Pretty happy with this set. I use the fine on my kitchen knives No nasty oil just a little water, wipes clean with a sponge between blades. Can do like 12 knives in about a half hour. Like how u can put the stone in the recess in the box, which has rubber feet, sticks to the table. Hope they hold up, keep cutting through many uses, that'll be the real test

2017-08-24
This set performs very well. I've used this on very dull, cheap knives and the results are excellent. I've also used this on my chisels and the blade of my block plane which also produced excellent results. I don't even need to use a honing guide because I only need less than 50 strokes total (using all 3 grits), which means I don't need to maintain the angle for a long time.

I've only used this for less than a week, so I cannot comment on long term use (which I believe the ad said it has a long service life).

The product description mentioned about a beautiful hardwood box. It's nice, but I won't call it beautiful, especially since the top and bottom halves don't even have the same size. The cavity for the sharpening stones is rough as if the routing job only had one pass. Also, the case was glued from two pieces of wood (2 pieces on the top half, and 2 pieces on the bottom half). Finally, the stones sit at a bevel inside the cavity, which irritated me more than the rough routing job. I'm not removing any stars though, as I don't really care about the case, but since it was advertised as beautiful, I thought I'd leave a comment about it.

I'll probably buy the 2X course grit later.

I appreciate the quality of this sharpening set. As an avid outdoorsman and cook, I often sharpen knives, scissors, fishing line nippers, etc. these put an edge on anything very quickly and reliably

Excellent!
I have been using Japanese water stones for years on my plethora of chisels and plane irons. My set goes from 320 to 8000 grit and they allow me to achieve an absolute mirror finish. So why am I reviewing diamond stones? Well, all water stones dish (cup) in with use and are soft enough to gouge easily. They also groove easily i.e if you re-bevel a 1/4" chisel and move on to a wider one next over the same tract, you can observe the lack of cutting on the chisels bevel. Obviously there are workarounds - start with widest first, do run along same path). While this is especially true of the lower grits, even the 8000 which is relatively hard will require resurfacing, which can be a time consuming task. So I decided to give diamonds a try. I have used small diamond cards for touching up router bits but this was my first time on my chisels and irons.
I got this set for several reasons: DMT's reputation for quality, a good spread of 3 different grits, and a great price for a 3 stone set. I was worried about the 6x2 inch size as I always use a Veritas jig (never developed the skill of hand holding) resulting in a shorter stroke, and my irons are 2" wide (easy to miss the edge on a 2" stone).

Results:
* They cut is very fast. I chose not to use the word `aggressive' as it may imply a coarser than expected cut, I compared the surface scratch pattern left from these to ones left by comparable water stones and they matched up well. The difference was how fast I got there, it required approximately 1/3rd as many strokes on the diamond stones to achieve the same result!
* They are ready for use instantly, you should allow 30 minutes of soak time prior to using Japanese water stones.
* Virtually no mess (comparatively speaking). Water stones generate a lot of slurry quickly and must be washed down constantly. These diamond stones only need a light misting and the "polka-dot" design does a good job of capturing the particles making clean up fast, easy, and infrequent, all it requires is a wipe down with a damp rag. I think I would prefer a continuous surface on anything smaller than ¼" (DMT has other products that provide this).
* The finest grit in this set is only 1200 and the coarsest is 325. I can see and feel the difference in performance when I polish the final bevel with my 8000 water stone but for most work and most users the 1200 finish is fine. Note that DMT does make 2200 and 8000 grit stones but I have not tried them (yet). If you need to do a major repair of change the bevel angle, it will take you awhile with the 325 stone. DMT should think about offering a 4 or 5 stone set, but these 3 grits are sufficient for a wide variety of sharping.
* Very light weight. The diamond plate is laminated to a hollow thin plastic box. This is a bit of a disappointment as it gives it a cheap feel (may be one reason for the set being so economically priced). Heavy downward pressure can/will deform, running surface flatness. However, as they cut so well you only need a slight down force. The big disadvantage is that you really cannot use them out of the wood box as they move around easily. The box does do a good job holding them in place.
* The Box. It is a nice holding fixture and has rubber feet on the bottom. For many things (like chisels) it is convenient to have all three stones held alongside each other so you can quickly go from one to the next. However it is a pain for things like long knives. The lid just sort of sits there, allowing it to fall off easily. Some sort of latch or magnets to hold it on would be an improvement.
* DMT uses a color code to identify grit. While I don't mind this it really would be nice if they printed the grit number on the stone or the holder.

Unknowns: How long will they last? Japanese water stones can last several life times, resurface (flatten) it and you have a new stone, I am still using the ones I got 15 years ago and only the very coarsest ones are showing their age (thinning from flattening). How long these DMT's will maintain their cutting ability remains to be seen but from everything I have read, they should last a very long time. However the small diamond hones (brand x not from DMT) I use on router bits have not lasted, so I remain a skeptic. I will update this review down the road and let you know.

I highly recommend these as a starter set for anyone looking to try diamond sharpening stones and I will likely be buying additional DMT products. I do not think you can find a better value for the price of this set.

I've hand-sharpened knives for over 25 years. Started off with Arkansas stones, which I no longer use simply because I don't want to have to use oil to get the razor edges that I want. I've tried pretty much every kind of sharpener out there.

These diamond whetstones are fantastic. Yes, I've owned diamond whetstones before, and owned several at the time I purchased these; but, they are all smaller than these bench stones, and I find that with age comes the need for a stone I am not holding in my hand...too, too many scars. Anyway, these whetstones live up to the standard that I expect to come from DMT. They are well made, and these in particular come in a nice wooden box...the box IS quite handsome despite its simple construction, but serves its purpose well.

With these three stones, you can achieve a razor edge on good quality knives. These stones, indeed NO whetstone or sharpening system, will give an edge worth a darn to really cheap stainless steel from Wal-**** or some other department store. With a good quality steel knife, though, these stones CAN put a razor's edge on your knife.

These stones go from course to extra fine (1200 grit), which is good, but won't give you a S U P E R edge. I used to use a japanese style waterstone for that SUPER edge, but DMT has come out with an extra extra fine (3000 grit) diamond stone, DMT D8EE 8-Inch Dia-Sharp Continuous Diamond Extra-Extra Fine ,which I will soon purchase...from DMT themselves, as it seems there is a question as to whether or not the stone listed in that link is actually the EE Fine stone advertised. Even if it does not work out well, I'll still fall back on my trusted method of putting a glass-polished edge on my knives...a leather belt and jeweler's rouge. I haven't found anything better yet to use for the final touch than that yet.

Anyway, these three stones are very nice indeed, and will give you a razor edge on a good quality knife blade.