DMT D8EE Dia-Sharp Diamond Knife Sharpener, Extra Extra Fine Diamond Sharpening Stone, 8-Inch, Beige

There is really nothing comparable to this product on the market, and it is a big improvement in fuss and mess over, say, Japanese waterstones. Because it is so easy to put a good finish on your sharpened knives, you will do it more often (a must I think for chefs' knives). I've seen some reviews questioning whether this is truly 8000 mesh, or something less (and even the instructions indicate that it may be something less before breaking in). I'm afraid I'm not OCD enough to really care, as long as it is in that 3000-8000 range.A quick note: the last time I looked, Amazon's description says you can sharpen on either side of this plate (it is a heavy slab of nickle, and both sides look the same to the casual glance). But there is an arrow on one side of the plate pointing to the diamond impregnated side, and this is the side you want to use for sharpening -- there is only one abrasive side to the plate.After accumulating a few expensive VG-10 and SG2 steel Japanese Kitchen knives, I settled on maintaining them (once a week) with a Coarse, Fine, Extra Fine system of DMT plates. For finishing, I use this the Extra-Extra Fine finishing plate. It takes a bit of practice to use these properly, but once you get a system down, they are probably the least expensive or messy, most reliable system for sharpening high quality blades. There are generally four types of commercially available systems to sharpen your kitchen knives. Here is my (very) subjective comparison of systems:1. Diamond Systems (e.g., DMT): Mess & Effort (Low), Sharpening Quality (Very High), Skill required (Moderate)2. Arkansas stones: Mess & Effort (Moderate), Sharpening Quality (High, not good for steels >60HRC), Skill required (Moderate)3. Japanese Waterstones: Mess & Effort (Very High), Sharpening Quality (The Best), Skill required (High)4. Ceramic sharpening systems: Mess & Effort (Low), Sharpening Quality (High, touch up only), Skill required (Low)I use dish detergent and water on the DMT plates to sharpen, having found that better than other solutions. It keeps everything clean as well. The DMT plates sharpen aggressively, so compared to the other systems, you will sharpen faster and with less effort.I have seen several complaints about DMT plates not being perfectly flat, but I think these are bogus. I have considerable experience inspecting optical flats (these usually need to be flatter than 1/4 wave, which is quite flat) and used the same techniques to eyeball my plates DMT WM8EF-WB 8-Inch DuoSharp Plus Bench Stone-Extra Fine/Fine With Base. The extra fine plate is easy to inspect, since rainbow refractions from the diamonds show off any ripples; additionally, the regular pattern of pits on the plates highlights any unevenness. My plates are very flat. But interestingly enough, not one of my knives (not even my brand new Miyabi) is perfectly flat; certainly not as flat as the plate. Even if there were ripples, I couldn't see them being more significant than you would get on a worn waterstone or Arkansas stone. Maybe there is the occasional bad plate; just send it back and get a new one. The DMT system is in my opinion a much less error prone approach to sharpening than other options.I use the MinoSharp Sharpening Guides 2-Piece Set designed by Global for Japanese style chef's knives (~15 degree edge). Someone mentioned that they are afraid that these will grind down, and change the angle. Well, first, the tolerances are not that fine on the blade angle (anything from 9 degrees to 20 on a side is fine), and the correct technique should be to pressure the sharp edge of the blade, and let the sharpening guide just glide over the stone. If you do this, you will hardly even scratch the sharpening guide. You should see a very even line of sharpened metal around the blade (the first time you sharpen it, you will change the factory angle, and this will be visible) ... a sign that the guide is doing its job.I replaced the Arkansas stone on my Smith's 50008 8-Inch Diamond Tri-Hone 1 with the DMT D8EE 8-Inch Dia-Sharp Continuous Diamond Extra-Extra Fine which slots right into the space (I epoxied it to hold it tight). The DMT system has a bit more surface area, and is a bit more aggressive, while getting the same near-polish. I finish with a strop. I mounted the Body Toolz Horsehide Leather & Canvas Barber Strop on a wood slat, coated with Green Chrome Oxide Compound, 6 oz.Overall the cost is low for all the DMT plates you need: perhaps ~ $200. I prefer a strop over the steel, as it seems to gently and reliably straighten the final edge and seems consistent when finishing with the 4000-8000 mesh (whatever the actual fine-ness of your DMT D8EE 8-Inch Dia-Sharp Continuous Diamond Extra-Extra Fine turns out to be).

My dad got his first DMT bench stone in the late 80's, he's still using it. So I decided to go this route as well after getting frustrated with water stones that wouldn't stay flat for any length of time.From what I've read and heard from DMT this will take some time to break in. The D8EE cuts fast and easily, not much pressure at all is needed. A little soapy water and a few strokes and you've got a very sharp tool to work with. I've only had this stone for a couple weeks but I have used it quite a bit (finish carpentry can be brutal on the edges of your hand tools). Despite there appearing to be a better polish on the bevel of my chisels with the extra fine duo sharp bench stone I find that the cutting edge seems sharper after I've used this stone. Basically it's easier to shave the hairs off of a small patch of my arm or take light shavings off of end grain oak with the EEF sharpened blade than the EF sharpened blade. Not exactly scientific but I don't have an electron microscope kicking around to check the blade out. This is an excellent stone that will only improve with age and use, without the hassles of water or oil stones. On top of the quality of this stone DMT customer service is fantastic!I bought one of these stones and there was a small defect in the surface of the stone. My plane irons and chisels were catching on this defect so I called DMT directly. They asked me to send them the stone and they would examine it. But because I happen to live about 20 minutes from their facility in Massachusetts I asked if I could stop by. They said sure. So I went there and met Stan Watson (the guy in all of DMT's videos), he took a look at it and found that it did indeed have a defect and replaced it on the spot!DMT makes some fantastic made in the USA sharpening products and has second to none customer service!

I was very disappointed in this stone. It looks like a piece of steel that you might carry in your tool box to back up a c-clamp. Its very beat up and scratched. It does contain a note basically saying it looks bad but really its good and the bad looks are not defects. It says it was partially broken in at the factory. Perhaps they throw them on the floor and play hockey with them. I could live with bad looks but this thing had many minor dents and it just felt plain old WRONG. Too many random large particles. I tried it first on an old beater knife. Not good, it felt like running a knife blade over a salted pretzel stick. I gave it some lapping with a ceramic stone. Ugh, its not flat either. I tried the knife again and it was just a terrible feeling to have my blade repeatedly slam into high particles even after lapping. Seriously, my edge would hit particles that brought my motion to a dead stop. I'm not new to diamonds, I expect some roughness when new. For the price though, I'm not willing to put in months of wear and ruined edges just to get this stone where it should be.Update... 2 years later I gave this another try. The new stone still looked like it was kicked around outside but I could not feel the dents with my finger. It also lacked the edge destroying speed bumps that the first one had. So I gave it a fair try and used it heavily for three weeks. I sharpened every kitchen knife in the house three times. Notice I said 'sharpen' my kitchen knives. This stone should not sharpen a dull knife but it does so quickly. It still feels like my red dtm with all the use and it scratches the edge badly. I can feel the mini serrations it creates when when I cut paper after using it. I even ran an old stone across it with water as DTM has suggested to some. Very disappointed and I'll be sending this one back too. I love all my other dmt stones but this one is a fail. The dmt pocket size xx fine is great and works as expected so I don't know why they can't get this size right.