DMT Diamond plate "bumps"

I got a set of DMT diamond plates a while back, and in the beginning they seemed to be fine... I got the 300, 600, and 1200, and now the 600 and 1200 seem to have grown a few "bumps" on them that nick whatever I'm sharpening... I got out an old plane blade, and used the top end to try to dislodge/break off the offending pieces of grit or whatever is on there... it worked on one of the spots, but the others seem to be unable to be dislodged...???

Anyone else have this type of problem, and if so, how do you go about fixing it...? I had to regrind one of my Hock blades to get rid of the scratches and right now I'm not using them any further until I figure out a way to fix the problem...

JH

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Hood

I got a set of DMT diamond plates a while back, and in the beginning they seemed to be fine... I got the 300, 600, and 1200, and now the 600 and 1200 seem to have grown a few "bumps" on them that nick whatever I'm sharpening... I got out an old plane blade, and used the top end to try to dislodge/break off the offending pieces of grit or whatever is on there... it worked on one of the spots, but the others seem to be unable to be dislodged...???

Anyone else have this type of problem, and if so, how do you go about fixing it...? I had to regrind one of my Hock blades to get rid of the scratches and right now I'm not using them any further until I figure out a way to fix the problem...

JH

---

Jeffrey,

One of the problems with DMT diamond plates is rogue diamonds, Atoma plates are much better. Diamond plates are good for grinding but there are better options for honing and polishing mostly because of the shape of the scratch pattern left by diamonds. Like you I've had DMT plates leave scratches that can not be removed in the honing process. Atoma plates have the same scratch pattern problem but without the rogue diamonds.

ken

I had this on a 1200 Diasharp. DMT was going to replace it but, asked me to lightly rub it face to face with a 600 first. They offered to replace one or both if this caused more trouble. It cured the problem but, this is just my experience. I would not do so without their say so. The minor anomalies on the stones I purchased in the last couple of years are annoying but, since the DMT's outlast every other diamond stone I have tried they are my keepers. MY 'fine' has been in use since 2002. Other grits from a decade or so ago did not share this anomaly.

I've had the same problem with my DMT plates; my solution was to, as Ken described, relegate my DMT plates to grinding. My honing and initial polishing is now done on waterstones: from there I move to a hardwood strop charged with green compound. I spend much less time sharpening and I get better results than before I added the waterstones to the lineup.

Well, I guess I'm not alone... :(

I might try the coarser over the finer to see if it would fix the problem, since the plates are pretty much unusable at this point... too hard to try to remember what part of the plate not to use... very frustrating at the price of the plates... probably should have done more research before getting them...

JH

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Hood

Well, I guess I'm not alone... :(

I might try the coarser over the finer to see if it would fix the problem, since the plates are pretty much unusable at this point... too hard to try to remember what part of the plate not to use... very frustrating at the price of the plates... probably should have done more research before getting them...

---

Contact DMT support and discuss this with them rather than just not using them. I purchased what I think are their lagest plates recently, so I have four faces that do not exhibit this problem. None of my other five or six that I hae show this problem. I do have one new in packaging that I have not tested, but, I expect that they will take care of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andrew Pitonyak

Contact DMT support and discuss this with them rather than just not using them. I purchased what I think are their lagest plates recently, so I have four faces that do not exhibit this problem. None of my other five or six that I hae show this problem. I do have one new in packaging that I have not tested, but, I expect that they will take care of it.

---

+1. They have good customer service.