Diamond plate vs Arkansas stones

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thank you for the info. Thats why i want a diamond plate at 8k or 12k. At that size i can cut the carbides & keep em in their matrices right?

That's why I prefer to finish D2 on diamond hones. It'll leave the edge much crisper and, I personally believe, more durable as well at a higher finish. Beyond that, it can be maintained fairly well with aggressive, hard strops using something like aluminum oxide compounds (I like white rouge on a hard-backed denim strop). But eventually, I always feel the need to reestablish a crisp apex on a diamond hone again, to fully restore it's bite.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I assume this is why when i get to a fine enough grit it starts looking pitted, where the carbides have come out?

Maybe, depending on what stones or abrasive types are used, if they're not cleanly cutting the carbides. There's some debate as to whether the carbides pull out to such a degree. But I believe they can, myself.

Many speak of D2's 'orange peel' appearance when it's highly polished, which is attributable to the very large carbides in it, and reveals how some abrasives or polishing methods can't cut the carbides at the same rate as the surrounding matrix steel, leaving visible 'bumps' in the finish.

 

[Littlebabycarrot]

That's why I prefer to finish D2 on diamond hones. It'll leave the edge much crisper and, I personally believe, more durable as well at a higher finish. Beyond that, it can be maintained fairly well with aggressive, hard strops using something like aluminum oxide compounds (I like white rouge on a hard-backed denim strop). But eventually, I always feel the need to reestablish a crisp apex on a diamond hone again, to fully restore it's bite.

Thank you for perspective. What, again, is white rouge composed of? In the context of polish, metal removal and edge refinement how does it compare to Chromium Oxide?

 

[Littlebabycarrot]

Honestly i am curious about Iron Oxide as well, tho have read it is possibly too soft for steel and is more suited to gold.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thank you for perspective. What, again, is white rouge composed of? In the context of polish, metal removal and edge refinement how does it compare to Chromium Oxide?

White rouge is usually aluminum oxide. It's roughly 50% harder than chromium oxide, and will be a better polisher on steels with a little more wear-resistance (think of steels like 440C, 154CM, VG-10 and beyond, up to something like D2 or ZDP-189 in wear-resistance). Chromium oxide, a.k.a., green compound, isn't quite as effective on more wear-resistant steels like those, and does better with low-wear steels like 1095, CV, 420HC, 440A, etc. White rouge is often a bit larger in grit size than chromium oxide (0.5-1 micron is common for green); the Ryobi white rouge I use is rated at 2-5 microns. White rouge will be a lot more aggressive in polishing, working very fast with the steels I mentioned. It works very well on a hard-backed denim/linen strop, in particular. It'll leave the edge much more crisp at a high polish, with more bite, than will green compound on those moderately wear-resistant steels, which tend to get over-burnished and rounded off at the edge, if stropped too much with green compound.

That said, on steels with much vanadium carbide content, at ~4% or higher like S30V or M390, something like diamond or CBN will handle those better for polishing to shaving-sharp edges, as white rouge, green and other compounds won't be hard enough to polish or refine vanadium carbides.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Honestly i am curious about Iron Oxide as well, tho have read it is possibly too soft for steel and is more suited to gold.

That's essentially correct. Iron oxide won't do much better than just bare leather for stropping, when done by hand. With powered stropping on driven belts, some say it's effective on simpler carbon steels. But anything with any wear-resistance would be better handled with something else, if stropping by hand and looking for a more polished result.

 

[Littlebabycarrot]

Ah

White rouge is usually aluminum oxide. It's roughly 50% harder than chromium oxide, and will be a better polisher on steels with a little more wear-resistance (think of steels like 440C, 154CM, VG-10 and beyond, up to something like D2 or ZDP-189 in wear-resistance). Chromium oxide, a.k.a., green compound, isn't quite as effective on more wear-resistant steels like those, and does better with low-wear steels like 1095, CV, 420HC, 440A, etc. White rouge is often a bit larger in grit size than chromium oxide (0.5-1 micron is common for green); the Ryobi white rouge I use is rated at 2-5 microns. White rouge will be a lot more aggressive in polishing, working very fast with the steels I mentioned. It works very well on a hard-backed denim/linen strop, in particular. It'll leave the edge much more crisp at a high polish, with more bite, than will green compound on those moderately wear-resistant steels, which tend to get over-burnished and rounded off at the edge, if stropped too much with green compound.

That said, on steels with much vanadium carbide content, at ~4% or higher like S30V or M390, something like diamond or CBN will handle those better for polishing to shaving-sharp edges, as white rouge, green and other compounds won't be hard enough to polish or refine vanadium carbides.

Thank you for clearing that up. Generally with my d2 knife I only do one or two passes per side on the chromium oxide strop, usually to clean up any irregularities in my edge, but it sounds like the aluminum oxide compound would be better suited