Diamonds on my strops!

Joined
Jul 23, 2008
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So I have been looking for new compounds to try and have ran into low and even sub-micron grit diamond pastes.

My question is who is a reputable company to get this product from?

Am I just wasting my money? I think the hardest steel that I sharpen is my M-2 Mini AFCK. I think the steel is in the 61-62 range if IIRC. I currently use a block of red jewelers rouge, and I think it works, but it seems to take a while on some of my knives (S30V Seb, S30V Mayhem, M-2 AFCK).

Would getting the whole setup of various grits (40-0.5 micron) and extra strops work to give that amazing final polish? I have OCD tendancies when it comes to certain things, and sharpening my knives has turned into one of them......albeit my favorite.

I have been toying with the idea of getting an Edge-Pro Apex setup, as that is the only fully satisfactory edge I have ever seen all polished up.

After watching you gentlemen whittle hair, I feel the need, the need for keen......edges.

Please, someone who uses or has used and has good input, I need help!
 
Search the web for Buehler MetaDi. The one micron size is what Verhoeven used in his paper on sharpening. He was able to get edges with edge widths of 0.25 to 0.30 microns (250 to 300 nanometers). This is about 1/4 the edge width of a scalpel, and on the order of that of a Gillete razor blade.
 
If you are really into stropping up a polished edge, you should have several strops. While the diamond compounds are are fast and work well, you can find finer grits with Chromium Oxide. Of course, being OCD'd like the rest of us, you'll probably want all of them! :) However... save your red jeweler's rouge for precious metals.

Your red jeweler's rouge is actually a very soft polish, and not really hard enough to work the harder metals. It's only iron oxide (rust!) designed for soft metals such as silver and gold, and does a really great job with them, but not so much with hard steels. While it will remove surface oxides from steels giving the impression that it's polishing the metal, but you can do a lot better with other compounds that work faster and polish better.

Stitchawl
 
I use DMT and amplex diamond paste, and will never use Cro or rough again.

Picture326.jpg
 
See now thats what I am talking about! Nice edge Knifenut.

Thanks for all the help and replies, I bought some of the .25 micron slurry from Japanese Knife Sharpening, and I cant wait to try it out.
 
I get it from www.classicshaving.com and the final finish for the JYD was .25 micron/100,000 mesh.

Jeff, do you use the spray or the paste?

I think the color-coded paste your were using was the DMT, How does it compare to the Graves?
 
I used paste that came in syringes. I mostly used the Graves when I wanted to go down below .5 micron. I liked the color coded .5u paste better than the gray Graves equivalent, but that was more due to the color than anything else. There was no .25 micron in my color kit so there was nothing to compare the Graves against. I should try adding some food coloring to the Graves and then do more comparison.

I mostly find the diamond grit beneficial with alloys that have hard carbides. It makes a world of difference for D2 and fancier stainless steels.
 
I seen that they had the option of spray or paste in all the grits I would like. I would like to switch to spray because the paste can be a pain to apply to leather sometimes. The reason I ask is because my amplex seems to work faster/better than the DMT paste and if I switch to another brand I want it to be of high quality.
 
looks like I'am sticking with the paste then, thanks for the heads-up on that.
 
Any tips for applying the syringe pastes? Do they work on the belt sander leather belts?
 
I use the paste on relatively smooth surfaces. So far computer printer "photo paper" has worked best for me. It should work fairly similar to any other compound that you put on a leather belt. It will just cut a bit faster and cleaner. With the paste it will tend to collect dust so be careful about your sander environment. I couldn't use it in my shop.
 
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