great for router bits and saw blades. i have some small diamond stones on little handles that work great for those.
YAY!!! My weekly Saturday Joe video!!!
Hope you enjoyed it!
@ I really did!
I have got DMT D8X Dia-Sharp Extra-Coarse, it works well with chisels, planers and chipped knives, but it requires refining it by finer water stones or oil stones.
i have one of those, and it is a cool stone.
If you are getting into the super steels, diamonds are the way to go indeed. It is doable on regular stones, but ive found that you need to go as low pressure as possible and just keep at it foreeeeever if you want a good result on those. If you sharpen with the same pressure you would on a "regular" steel, it just abrades the steel matrix faster than the carbides in it, rounding them over and give you a very glassed out edge that feels horrible to cut with. I have had some success with doing the profiling and getting the apex properly on a coarse diamond, then moving to regular stones for polishing afterwards though, but it still needs to be done very carefully.
Have you looked into bonded CBN stones though? CBN is not as hard as diamond, but its still so hard that it makes 0 practical difference as ive not found a steel it wont cut so far (ive tried up to maxamet, not gotten my hands on REX121 yet though). But the big thing with CBN imo is that it lasts longer than diamond. And especially if you get a bonded stone (abrasives dispersed into it) instead of electroplated (thin layer embedded on top of the surface) as those can be resurfaced whenever they start wearing.
Fair warning though, those stones are really expensive. I dont know if they are the right thing for you, but it just struck me that if you make and sharpen this many knives then that cost might be justifiable for you. I use mine for a sharpening service.
i have not looking at those cbn stones before, but they look interesting, thank you for mentioning them! i do not think that i will be getting into supersteels that much. i have a bar of magnacut that i started playing with a couple of months ago, but then mostly lost interest in it, i hope to get back to it next year, but i can sharpen it easily with the norton crystolon and dmt 325.
I was looking for a do-it-all stone, and I found Alex' video (outdoor55) on the sharpal 162N. I bought one, and combined with a good 2-sided strop; you can get anything hair popping sharp. And I haven't seen any wear on it yet; besides steel dust and fingerprints. And I use it dry, I don't know haow the fingerprints got there.
i have that stone and did the unboxing and first edges video on it a couple of days ago. it seems like a really good stone so far!
I enjoyed. Thank you, I will be following your updates.
Thanks for watching!
@joecalton1449 my pleasure. By the way I am having quite a a good experience with my Fallkniven diamond and ceramic hone-whetstone. I believe it's the DC3. It must I suppose be made for them by a 3rd party. You might like to try one.
Joe you better get that cough checked out friend
I just received a DMT course diamond lap for Xmas. I haven't tried it yet. I also bought another Norton Cristolon JB8 stone here in Panama. They are cheap down here at only 11 dollars.
i hope you got one of the good dmts. and congrats on the norton!
@glenh4971 that is awesome. I payed like 35 for mine. It's my go to
@@rickwhitson2804 I have 2 of those stones. My first one cost me 7.50 cents several years ago. I didn't know what I had. I found out by looking at these youtube videos that Norton makes on of the best oil stones so I bought another. Some things are cheaper in Central America I guess.