Diamond Stones vs traditional wet stones

[jeff-10]

I just picked up a diamond stone from Bass Pro Shop. I actually went up there to get a regular wet stone but almost every sharpening stone they had was diamond. How do they compare to the more traditional wet stones? I am thinking of ordering a regular wet stone from a online retailer.

 

[HoosierQ]

Well diamond hones cut really fast and they offer a lot of resistance. They are good for re-profiling. I am new to them myself. I got one bundled with a Gerber Easy-Out and I had a great deal of luck with it. I am by no means a master free-handed knife sharpener. I did find that the diamond hone to be user friendly and I got very nice edges on a couple of dull Chicago Cutlery knives (66S for one).

My other new aquisition is a Norton two sided oil stone. Norton is pretty much the Cadillac of oil stones and have a good variety of them and water stones too.

Check out this website...amazing product line from many manufacturers including my favorite, a 30,000 grit glass diamond whetstone for $250.

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/

 

[bikerdoc]

what grit did you buy?

Diamond is more aggresive than stone, be careful!

I use 600 and 1200 the most

 

[Slamfire]

I purchased a couple of 8 inch diamond stones from Smokey Mountain knife works.

One coarse, one fine.

I am able to get an excellent edge on my knives faster, with less bother than my Norton India stones.

I gave up on soft Arkansas stones years ago. Not aggressive enough and had hard spots in the stones.

 

[Stainz]

I still have the range of Arkansas stones - mostly Smith's. Black & white hard to soft. I even have an 8k Japaneese water stone. All worked well with my single bevel wood carving and turning tools, while I never successfully sharpened pocket/fb knives. That changed when I got a Spyderco 'Sharpmaker', whose triangular ceramic files force you to even out any 'bias' you might influence your sharpenening with by being very 'slow' in it's application. While 400A/420 might be resharpened in the 20 pulls per stage, even Buck's 420HC needs more - S30V, etc, a lot more. Still, it has proven to be a valuable tool - especially when you compare it's price to the needed Arkansas stones. I'd say it's a viable alternative to either of the OP's choices.

Stainz