Diamond Spray

Infi-del

Infi-del

Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
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I am thinking about purchasing some diamond spray for my leather stropping belt. I found this site that sells .10 Micron Diamond Spray. http://www.facetingaccessories.com/polishes.shtml#italdo_diamond_spray Anyone know if this is TOO fine or will it give desired results on a 1X42 leather belt. Also, would it be useful on a hand strop or is this so fine that without the speed of a powered belt would it basically be like rubbing the blade on bare leather?
 
1/10 micron 200,000 mesh diamond compound is way too fine, another thing you want to look at is the carat content. More carat's the faster it will work. IMHO 1 carat diamond compound is a waste of money when you have companies like HA putting out 21 carat compound, plus the HA stuff is really good.

I have used my spray on my 1x30 but the results were not very good, as soon as I touched the edge to the belt all the compound came off. I tried again but tried working the compound into the belt with my fingers, it stayed on this time but seemed to do very little to the edge. IMO 1 micron and less just seem to be too fine to be effective on a power strop and work much better on a hand strop.

The one compound that did seem to work well was the DMT 6 micron diamond compound, it has a oil base instead of a water base and seem to stick to the belt better. The coarser grit also seemed to do a better job, it applied a perfect mirror polish in just 2 or 3 passes but didn't leave the edge over polished. Moving on to a 1 or 0.5 micron hand strop after it where it made the big difference and saved time.
 
I must respectfully disagree. :(

IME, .1 micron spray on a hand strop, after .25 and .5 micron is an excellent finishing compound.

I agree that the HandAmerican 1 micron is truly superb, especially for power stropping. :)

But for my best knives I like to finish with either the .25 or the .1 on a hand strop :p

BTW, CBN (cubic boron nitride) works about as well as diamond in the full one micron size.
 
Ben Dover said:
I must respectfully disagree. :(

IME, .1 micron spray on a hand strop, after .25 and .5 micron is an excellent finishing compound.

I agree that the HandAmerican 1 micron is truly superb, especially for power stropping. :)

But for my best knives I like to finish with either the .25 or the .1 on a hand strop :p

BTW, CBN (cubic boron nitride) works about as well as diamond in the full one micron size.
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Do you really find the benefits to be worth the time and effort spent? Often I find that going past 0.5 and sometimes even 1 micron adds no gains in cutting performance, sure it feels sharper but it only seems good for push cuts and cutting yourself :p
 
What's the grit on the Green compound we get from Lee Valley. I considered using that for my power strop... but felt it might cut a little too much. Perhaps flitz would be the way to go on a power strop. It's always delivered a fine polished edge for me. The Green stuff is good too but it may be best left to a hand strop.
 
knifenut1013 said:
The one compound that did seem to work well was the DMT 6 micron diamond compound, it has a oil base instead of a water base and seem to stick to the belt better.
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I have some of that. It came in a little injection tube... how in the world do you apply that to a 1X42 belt? Squirt some on a tougue depressor maybe and then gradually apply it? I know a little goes a long way but a 42" strop is a lot of ground to cover.
 
Infi-del said:
What's the grit on the Green compound we get from Lee Valley. I considered using that for my power strop... but felt it might cut a little too much. Perhaps flitz would be the way to go on a power strop. It's always delivered a fine polished edge for me. The Green stuff is good too but it may be best left to a hand strop.
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Supposedly .5 micron, but in fact it's like 1/3 CrO and 1/2 AlO, and the AlO is 10-20 micron. There have been specific complaints about the stuff from Lee Valley, so I'd see if I could acquire some HandAmerican CrO (actually, I'm planning on putting it on my holiday wishlist, so it's not just hypothetical :p)
 
knifenut1013 said:
Do you really find the benefits to be worth the time and effort spent? Often I find that going past 0.5 and sometimes even 1 micron adds no gains in cutting performance, sure it feels sharper but it only seems good for push cuts and cutting yourself :p
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Actually, I seriously doubt that there's any practical benefit in going past 2000 grit on anything other than a scalpel, microtome, fine Japanese kitchen knife or a razor.

But since this is a hobby of mine, I truly enjoy really pushing the envelope. :p

I guess that's why I'm also so stuck on CPM M-4 and S90V! :)

If I could get .001 micron diamond and S125V, or 10V to use it on, I'd really be tickled. :)
 
Infi-del said:
I have some of that. It came in a little injection tube... how in the world do you apply that to a 1X42 belt? Squirt some on a tougue depressor maybe and then gradually apply it? I know a little goes a long way but a 42" strop is a lot of ground to cover.
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Take the belt off and rub it in :)
 
Ben Dover said:
Actually, I seriously doubt that there's any practical benefit in going past 2000 grit on anything other than a scalpel, microtome, fine Japanese kitchen knife or a razor.

But since this is a hobby of mine, I truly enjoy really pushing the envelope. :p

I guess that's why I'm also so stuck on CPM M-4 and S90V! :)

If I could get .001 micron diamond and S125V, or 10V to use it on, I'd really be tickled. :)
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I've felt quite a few scalpel's, their not that sharp :(

I say we ditch the stones and compound and use a SEM and a lazer, we can pick away at the edge 1 atom at a time:D :p
 
I would not use a spray, there is hardly any diamond content in them. I would use a 1 micron paste. I would thin it first with something like mineral oil and rub it into the belt with the belt removed from the machine.
 
Jeff Clark said:
I would not use a spray, there is hardly any diamond content in them. I would use a 1 micron paste. I would thin it first with something like mineral oil and rub it into the belt with the belt removed from the machine.
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It's all about the carat weight the rest is just delivery system.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Take the belt off and rub it in :)
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Got any tips on doing this. I always use way too much and waste it. How do you spread it around evenly and make a little go a long way. And I know just a little bit is all you need. But the paste seems to always gum up on the leather and I'll have one spot with a lot, and then thin spots throughout. :confused:
 
Infi-del said:
Got any tips on doing this. I always use way too much and waste it. How do you spread it around evenly and make a little go a long way. And I know just a little bit is all you need. But the paste seems to always gum up on the leather and I'll have one spot with a lot, and then thin spots throughout. :confused:
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Put one little drop at a time on and rub it in, once the belt is completely covered go over it with a lighter to warm it. The compound on the belt will take on a white haze, move rather quickly with the lighter, you don't want to burn it just warm it. Once you are done with that the belt should be good to go.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Put one little drop at a time on and rub it in, once the belt is completely covered go over it with a lighter to warm it. The compound on the belt will take on a white haze, move rather quickly with the lighter, you don't want to burn it just warm it. Once you are done with that the belt should be good to go.
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How about a hair dryer or heat gun. Would those work as well?
 
knifenut1013 said:
Maybe, I have never tried it. I use the lighter because its quick and easy.
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I don't trust myself with fire... LOL. Everytime I play with fire something get's destroyed. If it's just warming to light heating of the leather I'm after, I'm sure a hair dryer will work. I'll have to steal my girl friends though. I just use a towel LOL.

BTW I got the grinder yesterday and can tell I'm going to love it.
 
I've had good luck putting both the leather and compound in direct sunlight until it's uncomfortably warm to the touch and then rubbing in or spraying on the compound. :p
 
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