Opinions on the Sharpal 145h 10”x4” flattening plate?

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

I generally do not like to use Diamond plates to flatten stones. SiC on a granite block is my preferred method. Other very coarse and hard 8” bench stones are also cheap and effective……. But the Sharpal 10x4 and DMT dia-flat 10x4 have my attention. (And I am a bit of an impulsive buyer, and Christmas is coming up, and I should sell some of my lesser used stones, but I am also a bit of an impulsive buyer if I haven’t mentioned that already.)

The primary focus would be flattening JNATs. I tried flattening an Ark with an inexpensive SK-11 Diamond plate before and let’s just say the Ark won that battle. My Suehiro Gokumyo 20K has also pulled diamonds out of my Ez-Lap pocket plate which is no bueno too.

Does anyone have either of these flattening plates in the 10”x4” size and can speak on how they perform?

The Sharpal in particular is $100 while the DMT is $200 so pain-price-point on the Sharpal is pretty attractive.

 

[Rangen]

I prefer using worn-out diamond plates to flatten waterstones. They seem to work just about as well, and are far less aggressive to the surface texture.

I do, however have a Diaflat 120 with grooves, and it seems really nice. I've used it for only one thing so far, to flatten a translucent Ark that had a deep worn spot in the middle. Progress was just too slow with SiC, and I finally threw my caution to the winds and broke out the big heavy plate. It made reasonably short work of the job, and I saw no signs that it suffered unduly. I really thought I might ruin the plate, as you did with the lesser one, but I can't see or feel any sign that that happened.

I am currently doing some cautious knife thinning on a Shapton Glass 320, which I picked over speedier options because I'm doing it on a knife that is so pretty that I want to take everything very slowly, given my limited thinning experience so far. Once I'm done, I'll certainly have another use well-suited to this plate, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

I prefer using worn-out diamond plates to flatten waterstones. They seem to work just about as well, and are far less aggressive to the surface texture.

I do, however have a Diaflat 120 with grooves, and it seems really nice. I've used it for only one thing so far, to flatten a translucent Ark that had a deep worn spot in the middle. Progress was just too slow with SiC, and I finally threw my caution to the winds and broke out the big heavy plate. It made reasonably short work of the job, and I saw no signs that it suffered unduly. I really thought I might ruin the plate, as you did with the lesser one, but I can't see or feel any sign that that happened.

I am currently doing some cautious knife thinning on a Shapton Glass 320, which I picked over speedier options because I'm doing it on a knife that is so pretty that I want to take everything very slowly, given my limited thinning experience so far. Once I'm done, I'll certainly have another use well-suited to this plate, so we'll see how that goes.

A diamond plate able to take flattening a trans Ark without suffering major damage or noticeable wear is very impressive! And I am a fan of SiC on Arks. That’s hitting home for me. Thank you.

 

[Rangen]

SiC is definitely my usual on Arks, and absolutely mandatory for getting the surface conditioned. But it's nice to know that if I have an initial flattening that seems to be going on forever, there's another option to reach for.

The Dia-flat really is quite an impressive plate. And I say that having started out with an anti-DMT bias, due to bad prior experiences.

 

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

SiC is definitely my usual on Arks, and absolutely mandatory for getting the surface conditioned. But it's nice to know that if I have an initial flattening that seems to be going on forever, there's another option to reach for.

The Dia-flat really is quite an impressive plate. And I say that having started out with an anti-DMT bias, due to bad prior experiences.

Honestly, I completely wrote off any Diamond plates for flattening hard Arks. I’ve seen others, experienced posters, post about wearing down DMT’s and Atomas as part of the process of restoring vintage hard Arks.

I do quite like my DMT’s and my even cheaper SK-11 plates. (Only my DMT EEF was a total POS.) The SK-11’s are ¥3,500 and double sided so they are expendable depending on the task. I baby my DMT’s and don’t use them on stones. Only on knives. They still perform good as new. Soooooooo……. Yeah. I am VERY interested in a report of a heavier duty DMT. That’s great news to me.

 

[esoo]

I had a Sharpal double sided diamond plate - it was junk. Bought it thinking I could save some money and skip buying an Atoma. It dulled out so quick and then wouldn't do anything.

 

[Chasingsharpness]

I was looking at this one earlier for a larger flattering plate. Quite a bit cheaper than the DMT plate. In unsure if it's would last proportionately long. The only sharpal product I've used is a strop. DMT are generally well regarded.