Atoma Diamond Plates

[Echd]

The Atoma diamond plates, which by most accounts compare favorably to DMT, are currently on sale on Amazon. Much like Mr Roboto, they're made in Japan. They're priced about half of what they are at Lee Valley or similar distributors. I don't know why. I have occasionally gotten legitimate Shapton stones and similar for much cheaper prices on Amazon than elsewhere. I've wondered if it's an exchange issue or overstock or what, but I'm not complaining. It's always been Japan based vendors when I get those sorts of deals, and I've always gotten legitimate products, sometimes with packaging indicating that they were intended for the Japanese market rather than international. No idea if that is the case here.

I purchased a 140, 400, and 1200. They also come in a 600 but I feel a 400 is close enough and good enough to jump to 1200. Most reviews seem to feel the same way. I have some of the thinner diamond plates from random chinese sellers and they work, but these will be better for lapping used waterstones and are much larger to boot. I have found myself doing a lot of sharpening small HSS tools lately and I'm always paranoid about wallowing out my shaptons.

They are pretty darn aggressive if you've never used a diamond plate. Very good for fixing up an entirely wrecked edge. I find most very coarse stones to wear quickly so a diamond plate is a good answer for the lower grits. Diamond plate grits aren't always totally comparable to those in stones. I haven't used these yet but they're pretty highly regarded and considered flat. They're a steel plate impregnated with the diamonds in clusters and attached to an aluminum block.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=atoma+plate&crid=6K5EBPJO50WB&sprefix=atoma+plate%2Caps%2C288&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_11

 

[gamiller3rd]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Echd]

Two of mine came in today. Large and hefty. Pictured with a commonly sized shapton stone for comparison.

I have a set of Schaaf chisels amazon sold for next to nothing. Perfectly serviceable and they were dirt cheap, like a couple bucks a piece. The second picture is the chisel as it was out of the box- rough as a cobb to begin with. I've never used this 1/2 so I tested material removal rate of the 140. It was highly aggressive, as is to be expected! Look at how quickly it exposed the large hollow of my chisel. I didn't go all in but spent about 3 minutes seeing how much material would be removed. The answer is quite a lot.

As a side note these are also a good value for chisels... the steel is nothing to write home about but they're quickly repaired, flattened, or sharpened. The design is similar to that of the narex richter chisels in the handle but the blade is somewhat fatter. You can do a lot worse for beaters. This one may have been used to open paint cans at one point now that I think of it... I added a comparison of the richter, Schaff, and a narex "premium" 12mm for those interested- the richter being the most highly regarded by a wide margin.

I don't have my medium stone yet so I hopped right to the 1200. For a diamond stone there is quite a bit of feel, which is nice. I raised the gnarliest burl you have ever seen, gave a couple dozen passes on the strop, and this blunt instrument was now pretty darn sharp. Maybe not the sharpest ever, but totally serviceable! I pared away some oak end grain and some other random scraps I had laying around.

Overall I am quite happy. For the money these were at the price of higher end full size diamond stones but seem to work very well. I really like the feel, likely due to the odd clustered pattern as opposed to the uniform distribution of diamond on other plates.


If I had a "good" set of diamond plates I probably wouldn't rush out to buy these, but I will consider them a good value at first glance.

 

[Warped Woodwerks]

Ever since my new hand plane arrived LN 60-1/2), I've been looking at investing some cash into sharpening stuff.
I came across Atoma, DMT, Shapton, etc.

Not sure what to get, what is high\er end, etc. Any pointers?

The Atoma, from several reviews I read, are said to be pretty good, but I have 0 experience. Are they pretty good.. more towards the top of the best\better sharpening gear?

What about Shapton? I was looking into the Shapton GlassStone HR series, but not sure how they compare to the Atoma?
At the moment, on Amazon, they are reasonably priced compared to the Atoma mentioned in the OP.

Are diamond plates (like the Atoma) that much better?

@Echd You mention: If I had a "good" set of diamond plates I probably wouldn't rush out to buy these, but I will consider them a good value at first glance.
What would you consider to be a "good\great" set of diamond plates? Thanks
Also.. thanks for your OP.. this will give me something to research, when I have down time, at work.

