Lapping compounds for the entire sharpening process?

J

jimmyjwazup

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Sep 25, 2015
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Hello all, I've been searching for a next step beyond my Smith's tri-hone I was given for Christmas that goes up to 1000. I was curious to see how high up wet dry sandpaper goes when I came across diamond lapping products. The most interesting product I've seen is simply the diamond lapping compound. I've seen it from 40 microns which is supposed to be roughly 350 grit all the way down to .1 or 20000 grit. With multiple sizes in between. With such a vast span of coarseness, could this product be added to a stropping medium and be used instead of stones or sandpaper?

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I was thinking about your question; couldn't respond when I read it. I was wondering if you got a reply. No.
so
Here goes. Having limited experience with this I would still say it sounds like a nightmare to me. The paste comes off the strop and gets up on the knife and you have to clean it off with solvent because it doesn't just rinse off under the water faucet. The strops need to be kept isolated so they don't cross contaminate (the coarse getting onto the fine).

Nah dude, nah.

The films with adhesive back work well but they are kind of pricy in my opinion compared to water stones. Maybe I have the facts wrong; some body do the math, I'm too lazy to but also they are throw away and I am just fundamentally creepedout by throw away everything. Heck I carry cotton pocket handkerchiefs and use cotton napkins to dry my hands at work and rewash them . . . is that extreme or what ?

So I'm not a sandpaper film guy either though I have some and have farted around with it.

Having tried most all the stuff I have to say it is hard to beat water stones. Mess ? A little water ? It is more mess to wash dishes or wipe the kitchen counter down with soap and water yet we do that EVERY DAY .

Also the lapping compound paste thickens and turns to a solid in the tubes and is a PIA.
 
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I'll add to this the biggest issue would be contamination. You could pull it off with cheaper abrasives but the diamond paste will swamp with swarf and you won't get your $'s worth.

The biggest issue is using a surface that is hard enough to shape a good edge. I once sharpened a butterknife dull vintage Sabatier using only black and white compound on paper with a drop of oil, over one of my Washboards (this was actually back in pre-production days when I was still tinkering with the principles).

It turned out very sharp and had a nice crisp apex. it took a few though, and that on a blade with RC probably a point either way of 50.

If you apply it to some scuffed up red oak now you have a faster process, but still you won't get a lot of life out of your diamond paste and is tough to remove the burr cleanly. It works well though and is a good alternative if using less expensive compounds.

An older video where I use compound on wood.
[video=youtube;gfblDsTy-FY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfblDsTy-FY[/video]
 
I think using diamond lapping compounds exclusively for the whole sharpening process is counter-productive.
1) Sharpening is about removing metal from two planes to get a crisp edge where the two planes intersect. On a stone, you need to clean away the removed metal bits by washing it away or the stone itself is of a nature where fresh particles are continually exposed to help with the metal removal process. On a stropping medium, how are you going to clean away the debris without removing the diamond paste and having to reapply a fresh layer of diamond paste.
2) Also having pretty much "loose" diamond lapping compound isn't going to help establish a crisp edge.
 
Thanks for all the input, it was just a question I had when seeing such aggressive paste as roughly 400 grit. If anything, perhaps using the lower grit on a harder medium where you could work in either direction vs a leather strop where you can only go in one direction in respect to the edge.

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