11

Examining Diamond Sharpening Whetstones iamond sharpening whetstones are now CONSTRUCTION well established as a medium for bring- This is the major factor to the reasons of varia- Ding a sharp edge to tooling in a very short tion of quality and price. space of time. Even the staunch traditionalist has There are two basic means of construction, come to accept that this medium has huge bene- impregnated or electro-plated. fits over conventional means of sharpening, such as retaining flatness, speed of cut and (in certain Impregnated: In basic terms it is like a layer cases) long durability. of diamond being spread onto a covering However, there is now a quagmire of diamond of glue, cheap to produce and as good as products in the market place which has resulted the glue! in much confusion to end users in deciding what best suits their needs. As in any range, there is a Electro-plated: The base material is sub- huge variation of quality, appearance and most merged into a tank of Diamond in a Nickel importantly price. As a solution which is then electro-plat- golden rule remember the ed onto the surface. The Nickel following, “You get what grows around the Diamond locking you pay for.” There are it in place with two thirds sub- good reasons why you merged and one third exposed as can buy three grades of 6" the sharpening medium. stones in a set from as lit- tle as £15.00 and yet There are two types of Diamond another manufacturer will retail a single 6" stone used: Polycrystalline at £55.00. or Monocrystalline. Over the next few issues of “Yandle’s Wood Club magazine” I will try to cover the reasons Polycrystalline behind these differences, answer the major ques- Diamond is a frag- tions that are usually raised and also try to mented compound, explain things in plain English! which shatters off a 12

new face after each sharpening, thus it wears best guideline is the price and purchase a rep- away rapidly. Cheap to use in construction at utable make. Remember, you get what you the expense of durability. pay for.

Monocrystalline SHOULD YOU USE A LUBRICANT? Diamond is a sin- Yes. If you use a Diamond Whetstone dry then gle structure that this will result in clogging up the abrasive sur- does not break face. The swarf has to go somewhere! with use. It is strong and has an WHAT IS THE BEST LUBRICANT? exceptional lifes- Though companies such as DMT have always pan. (The Trend range of Diamond products stated that you can use water as a lubricant, over use a Diamond called Element 6 – previously the past few years there has been a significant known as Debeers. To achieve precision prod- move towards using specialised products. Trend ucts you must use the premium components.) introduced four years ago, a lapping fluid (petro- leum based) which has been used in There are two types of surface produced, Matrix the Engineering Industry for more (holes) or a continual surface. than thirty years. It was specifically designed and produced for use on Matrix (holes): i.e. DMT (USA) / various Diamond abrasive products. Trend cheaper Eastern imported variations. regard this product so highly that they now offer a five year guarantee Continual Surface: i.e. Trend (Made in UK on all of their range of Diamond – recent winners of The Engineering stones when using this lapping Excellence Award 2006) / Atoma / Eze-lap fluid. It has already been widely recognised in the press and Trade On balance, in my opinion, there are added ben- journals as being the best lubricant efits for continual Diamond surfaces, to use. An Atomiser spray top ensures that the product, in normal use, can quite easily last in 1 50% more Diamond per square inch. excess of a year.

2 A “smooth feel of cut” – the Matrix system WHY SHOULD I USE A LAPPING FLUID sometimes gives a “lumpy feel of cut”. WHEN WATER IS FREE? To prevent rusting problems. Remember that 3 No snagging when sharpening smaller or quality Diamond Whetstones are electro-plated pointed tooling. Sharpening chisels or smaller using Nickel. Nickel is porous. Any water- on the Matrix system results in catching in based lubricant can result in the threat of rust the holes. blemishes. You will get long life from a quality Whetstone if you look after it. The lapping fluid Therefore Diamond products vary greatly in is petroleum based so if, by mistake, you leave quality and price between the cheaper end of the any fluid on your whetstone it will evaporate market, impregnated / Polycrystalline to electro- within 15-20 minutes. plated / Monocrystalline.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IS WHICH? Quality manufacturers usually will have the Used Used with details of construction on the packaging; howev- with water lapping fluid er, the cheaper ranges will not, so therefore, the 13

