TRENDDiamond Sharpening Stone Kit, 8 x 3 Inch Double Sided (300/1000 Grit) Bench Stone with Pouch, Cleaning Block & Non-Slip Mat, DWS/CP8/FC

This is a good plate. If you have no others at all, start here and you'll get the most bang for your buck. The performance is very good.I have DMT, Trend, and Atoma plates, more than10 between the brands and the grits. The trend plate cuts the fastest, hands down. As somebody that has different types, I'll go so far as briefly explaining the differences that I see between them all. They are also advertised as having the most flatness of any of my diamond plates. Would I buy it again, yes. Having all of the different plates and if I could do it over again, I'd buy two different trend plates and then just move onward to my Shapton water stones. It would have saved a lot of money and I'd have still been happy with the results. I always follow water stones anyway. Be absolutely sure to use a rubber plate/stone holder to keep it in place and prevent the under-side from getting marred if you buy a double-sided plate.The gee-whiz comparison:The Trend is the fastest cutting plate that I have. It also has a consistent in the scratch pattern for the 300 grit side. Because it's double-sided, I didn't need to purchase two separate plates, less weight. The rest of my diamond plates are single surface and let me tell you, the entire collection is heavy. When using lubricating fluid, they work well. I don't have to apply fluid as much as I do with Atomas. Metal waste clears easily. These feel solid like DMT and overall best value. Could buy two different plates and get four grits. Best value.The DMT is a nice piece of steel, but the diamonds seem to fracture much more frequently and leave rogue scratches that are harder to work out. The DMT seem a tiny bit more susceptible to rust with a very faint reddish hue, even after using rust inhibitor in the lubricating fluid (hone right) and taking care to dry them with lint-free cloth as much as possible. When using lubricating fluid, The DMTs require the least amount of fluid and the metal waste clears easily. These feel the most dense and rugged of all.The Atomas are my favorite when I want a beautiful polished surface. With just a tiny bit more pressure, I can get mirrored finishes and the most uniformed scratch pattern of all. The plate is aluminum and the diamond plate substrate is steel, adhered to the aluminum plate. Atomas cut smoother and even though they are rated at 400, 600, 800, 1200, they actually feel like 600, 1000, 1500, 2000. I have to use lots of fluid continually as the metal slurry builds or the plate will dry and the tool will slightly stick. The steel substrate will gouge and scratch if you are abusive (I tested on one). The aluminum corners and base will ding and slightly bend if you drop it hard enough (tested too). These are lightest of all.If the steel is beat-up, I go to the DMT plates. If the steel is clean, I go straight to the Trend first because it's the fastest. If I need just the most gengle of touch-up work, I use Atoma. If I am putting a very good cutting edge, I then step through the shapton water stones up to 16000--depending on the tool--and will even finish on a stop that's equivalent to about 30,000 grit.

This sharpening stone works great! Being 8"x3" it is the perfect size for sharpening plane blades and chisels. I achieved very sharp edges on my chisels and plane blades and was able to flatten the backs of my blades. I like that it has two sides so I only have one stone to deal with instead of two. I also like that it is monocrystalline instead of polycrystalline; monocrystaline sharpens more efficiently and lasts longer.One side is 300 grit and the other side is 1000 grit. These are marked clearly on each side. Only the 300 grit side has the clearance channels. At the time of this review, the photo advertised here in Amazon is not correct since it shows clearance channels on a 1000 grit stone. These channels are very effective for keeping the lapping fluid evenly distributed on the surface and also clear out some of the metal shavings. The 1000 grit side does not have these channels. I wish it did since it really helps a lot. I find the channels on this Trend stone to be much better than the holes used on DMT stones. While a knife point can still occasionally hang up in these channels, the point will have more tendency to skip over it rather than catching hard like on the edges of the holes on a DMT stone. I sharpened two pocket knives on this stone and only had the knife point hang up once. The channels on the Trend stone also take up less space on the stone, thereby allowing for more diamond cutting surface, unlike the DMT stones where the many big holes leave very little cutting surface left. DMT does have steel plate stones very similar to these Trend stones, but DMT currently does not offer any clearance holes or channels on them.I only used a general purpose household cleaner in a spray bottle as the lubrication. The soapy solution works well as a lubricant and is easy to clean up; it is also very cost effective. Don't' use bathroom cleaners since those can be corrosive if left on metal for too long.Once broken in, my knife and blade edges came out very smooth and sharp.I posted a photo of one of the bad chisels I flattened with this stone.Diamond sharpening stones do require a break in period. The courser the stone, the less time it takes to break in (because there are fewer diamonds to break in on a course stone). When first pulled out of the package, this Trend stone is very rough. I grabbed one of my low quality chisels and started working on it to improve the chisel and break in the stone. The 300 grit side broke-in within about 30 minutes of working this one chisel (the chisel was in really bad shape and would have sharpened quicker if I used an extra course stone). The 1000 grit took about 2.5 to 3 hours of sharpening time with a few different chisels and knives before it broke in. Some people expect the stone to be broke-in right out of the box; however, with a stone that will last for several years, I don't have a problem spending a few hours breaking it in.The pouch it comes with is well made and very handy to have.It also comes with what they call a cleaning block. This item seems to be nothing more than a big pencil eraser. But it is nice they included it. It also comes with a non-slip pad: this is also something you can buy in a home store that is used as liners in drawer bottoms, but again it is very nice they included it.Overall, I am very pleased with the performance of this stone. I highly recommend that if you are looking to get a diamond stone, this one will not disappoint as it is high quality and sharpens wonderfully - far better than sand stones.Updated information:I have also used the DMT diamond stones. I find the trend stones to be far more quality made than DMT. The Trend stone has a more uniform coating of diamonds and the metal block has squared edges instead of slightly rounded edges. The Trend also does not seem to clog as easily as the DMT. The DMT stones also seem to lose diamonds much easier than the Trend. I also believe the Trend is a flatter stone after I attempted to flatten a few plane blades. Therefore, as a side by side comparison, I put Trend stones well above the DMT stones.

Oh yes! I bought this and the Trend DWS/LF/100 3.4 FL OZ lapping fluid. This is really what you want. I also have the DVD of James ___ demonstrating this stone. (He is the distributor of this in the US.) Light pressure works better. My first project was to tune a cheapy Buck block plane. I had mostly done that already on wet/dry on glass. But I thought I would touch it up. It definitely improved it. Then on to the blade. I had sharpened it once on wet/dry but then hit a hidden finish nail with it. Not once, but over and over before I realized it was not a knot. Poo. (Pooh?)So thanks to the nail, I had a LOT to take off. I have a honing guide (spent a pretty penny for it, too) but chose instead to free-hand it. It turns out to be quite easy once you get a feel for it. So an hour later on 300, and about 5 minutes on 1000, and that booger was SHARP. I wound up using it a few days later on a door I was restoring, and it cut like butter. Wow!!!The next evening I tackled an Irwin Marple 2" chisel I bought on Amazon. It took A TON of work to true the back and the bevel. More on that when I review the chisel. But again, an hour+ (listening to FWW shoptalk live podcasts) on the 300 on the back, and 30 minutes on the bevel, and I cut myself wiping it a bit carelessly. But it was not yet sharp, so I then spent a few minutes each on the 1000. It was razor sharp! Wow! It cut paper like the DVDs show. I will never go back to wet/dry now for sharpening. I will still use it for major truing at the coarser grits. But not any of the sharpening.