how many strop pastes do i need

E

EMcDannell

Joined
Nov 7, 2010
Messages
354
Right now I have a lanskey diamond kit and a strop with green compound. I'm thinking about getting the finer dmt stripe pastes. I was going to get the 6, 3, and 1 micron pastes. Do I need all three of these pastes or can I skip right down to 1 micron with out it taking to much time? I also saw they have finer pastes like I saw .025 micron. Is there a significant benefit to taking it down to this fine of a paste? My last question is I heard you could finish with just a plain leather strop after the pastes and that would pretty much give the finest edge possible. Is this true?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

Eric
 
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Stropping, in general, will be much more effective if the edge is sufficiently prepared beforehand. In other words, the more you can do with your hones ahead of time, the more effective the pastes & strop will be. Make sure the edge is fully apexed (burr formed along the full length of the edge) with the coarse hone on your Lansky, before proceeding to the next hone. Then, use the subsequent hones to gently reduce the burr and refine the edge. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a good magnifier (at least 10x) to inspect the edge under BRIGHT LIGHT, as you work. That's the best way, by far, to be absolutely sure you've done all you can with the hones, before stropping.

I have two Lansky kits, the 'Deluxe' and the diamond kit. The Deluxe kit uses the standard hones, including two ceramics (purple stone in blue holder, and white stone in yellow holder). The two ceramics, in my opinion, would help a lot after the fine diamond hones in your kit. Those two will begin to produce some mirror polish on the edge. I don't think stropping with the diamond pastes, after your finest diamond hone, will fully polish your edge. If you're not concerned about the full mirror polish, that's OK. The diamond pastes, at 6/3/1 micron, are a pretty big jump down in grit size after the fine diamond hone, so they'll work more to polish the 'teeth' on the relatively coarse edge left by the Lansky diamond hones. With your current set of hones, I don't think you'll benefit much by going smaller than the 1 micron paste.

As for the bare leather stropping, it CAN take your edge further. But this is where it's the most important to make sure you've fully prepared the edge beforehand. Point being, the ultra-fine silicates in the bare leather are SO SMALL (0.01 micron, maybe smaller), if the edge isn't ready for it, you won't likely notice much improvement in polish or sharpness (aside from burr removal, if there's any burr left on the edge). If you can notice immediate improvement in sharpness, after maybe 10 passes on the bare leather strop, you know you've done it right. If you just keep stropping & stropping, and don't notice much improvement, then it's likely that not enough work was done prior, with the hones. The better you get at fully utilizing the hones beforehand, the more you'll find that the edge can be significantly improved by stropping on many different media (like bare leather, or newsprint, or even on your jeans). It's a very satisfying feeling, when you've begun to notice this.
 
Cool thanks for the post its very informative. I forgot to mention I do have the blue sapphire hone from lanskey and then after that one I jump right to the green compound strop. I would love to be able to get a mirror Polish on my blades. Do you think I need to start using my extra fine (white stone with yellow handle) lankest hone between my fine and sapphire? Because right now my edges are coming out very sharp( hair popping and can pass the single piece of to test) but they are not mirrored like I see other people. Also you think I should get some coarser compounds to use before the 6/3/1 in order to achieve the best edge?

Thanks again for all the great info

Eric
 
EMcDannell said:
Cool thanks for the post its very informative. I forgot to mention I do have the blue sapphire hone from lanskey and then after that one I jump right to the green compound strop. I would love to be able to get a mirror Polish on my blades. Do you think I need to start using my extra fine (white stone with yellow handle) lankest hone between my fine and sapphire? Because right now my edges are coming out very sharp( hair popping and can pass the single piece of to test) but they are not mirrored like I see other people. Also you think I should get some coarser compounds to use before the 6/3/1 in order to achieve the best edge?

Thanks again for all the great info

Eric
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The key to very high polish is in narrowing the 'gaps' between grits in the sequence. If the 'jump' from one to the next is too large, the smaller/finer grit won't be able to fully remove the large scratches from the previous grit. So, I'd very much recommend using the white hone before the sapphire. The purple ceramic (blue holder) is the first one I've seen, in the Lansky kits, to begin to produce a mirror on the edge (albeit a little bit 'hazy'). The white hone/yellow holder, after that, can make what appears to be a pretty high mirror polish (to the naked eye, under average lighting). I haven't used the sapphire, but I'd assume it should take that even further. If you're going for the highest polish, I'd recommend using the fullest range of hones you can manage. Then, take it to the 6/3/1 pastes and bare (CLEAN) leather after that. The downside to putting that high polish on a blade is, any dirt/dust/grit on your final stropping media will leave some noticeable scratches in your mirror. But, appearances aside, that doesn't mean you won't see some nice improvement in sharpness, if you've done everything else right. ;)
 
I use 1 micron CBN, .5 micron diamond or CBN, .25 micron and .125 micron. I prefer CBN but diamond works quite well. I prefer the sprays, but the pastes work well. However, I avoid the "crayons."
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Stropping, in general, will be much more effective if the edge is sufficiently prepared beforehand. In other words, the more you can do with your hones ahead of time, the more effective the pastes & strop will be. Make sure the edge is fully apexed (burr formed along the full length of the edge) with the coarse hone on your Lansky, before proceeding to the next hone. Then, use the subsequent hones to gently reduce the burr and refine the edge.
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What I'm reading is that you advise to raise a burr with the coarse stone then "remove this burr" (start the other side) with the next finer hone - let's call it a medium hone?

