The full set of four Atoma diamond sharpening plates, with a discount plus free: 250ml tin of HoneRite Gold concentrate (enough to make 6 litres of honing fluid), leather bench mat and spray bottle.
Working through all of the grades in sequence is the most efficient route to the best possible surface, completely replacing the scratches from the previous grade at each step.
You can skip from 400 to 1200 for tiny surfaces like secondary bevels, but for larger areas like the flat sides of blades you'll save precious time and extend the life of your diamond plates by using the three finer ones in order.
Diamond stones are not suitable for working on the bevel side of laminated blades - the soft backing material will gum up the surface - as will brass, aluminium or anything else soft.
Kit Incudes
- Atoma Diamond Sharpening Stone #140
- Atoma Diamond Sharpening Stone #400
- Atoma Diamond Sharpening Stone #600
- Atoma Diamond Sharpening Stone #1200
- General Purpose Workshop Leather
- Shield technology HoneRite Gold 250ml (now in a plastic bottle)
- Spray bottle
Regular price of items if sold individually £353.75
Plate size: 210mm x 75mm (8¼" x 2⅞")
Dos:
Use plenty of fluid and light pressure.
Fading the pressure out gradually as you finish will leave a finer scratch pattern and reduce the amount of strokes you need to take on the next plate.
Use light pressure, the diamonds are cutting tools and if you let them do their job they will serve you well for many years.
Expect all diamond surfaces to have a vicious bite initially and then gradually bed in over the first few uses, this is completely normal. As long as you keep them clean and cool and avoid using too much pressure they will cut like the wind for years.
Use liberal quantities of some kind of fluid on them, water with a few drops of dish soap, window cleaner, water treated with Honerite Gold all work well.
Light contamination can be cleaned from the surface with an ordinary pencil rubber (eraser), if they get really grubby, moistening the surface with a bit of white spirit will help to lift the crud.
Don'ts:
Avoid using them with soft metals like brass, wrought iron or aluminium as these will gum up the surface and are impossible to remove.
Avoid using them for the bevels of laminated blades as the backing material is often soft and will gum up the surface.
Avoid using too much pressure, especially on the edges, the diamonds themselves are virtually indestructible, the electroplating that holds them to the surface will last much longer if you don't lean on it and scrub.
Avoid using oily lubricants on them, the greasy residues attract dust which will gum up the surface.
