How to take it to Next level sharpening?

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nick060200

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Jan 18, 2017
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I have a TSPROF, its great! I bought some venev orion diamond stones up to 1200 grit. They work thru just about any steel quick. The 1200 gives a semi mirror polish. The edge it creates is more than sufficient. It takes hardly any pressure to brush hair off my arm. Im more than happy with just those results, but I want to whittle a hair just to say I did it, for the novelty of it.
How many more steps would I have to take it thru to get to hair whittle sharp? Im confused on the progression I would use after 1200 diamond. Specific stones and strops with the micron progression would be helpful.

Again I just want to do it to say I did it.
 
What kind of steel are you sharpening, and what is your edge angle? That's a FEPA F1200 grit or about 3 micron stone; I think you should be only a step or two away from your goal. If you are using low-vanadium steel try stropping with Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish.
 
You are close. Whittling hair is more about keenness than polish. A blade can be mirror polished and not very sharp.

Stepping up from your current 3micron through 1micron, 0.5 micron (green paste) and 0.1micron can help, but the real key is to deburr completely. If the blade is not carefully deburred then no amount of gear will help you. Search for threads on the LOW and other deburring specific topics to read up. That knowledge will be more important than more gear.

also everybody’s hair is different! Some will whittle easier than others.
 
"1200 grit" in diamond doesn't mean a lot. But let's pretend that it's really close to the DMT EF, which is "1200 mesh" and 9 micron.

The thing is, a 9 micron diamond abrasive is nothing like a 9 micron water stone. Or a 9 micron aluminum oxide. Or a 9 micron ceramic. The particles are shaped very, very pointy on diamonds and they tend to leave a finish that is several grades lower (rougher) than their micron, grit, or mesh ratings would seem to indicate.

In my experience you can significantly refine (polish) an edge that was finished with the DMT EF by using the Spyderco Medium ceramic, which is also roughly 9 micron. Abrasive shape has a lot to do with it.

So, you probably need a different kind of abrasive to finish. Ceramic is good up to a point. Up to 3 micron, the Spydercos are pretty amazing. After that I guess it would be really, really find compounds on strops.

Good luck.

Brian.
 
On ordinary steels, I use Shapton Glass-Stones st 4K, 8K, 16K and strop on balsa or nano-cloth with CBN to .25 micron.

On high vanadium steels, diamond to 2K, then strop with CBN or diamond paste to .25.
 
Ben Dover said:
On ordinary steels, I use Shapton Glass-Stones st 4K, 8K, 16K and strop on balsa or nano-cloth with CBN to .25 micron.

On high vanadium steels, diamond to 2K, then strop with CBN or diamond paste to .25.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies. Right now I'm sharpening k390 and s45vn. I'm going to get the 2k orion diamond. And some paste. What should I put the paste on? Leather or balsa or something else. ? My angle is 17.5 deg. I probably Should have mentioned that. It's that too obtuse to whittle hair ?
 
I've had good luck with Kangaroo leather, nano-cloth, balsa and regular Russian barber strop leather.
 
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