? about diamond paste

Jason B.

Jason B.

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
11,178
I picked some diamond paste from classicshaving and I am not sure if I have applied it properly. When I first got the paste and applied it to leather it stuck like glue and did not spread on the new leather but worked perfectly on my old leather that I had just washed. I finally gave up and wetted and dried the leather, after that the paste applied perfectly. I have not had any performance problems with this stuff but I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly to get the max from this product. The leather also turns black after stroping 1 or 2 knives, should I be cleaning and reapplying so often?
 
The black color is carbon being removed indicating the paste is doing its job. You don't need to clean the leather until it stops polishing. At that point, use a lanolin based (without pumice) hand cleaner such as Goop to clean, then reapply the paste.
 
should I be worried about metal redepositing on the blade.
 
I believe that the "black" you see is actually the steel being removed by the diamond paste, not carbon (where would the carbon come from?). It did not apply evenly originally because the leather was probably dry and rapidly absorbed the water-based paste. To apply, try thin even stripes across the width of the belt and work in by fingertip.

You do not need to clean & reapply the diamond media until you notice real degradation of the cutting power. The diamond should keep cutting until it is completely coated or rubbed off. How often you do this really depends on how dull your knives are, how hard the steel is, how much diamond material is in the leather, etc.
 
I know that the "black" is just the metal from the blade being removed. I guess I should have been more specific, should I prep the leather with something before applying the compound and will the removed steel redeposit on the edge. I am working with very fine grits 1, .5, and .25 micron paste on some hard steels S30V, S90V, D2
 
Unless your blades are magnetized, any deposits on the blade can be easily wiped off.

There's no magic to stropping, diamond is just like any other abrasive except it is just the hardest. You shouldn't need to do much to the leather, just work the paste in so that you are sure there is an even coating. I think you run a greater risk of damaging the leather (drying it so it cracks) by overcleaning/washing it. You may want to use a bristle brush to clean off the metal shavings and rework the texture of the leather occasionally.

Remember that stropping blades is not the same as honing, it is not meant to remove lots of metal, only to remove wires and polish the final edge. I use my (barber) strop almost daily to maintain the edges of whatever knife I'm using, from kitchen knives to utility blades to outdoor knives. I put some 'green' polishing compound on it late last year and have been able to maintain scary sharp edges+ since that time without needing to re-apply more compound.

Do you have 3 strips of leather? I don't think it would be practical to use all 3 grits on the same strip of leather as there will always be some left from the largest grit.
 
I did use green compound on my leather before but it will not work on S90V and sence ive switched I don't plan to go back, the results are far better. Yes I am using 3 different peices of leather and the compounds are never mixed. I agree with you, the green compound last's for a long time without needing to be reapplyed but this diamond compound acts much differently.
 
I was never happy with the bar compounds I tried, and after getting diamond paste, I was not happy with it alone, either (left a horrible feel on the strop). Finally got some handamerican gel & mixed it with the diamond paste. I really like the feel it gives.

The abrasive will last for months and months, and probably longer, and they still remove material long after turning dark. Try some 10 micron paste if you get a chance - it removes material faster and still leaves a mirror finish.
 
when you mix it with the gel (is the gel abrasive) does it still cut the hard steels like S90V.
 
knifenut1013 said:
when you mix it with the gel (is the gel abrasive) does it still cut the hard steels like S90V.
Click to expand...

Sure - mixing diamonds with .5 micron CrO2 don't slow down the diamonds one bit. My 6 and 10 micron loaded strops remove material a lot faster than the other compounds I've tried.
 
are you mixing all of them with the CrO2 or just the .5 micron diamond paste. I have the hand american .5 CrO2 liquid is this what you have?
 
knifenut1013 said:
are you mixing all of them with the CrO2 or just the .5 micron diamond paste. I have the hand american .5 CrO2 liquid is this what you have?
Click to expand...

Yes - same stuff - I just put a drop of the liquid next to each little dab of diamond paste and mix 'em & spread 'em over the strop. The 1, 3, 6, & 10 work well like this, and I'd like to try some larger 15 or 20 micron paste. I haven't tried every compound, but of the 6 or 7 I have tried I thought this was the most aggressive.
 
thanks Broos, tried what you said and it works well.
 
I use a diamond paste from classic shaving that is more like a crayon or lipstick than the paste in a tube. It works well also, when the strop gets too black, I just scrape it off with the square edge of a knife spine, usually a KaBar.
 
how dark do you let it get before removing?
 
I don't know, once it looks fairly black and gross I scrape it off. It will work for quite a while while being black, though.
 
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