 

[Echd]

You can make pretty much anything work for a good and functional woodworking edge in my opinion. There are a million ways to sharpen things.

My meaning was if I had a set of the more common Trend or DMT stones I wouldn't feel the need to replace them. My immediate impression is that these "feel" higher quality and I am happy with the improved feedback over the DMT stones I have tried, but I would not go out of my way to replace them for a small (perceived) improvement in performance.

Commonly and overly generally speaking you have stones and diamond plates for sharpening. Within stones you have your natural stones like Arkansas stones and the like and waterstones. Some stones require soaking in water to release the grit, some are "splash and go". I think the soaking type are a pain.

The shaptons are one of the most common and are well regarded. they are all splash and go style. You'll find mainly their "pro series" and their "glass" series. The "pro" series is a bit cheaper. They wear faster (but still last a very long time). The glass stones are harder, wear slower, and have a flat glass back. I have some of both. I prefer the feel and feedback of the pro stones but I have a couple of the very high grit glass stones. You occasionally need to "dress" used waterstones to ensure they are flat. The importance of this ranges from critical importance to not particularly important depending on who you ask.

The diamond stones come in lower grits overall and are more coarse but in a practical sense they remove material more quickly, good ones don't wear much, and they are highly durable. You may occasionally see "CBN" sharpening tools as well which are not as hard as diamond but still stupidly hard and for most practical purposes the same.

You can sharpen Carbide with diamond plates by the way- super handy if you like Carbide tipped turning tools. A diamond plate is also the bee's knees for flattening a blade with a rough or hollow back.

Regardless most people will finish on a strop, normally a scrap of leather in which a chromium oxide (very cheap polishing compound) is rubbed.

Don't get too hung up on it. You can buy super high grit synthetic stones if you enjoy a super high polish but in actual use that 30000 grit edge is going to disappear with a quickness when you put that hand plane to work. Amazing woodworkers like Paul Sellers go from diamond stone to strop and pop hairs on a budget. At the same time it's fun and personally fulfilling to polish that plane blade to a mirror edge.

I like to sharpen knives so I like having the high grit stuff around, and some of the super coarse stuff for fixing damaged edges. I do not think you need the fancy stuff to get a functional woodworking edge- at all. It's just another nerdy pursuit that you can take as far as you do or don't want once you've established basic competency.

 

[Warped Woodwerks]

Thank you for the great information. My LN plane is A2, so whatever works "best" for this tool steel, is what I will end up getting. Yes, not a fan of the stone soaking. I came across the "splash and go".. after doing quick research on sharpening, and this looks like the way I'll probably go.

I don't plan on sharpening daily, since I don't use my hand tool daily, but as my arsenal increases over the years... it would be great to have a high quality set of stones that will do a great job and that will last my lifetime, or close.

I will definitely have to re-read your comment.. and do more research on this post of stones.

Yes, I read that, regarding a strop. So many choices and so many different views on what leather is better\best. "Kangaroo, Horse butt, etc.." I don't care, just give me something that does a great job and that lasts without cracking and drying out.

With regards to strop and polishing compound. Does it matter what material & polishing compound? Or, are they all pretty much the same?

LN recommends "up to" 8,000 grit, but I am thinking that is a regular water stone and not something fancy like a diamond, etc. 30,000 grit? Yeah.. no.
I am just getting started with sharpening, so I can't relate to those mirror edges and such (I am more of a power tool person). I currently only have 1 hand tool, so it isn't anywhere near a damaged blade, which might require that 120 - 300 grit range. Maybe, if I start getting into restoring those sort of blades down the road, I will have to add those stones.

And you are right about getting fancy with some stones. I've seen some of these things go for $$$$$$, which is insane, imo. I'd rather buy a nice floor model tool, vs a stone I can find in my front yard.


Thanks again for your detailed post. It not only helps people like me, someone just getting into stones\sharpening, but I am sure it also helps everyone else that will come across this post.