DMT 8k best usage

Hi all!

I got a broken in DMT 8k from a member, and I wonder what is the best way to get a good edge with it. Set the bevel with a 1k hone and then after how many laps should I check for good sharpness? When do I know that I maxed out on it, how sharp should it be? After it I want to strop on some balsa paddle with crox for finishing.
BTW I use it with water, and a bit of dishwashing soap.

You're probably going to get a couple of odd stares



What is your 1K - another diamond plate or another synthetic (and which brand?) That will help to customize the answer better.

However, jumping from 1K to 8K, even if diamond, will take a few strokes. An intermediate stone or plate would speed things up. From the 8K DMT to Chromium Oxide, again, a few strokes will be needed to remove the DMT scratches.

I think you need to slow down a bit.

You're not going to go anywhere going from the 1K and jumping to an 8K. You need to bridge the gap between the two and the closer the better.

You can definitely use your dmt 8k and even shave off of it.

I recommend getting a 4k/8k Norton combo first.

The DMT 8k isn't the typical 8k.

danjared said:

The DMT 8k isn't the typical 8k.

Click to expand...

Broken link.

azmark said:

Broken link.

Click to expand...

Heh, it was broken for a whole 10 seconds.

danjared said:

The DMT 8k isn't the typical 8k.

Click to expand...

Excellent. Never seen that thread before. I knew it could be used as a finisher but not after a 1.2k.

azmark said:

Excellent. Never seen that thread before. I knew it could be used as a finisher but not after a 1.2k.

Click to expand...

I've heard various things about it as a finisher, but I've mostly heard that it's a little harsh because of the deep scratches typically leave. But I also hear that's easily remedied with some passes on chrome oxide. Not that I'd know... when I had a D8EE, I could hardly stand the thing. It felt like honing on a crowbar. I do recall it being rather fast, though.

I'd agree- the DMT 8k works really fast, feels like honing on a crowbar, and is easy to overhone with, but it's certainly possible to get a good edge off of it.

The best results I've had usually involve as little pressure as you can get away with and still keep the razor flat on the hone, plenty of water, and frequent testing. The DMTs cut really fast IME with soapy water, cut slightly slower dry, and slowest with just plain water- keeping in mind that the slowest cutting speed on a DMT is still usually 10 strokes or less. Type and hardness of steel make a big difference- some razors need 5 strokes, some need 20. YMMV

The addition of dish soap to water on the 8k makes enough of a difference on my razors to prompt me to try a strange sort of dish-soap dilucot, starting out wet and soapy for a couple strokes, then add water and do a couple more strokes, then rinse and do a couple more w/ just water. Results seem to be slightly better than either soapy water or just plain water, although I might be nuts.

There isn't the same body of experience out there for these diamond hones as there is for other kinds of stones, so please experiment and report back.

Gentleman, please focus on the question

I will set the bevel with a dmt 1,2k, but I have a naniwa 3k too in between if it is really necessary. I will finish with a coti, so crox isn't an issue either. I want to master one hone at a time. I already know how to hone, but im not perfect, and my hones are new to me. So that is why I ask about them, because there are many people here on the forum who have used these hones for years, and can help me with a few tips so I won't have to figure out what they have already done.

jeness said:

I want to master one hone at a time. I already know how to hone, but im not perfect, and my hones are new to me.

Click to expand...

I don't feel that these statements resonate with each other. If you know how to hone but not perfectly and also want to master one hone at a time, I'm not sure what good it will serve to move onto this new hone. Why not stick with what you're already using until you have mastered that first?

jeness said:

So that is why I ask about them, because there are many people here on the forum who have used these hones for years, and can help me with a few tips so I won't have to figure out what they have already done.

Click to expand...

SamG offered some suggestions for usage. You may want to do a Google or site search for "DMT 8k" or "DMT D8EE" as well. I found various tips in old B&B threads, but really it comes down to learning how to feel when your razor is ready. There, the standard tools (TNT, AHT, TPT, HHT, shaving test, etc) all apply. No set number exists for how many laps to do. It will vary from razor to razor and perhaps even honing to honing because of variables such as pressure and stroke consistency.

jeness said:

Gentleman, please focus on the question

I will set the bevel with a dmt 1,2k, but I have a naniwa 3k too in between if it is really necessary. I will finish with a coti, so crox isn't an issue either. I want to master one hone at a time. I already know how to hone, but im not perfect, and my hones are new to me. So that is why I ask about them, because there are many people here on the forum who have used these hones for years, and can help me with a few tips so I won't have to figure out what they have already done.

