Just realized sharpening with a diamond stone beats oil stones by a mile

I spent 3 years fighting with oil stones on my chisels, always getting uneven edges. Then last month a guy at the lumber yard told me to try a cheap diamond stone from Amazon for $25. I finally got a perfectly flat edge on my 1 inch chisel in under 5 minutes, no mess. Compared to the 20 minutes of oil and frustration I used to deal with, it's not even close. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a huge difference in how their tools cut?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_fisher43d ago

That 1 inch chisel was EXACTLY the one I had trouble with too. @hollym12 you nailed it with the lapping thing - I bet half my oil stone was wavy as all get out and I just didn't realize it. But here's the thing that gets me: even after flattening it, the oil stone still felt slow and messy compared to that diamond plate. Did you notice your diamond stone loads up with metal dust way faster than your oil stone ever did, or is that just me not cleaning it right? I have to rinse mine under the faucet every few passes or it stops cutting altogether.

hollym123d ago

Did you try lapping your oil stone flat first? Because I fought with mine for years too, then realized half my problems were a wavy stone surface... I grabbed a cheap $20 diamond plate just to flatten the oil stone, but ended up using it for everything instead. The difference on my dovetail chisels was night and day, no more digging in at weird angles or fighting with uneven bevels. Now I can knock out a sharp edge in like 3 minutes flat and get straight to cutting dovetails without that whole messy ritual.