Best compound to use?

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rc3mil

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Knifenut said that diamond compound is great. Is this stuff available in stores or online only? Whats the green one people talk about? Whats a good kind to get? Any stores sell this stuff?
 
The green stuff is Chromium Oxide paste. It works great at a fraction of the cost of diamond paste or spray. The diamond stuff is supposed to be awesome, but I am satisfied with my green past. I got it at Harbor Freight for about $3.00. It's probably not the best quality, but it works fine for me.
 
Diamond and CBN (cubic boron nitride) are far and away the best. No question.

But Chromium oxide, Silicon carbide, and boron carbide work well also.

I don't know if they're still around, but an outfit called HandAmerican at one time carried a wide array of stropping abrasives. You might google them.

Another excellent source is United States Products Co.
 
HA is still around and sells high quality chromium oxide, boron carbide, and the best diamond sprays money can buy. I started using chromium oxide and boron carbide but once I tried diamond compound I knew the extra cost was worth the results. The green compound (chromium oxide) can be very different depending on where you get it, the bar type found in most stores is no where close to the quality or abrasive size of real chromium oxide and is in bar form because they use wax to hold it together. Bar compounds are ment to be used on buffing wheels because as the wheel spins and makes contact with the bar it melts and evenly applies to the wheel. When you try and apply this type of compound to a strop it ends up clumping and not properly spreading across the surface.

Diamond compounds are very controled in their abrasive size and yield consistent results, they also come in many abrasive sizes allowing you more options in your sharpening. If you want the best results you must have the best products.
 
That's what I'm using now, but I'm not experienced enough to tell if it's better than the Veritas compound I had previously from Lee Valley. I'll do some research and see if i can dig up the info :thumbup:
 
I use the Diamond spray from HA in the 0.50 & 0.25 micron. This is great stuff for a high quality result in stroping. I am tempted to add it to my leather belt on the Kalamazoo belt grinder instead of using the chromium oxide.
I have mixed the chromium oxide with mineral oil and applied that to one of my strops and have also made just a powder from a bar of chromium oxide. These methods have made applying it to leather very easy especially if the bar is harder then normal. There are different qualities of chromium oxide so if you are going to spend the time to strop your knives go with the best you can.
Have fun and enjoy perfecting your edges.
 
I checked out HA web today.. I am wondering what micron would be best for D2 and S30V?

Might be a dumb question, but I am confused which one to buy.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
harleyguy02 said:
I checked out HA web today.. I am wondering what micron would be best for D2 and S30V?

Might be a dumb question, but I am confused which one to buy.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
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I am also confused as to which one i should buy. I want to strop a 1095 blade but have a couple stainless blades i wish to strop too. Anyone know which one to get? I want to sharpen on the sharpmaker and then go to the strop with the compound. .50? 1.0?
 
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