CAN I USE WD40 OR This works out more practical as well as finding SOMETHING SIMILAR? that you can prolong the life of your cutters by up It is too thick, you will “skate” over the Diamond to 10 times. Follow these steps: surface on the quality products. Always sharpen your cutter on its flat face, EXAMPLE never touch the profile side otherwise you The Trend double sided bench stones are finished will change the shape of the cutter. off to a precision flatness of +/- 0.0005". On the fine side they use Diamond which is 11 micron (a human hair cut in half is approx 50-60 micron). Only the top third of the Diamond is *exposed, therefore the sharpening abrasion is one third of 11 micron…WD 40 is too thick ! * A useful reference guide to all sharpening with Diamond products is the Trend DVD FLAT SIDE OF THE ROUTER on sharpening available from Yandals shop. Complete with live demonstrations & Count the amount of strokes on one practical advice. face and the repeat on the other so that you keep it in balance (removing the A Guide to Router, Saw Blade same amount of material from either edge). and Spindle Knife Sharpening Featuring the Trend double sided (Fine & Coarse) Credit Card Whetstone.

Regular maintenance/sharpening to any tooling ensures that you are able to maintain a sharp edge without too many problems. A little bit and often is the key. Router cutters, either H.S.S. or carbide, can be sharpened in as little as three or COUNT ON EACH FACE four strokes using Diamond abrasive products. Remember, compared to Diamond, Tungsten is Sharpen your cutter wherever possible comparatively soft. from new to make sure that you have an edge as it was designed to be. Some cut- ters need honing before use.

Sharpen your cutter regularly; don’t wait until the cutter is getting blunt because then you will find that it is working too hard to do the job. This is when you end up damaging the cutter and throwing it away!

Use a Fine grit for Carbide Use a Coarser grit for H.S.S. This is why the Trend Credit Cardstone (the only double sided type on the Rather than having to send cutters or saw blades market) is ideal for sharpening cutters and away to “Saw doctors” to be sharpened, losing saw blades. As well as the narrow width 30%-40% of the face after it has been excessive- (0.8mm) enables you to get into sharpen ly ground away, maintain your own cutters. smaller and fluted cutters. 14

Saw Blades are very similar. Sharpen on the flat face with JAMES T. BARRY has been only three or four strokes over involved in Diamond sharpen- each tooth. ing abrasives for twenty years and is regarded by many as an Use light pressure in forward and expert in his own field. Having backward strokes. worked worldwide for DMT (USA ten years) and gaining Put the blade in a vice, chalk up further experience with Atoma the first tooth and slowly work (Japanese) Titan (Swiss) prod- your way around the blade. ucts. In 1998 He decided that it Regular maintenance with prevent was time to try and put all his you having to send your blades experience into creating the to a saw doctor resulting in best quality engineered range being charged for having 30%- of Diamond Whetstones, most 40% of the carbide face being importantly using the top qual- ground away. ity engineering experiences from UK manufacturers. Spindle Knives again are a similar This was achieved in to router cutters in that you must January 2000 and Trend sharpen from “the back side” and Machinery & Cutting tools ltd. never touch the profile edge unless requested the sole distribution you wish to change the shape of rights for UK and Ireland. the cut. They duly did this and dropped the DMT range from It is paramount that sharpening their portfolio. spindle knives is done on a The product range has the Diamond Whetstone, which is pre- following unique properties: cision flat. Use a fine grit. 1 The only Diamond range in the World which is produced The most suitable stone available is in the UK. the Trend double sided (Fine & Coarse) precision 7" x 2.5" bench 2 The only range which uses stone. It is finished off to double sided continual dia- a flatness of + / - 0.0005", the flat- mond whetstones. test Diamond stone on the market. This product was one of the ranges, 3 The only range which offers which contributed to the manufacturers in a five-year guarantee. England being awarded the Engineering Excellence Award for 2006. Suppliers to the 4 The only bench stones which are avail- likes of British Aerospace and Rolls Royce, it is able at a flatness of +/- 0.0005". this type of pedigree which is needed when sharpening precision tooling such as spindle The product range has gone from strength to knives. This stone will again feature in our later strength, now available in the USA, Austria, section on chisel and plane blade sharpening. Scandinavia, France and Australia. In March of 2006 the manufacturers have These stones are also suitable for sharpening, been awarded The Engineering Excellence in exactly the same way, Horse & dog Award for 2006. clipper blades. James T Barry 10 A Guide to Sharpening Chisels/ Plane Blades & Turning/ Carving Tools

ith all chisels and plane blades one Wof the most impor- tant factors is making sure that the backs are totally flat before trying to hone them to a razor finish. The coarser grits of Diamond whetstones are ideal for this procedure. Once the back has Honing guides can be used on quality been flattened it is then a matter of seconds to Whetstones without the fear of dishing achieve the required edge. or grooving.

