Sharpening Stone - Diamond Plate

Diamond Plate

A diamond plate is a steel plate sometimes with a plastic or resin base. The plate is coated with diamond grit, an abrasive that will grind metal. The plate may have a series of holes cut in it that capture the swarf cast off as grinding takes place, and cuts costs by reducing the amount of abrasive surface area on each plate. Diamond plates can serve many purposes including sharpening steel tools, and for maintaining the flatness of man-made waterstones, which can become grooved or hollowed in use. Flattening deformed waterstones is considered essential to the sharpening process. Diamond plates can be used to flatten these stones and are considered an alternative to more traditional methods.

Diamond plates are available in various plate sizes (from credit card to bench plate size) and grades of grit. A coarser grit is used to remove larger amounts of metal more rapidly, such as when forming an edge or restoring a damaged edge. A finer grit is used to remove the scratches of larger grits and to refine an edge. Two-sided plates exist where each side is covered in a different grit.

Unlike stones that can become rounded, which decreases their effectiveness, diamond plates remain flat. They do not require the use of a lubricant.

Diamond plates, being made from diamond — even though of industrial grade — tend to be more expensive than synthetic whetstones. They are also not capable of refining an edge as well or to as great an extent as synthetic or natural whetstones.