Diamond Spray or Green Compound

630skirmish

630skirmish

Joined
Nov 30, 2013
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384
So first things first, I need to buy a strop but I am unsure which strop to buy and what to use with it. If I but a strop with green compound there are lots of option that come pre-loaded or I go with a plain strop and put diamond spray on it. Whats the better option? Diamond spray is pricey so if it doesnt produce better results I would rather just go with green compound.

I currently have one course DMT stone and I would like to go straight to a strop after that to produce a toothy polished edge. So i just am wondering if the diamond spray will really do much better than the Green compound.
 
What steel(s) will you be stropping? Depending on which, the diamond may be overkill on simpler steels like 1095 or low-alloy stainless, or the green might not be very effective at all on high-carbide steels like D2 and S30V. Green can be very good on 1095, CV and 420HC; diamond works MUCH better on S30V. In between those extremes, white rouge or other aluminum oxide compounds work very well on the widest range of steels, from 440A/C up through 145CM, VG-10, D2 and others.


David
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
What steel(s) will you be stropping? Depending on which, the diamond may be overkill on simpler steels like 1095 or low-alloy stainless, or the green might not be very effective at all on high-carbide steels like D2 and S30V. Green can be very good on 1095, CV and 420HC; diamond works MUCH better on S30V. In between those extremes, white rouge or other aluminum oxide compounds work very well on the widest range of steels, from 440A/C up through 145CM, VG-10, D2 and others.


David
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I will be sharpening steels like S30V or Z-Wear
 
630skirmish said:
I will be sharpening steels like S30V or Z-Wear
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The diamond compound would be more effective for those. Both steels have a fair amount of very hard vanadium carbides (more so in the S30V), so the diamond will cut & refine those better than the green compound (chromium oxide). Green won't be hard enough to affect the carbides; it's effect on such steels will be very limited.


David
 
My thoughts are that diamond will work on high carbide and will also work on low alloy steels.
 
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singularity35 said:
My thoughts are that diamond will work on high carbide and will also work on low alloy steels.
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Agree with this; diamond can work on anything, especially if a high-mirror polish is the goal. Though, diamond's aggressiveness makes it pretty easy to overdo it on low-alloy steels, stripping a lot of teeth out of the edge very quickly. This is also true with some aluminum oxide or SiC compounds, if one strops too much with them. It's why I recommend the less-hard & finer green compound for low-alloy steels; it'll get the job done cleaning up light burrs at a comfortable pace, but won't strip too much bite from an otherwise good toothy edge coming off the stone, if stropping is a bit excessive.


David
 
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My 2 cents - while the diamonds are the way to go with high Vanadium steel in general, the biggest factor is that you're following a coarse DMT. Any fine compound is liable to degrade the extra toothy effect you're trying to preserve at that finish level, and at the larger end of stropping compounds it won't make much difference between diamonds and the more common AlumOx or silicon carbide. The green CrO is liable to be too fine to have the kind of effect you're looking for.

IIRC, Ankerson has a bias toward the reclaimed silicon carbide from one of his stones, used on a leather strop. This method also espoused by Phil Wilson for high carbide steels and a somewhat rougher finish.

Personally, at the coarse end of the spectrum I prefer stropping on plain paper with moderate force over a hard backing such as a hardware store combination stone or a brick. It does a good job of picking off any residual burrs and imparting a nice polish to the non-carbide parts of the steel without reducing its catchier qualities.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Agree with this; diamond can work on anything, especially if a high-mirror polish is the goal. Though, diamond's aggressiveness makes it pretty easy to overdo it on low-alloy steels, stripping a lot of teeth out of the edge very quickly. This is also true with some aluminum oxide or SiC compounds, if one strops too much with them. It's why I recommend the less-hard & finer green compound for low-alloy steels; it'll get the job done cleaning up light burrs at a comfortable pace, but won't strip too much bite from an otherwise good toothy edge coming off the stone, if stropping is a bit excessive.


David
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I totally agree about ovedoing it on diamonds. I may have to qualify that I don't strop for more than 4 or 5 strokes per side.
 
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