Click to expand...

OK. Off the 1.2 DMT, the edge will be somewhat serrated, not matter what. From the Extra Fine DMT, I like to step back to a 1K Shapton, but you can also go directly to a 2K, but since you are going straight to a EE DMT - the next stone in the DMT progression - it raises an interesting question about using the 3K superstone in between.

Questions aside, it would be most prudent, IMO, to add the 3K, if for no other reason than to cut down on some of the work on the 8EE. Under the scope, I've seen micro chipping that occurs at higher levels due to the deepness of the scratches that are left from the coarsest stone. The 3K will take off some of the higher peaks from the 1.2 DMT. And with enough time, you should get a much cleaner edge for the 8K to work with.

It's darn near impossible to pin down a number of strokes that will give consistent results across different types of blades with these DMTs. Touch-ups on the 8k might be as few as 5 zero-weight strokes on some blades, or you might spend half an hour on it with a restoration razor with the bevel set off the 1.2k. If you find yourself struggling with it, one of the $4 ebay 60x microscopes can save hours of frustration.

I'll share today's experience to give one more point of reference for use of the 8k, hope it helps.

I honed a Wostenholm "Perfection" blade this afternoon that'd had to be breadknifed because of chips and pitting on the edge. I reset the bevel from scratch a while ago with a DMT D6C 325 (which took hours) and today I took it up through 600, 1200 and 8k DMTs, finishing on a Chinese 12k.

The 600 took at least 15 minutes of blade-weight-only strokes (I wasn't counting), the 1200 took 35-40 strokes, and I went back and forth from the 8k to the 1200 twice, doing ~15 strokes on the 8k followed by 5 on the 1200, then final polishing with 15-20 on the 8k. This is more strokes than you'd need for a regular shaver-- the DMT 325 leaves some serious scratches in the bevel that take a while to remove, and IME the extra strokes cascade through the progression a little ways.

The most difficult thing about using the 8k for me is that it'll sharpen (or draw a wire on) long parts of the blade before some of the deeper grooves from the 1200 are fully polished out. This makes the blade provide satisfactory results on the AHT, TPT and HHT, and will wipe black marker cleanly and completely off the bevel, but the shave will be very ragged and uncomfortable. I think this is what people are talking about when they say that diamond hones "micro-chipped" their edge; instead of diamonds biting chips out of the edge, there's instead sections that become flat & evenly sharp between intermittent deep grooves that interrupt the edge. Tom has way more expertise and better 'scopes, so he could probably describe that far better than I can.

To avoid this, you can either:

1. Use an in-between stone like your Naniwa 3k after the 1.2k and before the 8k
2. Go back and forth between the 8k and 1.2k at first to get the bevel evenly refined and polished
3. Go straight from the 1.2k to the 8k and alternate circles and x-strokes on the 8k to get the edge even without drawing a wire.

I don't have an in between stone, but going back and forth from 1.2k to 8k tends to break up the sections of wire as they form, then the circles/x-strokes on the 8k refines and evens the edge out after that.

Tom's advice about the 3k is right on as usual, and I'd agree with him that going to the Naniwa in between the 1200 and the 8k will provide the quickest and most reliable results. But if your goal is to master one hone at a time, doing the 1200->8k->strop->shave progression without the coti or crox is the way to go. Once you get that down, the finishers will make that edge sing! I can get one of my razors to do silent HHT from just the DMT 8k and crox, now if I could just get all of 'em to do that...

Best of luck to you!

For a while I went from DMT1200 to DMT8000 and finished on chromox, and it worked just fine.

But, as others have said, that metallic feedback from the 8000 left something to be desired.

Thanks for the help, now I have some guidelines to follow. I read all the threads about the DMT, but there were some contradictions. One was that you won't overhone with a DMT8k, because of the way the diamond cuts. So you have to set the bevel with a 1k stone, and then do laps one the 8k until its sharpness levels off. But this seems too cookie cutter to be true