My old boss laughed at me for buying a $40 diamond stone, then he borrowed it twice

Charles Bailey · 2026-10-21T03:45:05.970293+00:00

Back in 2019 I was roughing out maple drawer fronts at a small shop in Grand Rapids, and the owner saw my new sharpening kit on the bench. He told me I was wasting money and a cheap oilstone was fine for chisels, since "wood doesn't care how fancy your rock is." So I dulled my 3/4 inch chisel on a knot and spent 20 minutes trying to bring the edge back on his old stone, and the thing still tore the grain. Borrowed the diamond stone, five minutes, and the paring cut came off clean with no tearout. He asked to use it the next week for his own block plane iron, then again a month later, and never said a word about it either time. Any of you still run oilstones on purpose, or is diamond the whole game now for chisels and irons?

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My old boss laughed at me for buying a $40 diamond stone, then he borrowed it twice | Cabinetmakers - Vivisector