In recent decades, diamond whetstones and especially diamond files have become increasingly popular. These have the advantages that they wear much less than whetstones and that they are easier to handle for many applications. They can also be used to resharpen the respective cutting edge much more often before a new basic sharpening has to be carried out with a sharpening machine. The handling is similar to that with whetstones. Only water is used as a lubricant.
These diamond honing stones are available in grits of 400, 600 and 1200. Shapes offered are blocks similar to bench stones, files in various shapes and dimensions, and the so-called check-card shapes. The 600 grit is recommended for woodturning tools, the 1200 grit for sculpting tools. The most commonly used shapes are the flat files, which are glued on a plastic support as a stylus.