Honing method

[ryba-mech]

I don't think I was the first one to come up with the idea but I want to discuss it anyway. After I sharpen a blade on the Sharpmaker or traditional stones I hone it using the metal polishing compounds sold at any Home Depot near the buffing wheels. The finest one they sell is I believe 3-4 microns. My honing setup is a wooden disk with an old leather belt glued onto it, with a buffing compound of a particular grit on it. I used a long screw glued into the middle of the disk on a drill set to medium speed. Although most of you will probably have shivers of using a power tool to sharpen a knife (as I did too before I tried it) there is no overheating and the wear on the blade is very minor, probably less than on the ultra fine stones of the sharpmaker. The only disadvantage of the method is that the blade gets scary sharp but has no microserrations because it's polished so smooth. I usually just sharpen the knife using a slightly coarser grade to get the tiny blade teeth.

 

[Lucky Bob]

Sounds like a "shadetree" version of leather belts on belt grinders/sanders, which is a common trick among the Makers here (ask Dan Koster, I know he uses that method.) In any case, I think the finest grit is significantly smaller than 3 microns... the standard green rouge is .5, I believe.

 

[TedGamble]

standard green rouge is .5

Although Chromium Oxide (aka green rouge) is indeed 0.5 microns, the "polishing ability" varies greatly between various suppliers and form of the product. Bars (crayons) contain very little actual CrO due to the other medium that is incorporated to maintain the solid (crayon) form, whereas HandAmerican's liquid is 70% and their powder is 100% CrO. Therefore, your mileage could vary significantly depending on which form of CrO you are using.