Use Water with Diamond Stone?

[NotVerySharp]

I saw someone using a KME sharpener and they sprayed water on the stones. Should you spray water on diamond stones when you are using theM?

[Mark76]

You don’t have to be some soapy water might help.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[tcmeyer]

I’ve never used anything on my diamond stones during the sharpening process.  Maybe once a month (10-15  knives) I’ll clean ’em with a spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol.  However, I clean my diamond films with the same alcohol maybe every other knife.

I’ve always felt (probably wrongly) that using a liquid during sharpening would actually turn the swarf to mud and help it to clog up the diamonds.  But I could just as easily make an argument that using a liquid during sharpening could help to wash away contaminants.  With a totally dry process, the swarf seems to fall away on its own.  I use a Swiffer duster to clean the edge for microscopic inspection.  It works so good I think it might work for cleaning the stones of metal dust.

[Gregg776]

I always use water with a very small amount of dish detergent.  I wet a small sponge and squeeze out a few drops on the diamond platens as needed to keep them wet enough to wash away swarf but not messy.  I also cut paper towel into small squares that I use to wipe off the diamond surface as well as the blade as needed using a new square for each grit to prevent cross contamination.  The water and light foam rolling over the edge gets gray with contaminants showing me some indication of progress and that I’m not reintroducing swarf back on to the blade.  I wipe each plate with the paper towel before changing grits.  I also use water on the ceramics.

[Author]

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