I was taught to raise the burr with a coarse hone and flip the blade over & remove it (to a very sharp state) with the "same" coarse hone. Then repeat the process as you proceed with the finer hones until completed. Then strop. Can you clarify or conifrm that this is the proper technique plz? :)
 
cziv said:
What I'm reading is that you advise to raise a burr with the coarse stone then "remove this burr" (start the other side) with the next finer hone - let's call it a medium hone?

I was taught to raise the burr with a coarse hone and flip the blade over & remove it (to a very sharp state) with the "same" coarse hone. Then repeat the process as you proceed with the finer hones until completed. Then strop. Can you clarify or conifrm that this is the proper technique plz? :)
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The point I was making, is that the burr needs to be formed initially (verifying that the edge has been fully apexed), before even considering moving on to the next hone. Some prefer to 'flip' the burr to the other side with the same coarse hone, and that's fine. Once the burr's in place initially, I've found it's not that big a deal to flip it and reduce it with the next hone in the sequence. That's how I've been doing it, for the most part. If the burr is initially VERY coarse & large, then I could see more value in flipping & reducing it with the coarse hone. I've gotten better at seeing the formation of the burr early, when it's still relatively small (this is why I strongly advocate using a good magnifier & bright light). So, it generally doesn't take much to flip it & remove it with the subsequent hones.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
The point I was making, is that the burr needs to be formed initially (verifying that the edge has been fully apexed), before even considering moving on to the next hone. Some prefer to 'flip' the burr to the other side with the same coarse hone, and that's fine. Once the burr's in place initially, I've found it's not that big a deal to flip it and reduce it with the next hone in the sequence. That's how I've been doing it, for the most part. If the burr is initially VERY coarse & large, then I could see more value in flipping & reducing it with the coarse hone. I've gotten better at seeing the formation of the burr early, when it's still relatively small (this is why I strongly advocate using a good magnifier & bright light). So, it generally doesn't take much to flip it & remove it with the subsequent hones.
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Thanks for the comprehensive reply David. I was of course concerned about the final polish of the finished prouduct. You addressed that in the final part of your reply about using the magnifying glass. I haven't been and my burrs have been pretty outrageous and hard to flip. I see that the use of this tool would be invaluable in keeping burr size to a minimum and thus easier to remove and leaving a finished edge that's much easier to bring to high polished state. :thumbup:
 
cziv said:
Thanks for the comprehensive reply David. I was of course concerned about the final polish of the finished prouduct. You addressed that in the final part of your reply about using the magnifying glass. I haven't been and my burrs have been pretty outrageous and hard to flip. I see that the use of this tool would be invaluable in keeping burr size to a minimum and thus easier to remove and leaving a finished edge that's much easier to bring to high polished state. :thumbup:
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Another thing that makes a big difference is very light pressure, in keeping the burrs from getting too big. When I'm using the coarse hone, and inspecting under magnification as I go, I will really dial down the pressure when I can see (with the magnifier) that I'm getting close to apexing the edge. Then take it just a few light passes at a time, until I see just enough evidence of a burr. Almost without fail, this has made cleaning them up almost trivial.

Even with the magnifier, I still check the edge with my thumbnail, to see if I can 'feel' what I'm seeing (the burr) under the magnifier. I think this helps to calibrate my 'feel' of the process, especially if I already know the burr is there.

Edit:
I forgot to emphasize, a big benefit of SEEING the burr with the magnifier, as it forms, is that you can tailor your sharpening to only the specific sections of the edge that still need work. If a burr begins to form in one section first (for me, that's almost always back near the ricasso, or in the central section of the edge), then I can focus my sharpening strokes on other areas (like the tip, which ALWAYS takes longer), without overdoing it where the burr's already formed. That makes a big difference in keeping the size of the burr down.
 
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khtima said:
These are what I have

16072011179.jpg
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what are they? pretty cool colors :)
 
khtima said:
Diamond paste, made ​​in Russia: 0.5, 0.25, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
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Do they work? I've tried some cheap pastes in big syringes before, and other than smelling bad, they didn't seem to do much to the knife edge. Whereas a couple minutes of stropping on my DMT paste loaded strops and the thing turns black:thumbup:.
 
khtima said:
Diamond paste, made ​​in Russia: 0.5, 0.25, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
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those are some big bottles. Where can you get those, and how is the quality? I still want some 0.5 and 0.25 for my straight razors and am looking for an affordable solution
 
Russian diamond paste is made of cubic zirconia. Just cutting a few corner is all they're doing. :)
 
zyhano said:
those are some big bottles. Where can you get those, and how is the quality? I still want some 0.5 and 0.25 for my straight razors and am looking for an affordable solution
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Do you want me to send you a little on the sample?

cziv said:
Russian diamond paste is made of cubic zirconia. Just cutting a few corner is all they're doing. :)
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You're wrong, these are made of synthetic diamond powders
 
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