DMT Dia-Flat Lapping Plate

Accurate flattening of other sharpening stones is easy with the DMT Dia-Flat Lapping plate. This king-of-the-stones weighs in at over 4 pounds, and is coated with an insane 30+ carats of diamond.

DMT engineered the Dia-Flat to excel at one of the hardest jobs in sharpening: flattening abrasives. The result is a wildly durable abrasive surface that uses DMT’s proprietary Hardcoat technology to bond the diamond abrasive to a precision steel plate. DMT hand certifies every plate to within +/- .0005″ of flat and each Dia-Flat comes with a certificate of inspection.

To flatten a water stone, just draw a grid on the surface of the stone, and rub it against the Dia-Flat under running water, or in a shallow tub or pan. Use the whole surface of the plate, and moderate pressure. The stone is flat when the grid lines have been worn away.

After feeding your Dia-Flat rocks for breakfast, round out its diet with some hardened steel for lunch. When using the Dia-Flat with metal, you can skip the water, and use the stone dry. The diamond surface is impervious to difficult steels like D2, A2, HSS, and Japanese alloys. Use the coarse 120 micron grit when resetting a bevel, or doing repair work without a grinder. The 95 Micron Dia-Flat is better suited to tasks such as flattening the back of a chisel or iron, where the deep scratches of a coarser stone would be difficult to remove.

The Dia-Flat lapping plate is manufactured to standards way beyond necessary, and that’s exactly why it’s such an excellent tool. If you’re looking for the ultimate weapon to keep your other sharpening stones flat – VERY FLAT – this is it.

Dia-Flat Lapping plates are available with 120 or 95 micron diamond abrasive. 120 Micron Dia-Flat is our favorite for flattening sharpening stones, and heavy material removal to repair edges. If you will be using your Dia-Flat primarily for flattening the backs of tools, the 95 Micron plate is a better option as it leaves a smoother scratch pattern that is more easily polished out during sharpening. Likewise, if you prefer a smoother surface on high grit water stones the 95 micron plate is the way to go.

DMT Dia-Flat Lapping Plates are Made in the USA.

“After using the Dia-Flat Lapping Plate for a few stones, I won’t use anything else. The Dia-Flat consists of an indestructible coarse-diamond coating on a heavy 4″ by 10″ plate, which should be large enough to flatten any stone. The plate is guaranteed flat to 5/10000″. The stone is abrasive enough that I flattened a cupped waterstone in five minutes; a cupped oilstone took just a few minutes more….An investment…but it will last a lifetime. “ – Woodcarving Illustrated magazine

Extra Extra Coarse – Diamond Size: 120 micron, 120 mesh DMT Color Code: Silver
Use for Edge Repair, resetting or changing a bevel angle, or flattening another stone.

Extra Coarse – Diamond Size: 60 micron, 220 mesh DMT Color Code: Black
Use for edge repair, resetting or changing a bevel, or flattening fine grit water stones. Good first step for flattening the backs of chisels and plane irons. Color code: Black 60 micron, 220 mesh.

Coarse– Diamond Size: 45 micron, 325 mesh DMT Color Code: Blue
Use for restoring very dull edges, coarse cutting tools, such as froes, lawnmower blades, axes or mortise chisels. Can be used for flattening chisels and plane irons.

Fine– Diamond Size: 25 micron, 600 mesh DMT Color Code: Red
Good intermediate step for plane irons, chisels, or carving tools. Perfect for general sharpening – this is the grit we keep in the kitchen to sharpen knives that see abuse. For woodworking we recommend following this grit with a finer grit diamond stone, water stone, or diamond paste.

Extra Fine– Diamond Size: 9 micron, 1200 mesh DMT Color Code: Gray

Good for use as an intermediate step for plane irons, chisels, or carving tools. Excellent single stone for sharpening kitchen knives. For woodworking we recommend following this grit with a water stone, diamond paste, or extra extra fine grit stone.

Extra Extra Fine– Diamond Size: 3 micron, 8000 mesh DMT Color Code: Tan
Provides the finest grade micronized bonded diamond abrasive available. Surprisingly quick stock removal with millions of diamond cutting edges.