Sharpening with a Diamond Whetstone is Turning and Carving tools come in many differ- about 95% quicker than traditional methods. ent shapes, which often can cause problems when trying to sharpen on a flat surface. Do not apply too much pressure, “Let the Therefore you will probably find that a combi- Diamond do the work.” nation of a slip stone (The double sided Credit Card) and a file which will enable you to pene- A continual Diamond surface prevents snag- trate those normally inaccessible areas. ging when sharpening smaller tools as can occur when using Diamond stones with the Gouges have either an internal or external Matrix (holes) type surface. bevel edge.

Diamond Whetstones sharpen both on the The majority have an external bevel edge, forwards and backwards stroke. place the bevel edge flush with the Diamond surface then gently roll to sharpen the edge. High quality Diamond Whetstones do not dish or groove.

“Back off” the chisel or plane blade and then with a few light strokes apply a razor edge in seconds to the bevelled edge. Finish off by wiping off the burr that you have created.

Use with a lubricant to dispose of the swarf. Highly recommended is the Trend Lapping fluid, which prevents rust and clogging. 11

To remove the burr use a file, the Diamond shears or other heavy-duty applications use Penfile is ideal for this as well as being the coarse grit. the best for sharpening carbide tipped ring tooling. Secateurs / Pruners Similar to the sharpening of the scissors or Turning gouges should mainly be sharpened shears, secateurs have a bevel edge and a using the coarse grit. flat edge. Align the You more often than Diamond slip stone not need a “coarse to the bevel edge sharp edge”. and in a circular motion slowly go For the variation of down the length of carving tools Needle the blade. Once files can prove a you have put the huge benefit in acc- edge on the bevel essing difficult areas. Needle files side, turn it over and remove the burr you have created keeping the slip stone flat to Needle files are available in a variety the blade. of shapes. Triangular / Tapered Flat Half round / Flat & Tapered Round / Tapered Serrated knives / Hoof knives The Trend Diamond files are of the highest For serrated knives quality (as supplied to British Aerospace simply use a Dia- and Rolls Royce) Sold individually or in a mond file to go into set of four. each serration and lightly sharpen the DOMESTIC GENERAL SHARPENING bevel edge. Once you Away from the workshop or site work, there is have done this turn Diamond Penfile still plenty of sharpening to be done in the the blade over and, home, in the garden or maybe even on fishing or keeping the file flat to the other side, remove hunting trip. the burr you have created with one simple Diamond Whetstones are not just highly effi- stroke. Hoof knives have always created a cient on woodworking tooling but also Knives, problem with the hook at the end of the secateurs / pruners, shears, scissors, axes, craft blade. With the Penfile you can easily access knives, serrated blades, hoof knives etc. & sharpen this area.

Scissors / Shears Knives: Domestic / Align the slip stone flush with the bevel Hunting & Utility edge then stroke softly along the blade. With Diamond Steels Remove the burr Pocket 5 or the universal Pen- that you have raised Double sided file it is possible to by one clean stroke fine / coarse put a razor edge back flat to the other side on knives in seconds of the blade. Repeat and then maintain it. process to the other blade. For domestic Many people have problems maintaining scissors use the an edge to their kitchen knives as when they Fine grit for garden are purchased from new. The old tradition- 12

al method of using ordinary steel can be a very “hit or miss” affair. The major problem with conventional steels is that all you are doing is re-aligning the edge, so eventually you end up with a blade with very thick shoulders to it that would probably need re- grinding. Some people try and use any of the vast array of “pull through” sharpening gizmos. Again the major problem with these is that the pair of wheels (or whatever sharpening medium is used) leaves a very rough, bumpy almost saw like quality to the blade.

The main advantage with using Diamond products is that you are removing a small amount of material from the blade on each stroke, so therefore you only need a few alternate light strokes to achieve the edge.

A flatter angle for a filleting edge. A steeper angle for a boning edge. For the majority of domestic knives use approxi- mately a 20% angle.

Use a shallow angle / alternate light strokes down the length of the blade as in the diagrams shown on the right.

Stroke away from the body for safety.

Sharpens stainless steel.

To clean use a damp cloth to remove the swarf or rub down with a drawing office “The main advantage type rubber (putty rubber) with using Diamond These Diamond steels have been used by products is that some of the leading Chefs on the Television you only need a few (e.g. Harriot & Oliver). alternate light strokes Alternate strokes / Shallow angle / Little pressure. to achieve the edge.” James T Barry