Diamond knife sharpening : DMT, Atoma, Ken Schwartz, Murray Carter, ...

A quick over view :
-the argument that all diamond abrasives damage the edge is false
-some plates can produce inconsistent results (the higher grit DMT's)
-some produce very consistent scratch patterns (Atoma, lower grit DMT's)
Reasons for diamond plates :
-can sharpen extremely high carbide steels, ceramics and carbide tooling
-come fairly flat, stay that way
-only require a little water
-trivial to clean
Issues :
-costly compared to basic stones
-more fragile, can be damaged with a heavy hand
-not as friendly to extreme work (point/belly grinding)
-no way to restore a damaged surface (can't lap it like a regular stone)
Lots of types not used, may be worth looking into :
-Ken's films on float glass
precisesharpeni...
-Naniwa diamond waterstones
www.japanwoodwo...
Discussion links :
-Atoma 1200 : www.cliffstamp....
-DMT 1200 : www.cliffstamp....
-DMT MXF : www.cliffstamp....