The secret to getting a good diamond finish is to first have a fine scratch stone finish. The way to achieve this finish is to lighten up on the downward pressure as you stone . At first, you push down as hard as you need to in order to get rid of deep existing scratches, but then this time you go over the entire area with the same stone and a much lighter pressure. You will take out your own scratches!

If a 320-grit stone put the scratches in, then take that same 320-grit stone and go over it again with a lighter pressure and take out the earlier scratches.

Next move up to a 400- or 600-grit stone. Test them to see what you like and pay close attention to the depth of all of the scratches at all times – look at them with a magnifier, compare them to each other, but do not put in any deeper scratches than what you already have. Always use a finer scratch to take out a deeper one and lighten up on your downward pressure until the very end. You are basically “massaging” the grit in between the stone and metal. Don’t even let the stone touch the metal. Only massage the fine grit that is in between the stone and the metal. Pick small areas and see how quickly you excel at taking the deep scratches and turning them into fine scratches.

Stoning properly is not easy to learn and it may take forever to do, but with practice you will eventually become quite good. Practice on small areas until you perfect this technique of lightening up on the downward pressure.

Keep all of the strokes down to two or three inches in length – because longer strokes tend to make deep scratches regardless of what type of abrasive you use and create deeper scratches going in the wrong direction. Now it’s time to diamond.