Diamond Spray takes it to another level!!!

[FlaMtnBkr]

So I finally got my diamond spray today. I have 2 strops that I bought awhile back and tried using the Sears chromium oxide without much luck. So I cleaned off the green stuff and put 1 and 0.5 micron on the 2 strops.

I took my fairly sharp M4 Benchmade Rift to first the 1 and then 0.5 micron strops and made maybe 20 passes on each side on each strop. Now the knife is noticeably if not significantly sharper. It pops off quite a few hairs holding the knife above the skin and it splits a hair if you hold it just right. I think it can probably still get quite a bit sharper and I'm sure I have a long ways to go on my technique. But so far I am pretty darn impressed! I will be trying different knives to see what other steels do and also to see how much I can sharpen with just the strop. I am curious if a blade is shaving but losing it's edge, if just stropping will bring them back to hair popping without having to put them on a stone?

I also got some freebies in my order and not real sure what they are for so thought I would ask. One is a piece of felt. I have read that this is good for taking off a burr or wire edge. I read both to slice into it to remove the burr and to strop on it between stones. Does anyone have any experience with it? It is about a 1/4" thick. I was wondering if I could cut off a small piece and put some diamond spray on it and make a little sleeve for it and use it as a mini strop when away from home?

I also got a large piece of leather and it looks like it could almost be a razor strop without the fittings? It is hard but not super smooth. It has almost a suede look but it is about 3/8" thick and hard. Any ideas what it would be best for?

There was one more item, a piece of leather that is really 2 pieces glued together. One side is smooth and looks like the leather on my bought strops and the other has a real small square pattern pressed in. Any ideas?

I guess I could call but figured I would ask here first. Thanks and sorry for the long post!

Ryan

BTW it is all Hand American product. It has been a long trip but I finally have it and it seems top notch so far!

 

[Jason B.]

20 on each with M4 is hardly a start, if it was VG-10 maybe but spend about 15-20 minutes with each strop.

The felt pad is for deburring and works great with the 1 micron spray.

Your lucky, you got a big'ol piece of scrubbed bull leather. Works really good with the diamond spray.

When you apply the spray let it dry then with your finger tips work it into the leather. Repeat one more time and your good to go.

 

[FlaMtnBkr]

I will try stropping some 154CM in a bit to see how it does. I will have to remove the thumbstud on the M4 knife if I am going to spend that much time on it. If it is the sharp I can't imagine what doing 40 minutes of stropping would do.

So you just use the felt like a strop when you need to deburr? Does it work ok for sharpening the edge or is the leather a lot better?

So the big piece of leather is the scrubbed bull leather? Is this better for a strop? What came on my 2 strops I bought off the forum is a lot smoother. Does one work better than the other?

Have any idea what the smaller glued piece would be for?

Sorry for all the questions but all this is new to me. Thanks!

 

[hardheart]

the textured piece with the embossed pattern is supposed to be more aggressive than smooth without adding compound. I had a HA luthiers kit with 4 different types of leather surfaces, that was one of them.

yowza, 20 minutes per strop for a 12% carbide steel, no wonder your edges shine so much more than mine!

 

[cotdt]

I also do 20-30 minutes of stropping on 1.0 micron diamond compound. That's usually what it takes to remove all the stratch marks from the last stone (Naniwa). This gives the full benefit.

 

[hardheart]

super or chosera, & what grit?

 

[cotdt]

super or chosera, & what grit?

It's a Naniwa Super 12k without slurry, which gives a near-mirror finish. The edge is already very sharp, but to get that perfect mirror it still takes quite a while on a 1 micron strop. I do this for some knives and all my straight razors. The straight razors I progress to 0.25 and 0.10 micron. I don't use that slow green compound everyone else uses, diamond is better.

 

[hardheart]

I have a 10k super, and it does put a very nice bevel finish on a blade. Have you tried spending more time on it instead of going to the 1 micron diamond? I would imagine the 12k abrasive is at least 1 micron, if not smaller, since 8k is 1.2 micron. I have a cro strop with some 0.25 diamond added in, and it does wonders for low alloy steels, but does show its 8.5 mohs against the heavy compositions. I tend to leave a lot of scratches and just raise the angle a bit to polish. It kills my sharpening buzz when I drop my knives on pavement or have to dig in the dirt, so I shortcut a lot these days.

 

[cotdt]

I have a 10k super, and it does put a very nice bevel finish on a blade. Have you tried spending more time on it instead of going to the 1 micron diamond? I would imagine the 12k abrasive is at least 1 micron, if not smaller, since 8k is 1.2 micron. I have a cro strop with some 0.25 diamond added in, and it does wonders for low alloy steels, but does show its 8.5 mohs against the heavy compositions. I tend to leave a lot of scratches and just raise the angle a bit to polish. It kills my sharpening buzz when I drop my knives on pavement or have to dig in the dirt, so I shortcut a lot these days.

My friend had a Super 10k and 12k, he said that they finish the same, but the 12k is way, way harder while the 10k is a soft stone. I did try entended honing on the 12k, and it does get a finer finish as the stone loads up, though not as fine as a 1 micron diamond on paper/leather/wood.

The 12k cuts very fast, significantly faster than 1 micron diamond but the diamond produces a noticeably finer finish (true mirror vs semi-mirror), I think it is between 1.2-1.6 micron. I find the CrOx green compound slow even on low alloy steels, but it does add some corrosion resistance as a thin layer coats the surface of the steel.