I did a search for the answer to my question but couldn't find one so I apologize if this is being asked before, I'm looking into buying the Blackstone wheel for my T8 but I have noticed in some YouTube videos that there can be some problems grading the wheel from course to fine as it is made of silicone carbide and was wondering if anyone else has had these problems using the grading Stone.
Select diamond plates of the coarseness you wish to use for said grading. The Tormek stone grade supposedly can be used, I bought a second one to dedicate for the SB stone, but it didn't seem to do anything and just got glazed (the grader). A 1000 grit diamond plate is what I use for the SG grading, when I do any. I think a lot of others do similar.
Thanks, so I guess my question is, would I buy two diamond plates, one to rough it up and one to smooth it out? if so, what crit would you recommend I buy. I use my SG250 but I am finding I need more cutting power and a bit more cutting speed as I am coming across a lot of damaged knives.
Rossy66,
Here is a link to the video by Knife Grinders Australia describing which diamond plates to buy and how to use them. They are inexpensive and readily available.
https://youtu.be/141hD1d1zj0?si=oiDzZ1dNtQqO7Cdw
Ken
I bought something like these on Aliexpress - very cheap and they work pretty well.
ALIEXPRESS (https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005008563468535.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.3.11cfNLgkNLgkpc&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=293b91b3-0abc-4d0f-8cb3-2ac5753dd486&_t=gps-id%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller%2Cscm-url%3A1007.40050.354490.0%2Cpvid%3A293b91b3-0abc-4d0f-8cb3-2ac5753dd486%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%22952%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2230050%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22recommend%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21EUR%214.66%210.99%21%21%2136.35%217.71%21%40211b815c17772037070935484eb1a3%2112000045734669405%21rec%21FR%21%21ABX%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29910%3Bd%3Abcf8f2a5%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895%3BpisId%3A5000000203551316&utparam-url=scene%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005008563468535%7C_p_origin_prod%3A&gatewayAdapt=glo2fra)
I bought 80 grit to roughen and 400 grit to smooth out the wheel on the advice of Wootz on this forum, I think.
Ideally, if you could get slightly longer diamond plates (maybe 5cm longer) that could stretch over one vertical and one horizontal USB, they can then be used for truing the wheel extremely accurately.
Just make sure they are rigid enough. The ones I bought were in steel about 1mm thick which is fine.
Quote from: Dan on April 26, 2026, 01:53:28 PM...snip...
Ideally, if you could get slightly longer diamond plates (maybe 5cm longer) that could stretch over one vertical and one horizontal USB, they can then be used for truing the wheel extremely accurately.
...snip...
I'd be concerned about concentrating the "wear" of the plate on the little bit of it that would be the only part in contact with the grinding wheel. I think relying on the truing tool for keeping it is square and the diamond plate (used over a large range of its area) would be quite effective. But... I use my diamond plate "freehand", not clamped in any jig.
Quote from: RickKrung on April 26, 2026, 04:53:41 PMQuote from: Dan on April 26, 2026, 01:53:28 PM...snip...
Ideally, if you could get slightly longer diamond plates (maybe 5cm longer) that could stretch over one vertical and one horizontal USB, they can then be used for truing the wheel extremely accurately.
...snip...
I'd be concerned about concentrating the "wear" of the plate on the little bit it that would be the only part in contact with the grinding wheel. I think relying on the truing tool for keeping it is square and the diamond plate (used over a large range of its area) would be quite effective. But... I use my diamond plate "freehand", not clamped in any jig.
Yes, good point....
The reason is because the grader is silicon carbide, the same material as the wheel. I seem to recall that they say that it can be used to grade the wheel but using a material of the same hardness would be problematic. You could also try a diamond dressing tool but not sure of the exact grit they use. They are only a few $$ on AliExpress. It does appear to be quite coarse.
I epoxied mine to a piece of aluminum 2x8x1/16" to insureflatness.
Ken
Quote from: Ken S on April 25, 2026, 09:55:58 PMRossy66,
Here is a link to the video by Knife Grinders Australia describing which diamond plates to buy and how to use them. They are inexpensive and readily available.
https://youtu.be/141hD1d1zj0?si=oiDzZ1dNtQqO7Cdw
Ken
Thanks Ken