Moving up in the strop world/Diamond on cardboard?

Should I use Diamond paste on cardboard

  • Yeah sure, no problem!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No! That's heresy!

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • It doesn't matter either way

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Total voters
    3
M

Mr.SATism

Joined
Jul 31, 2017
Messages
362
So for those of you that don't know, I am new to knives and most of my edge maintenance is stropping on cardboard (I have a pretty light knife-use type of life TBH). I have the Woodstock Green Extra Fine which does give my knives a nice toothy edge (which I describe as though my blade has teeth that bite into my hairs when I shave my leg). I recently bought the Red Rogue to see if I can make it sharper. It did not give me the 'ultra-sharp' 'cuts an atom' type sharp that I wanted, but it did polish the edge a little bit and made the edge smoother in a way that did not bite my leg hair when I tried shaving. I think that I stropped too much (or too hard) with the red and maybe dulled the blade a little, but it will probably be fixed with the green compound easily. I suppose my question is whether or not to use DMT paste on cardboard, because if diamond lasts for a long while, I really wouldn't mind keeping some 6, 3 and 1-micron pieces lying around. I know that I'm supposed to put it on leather, get it all nice and pretty, but in my life, I see cardboard as a more practical option.
TLDR: I strop on cardboard and I'm wondering if I could advance to diamond pastes with cardboard.
Hopefully, the pictures come through, and if they do, I apologize for the snail trails.
https://imgur.com/gallery/BzrSs
Edit: Added a poll in case that is easier to get an answer
 
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I used to use diamond spray on a balsa block that I got super cheap from amazon. I’ve also used diamond spray on plain paper then wrapped it around a dry sharpening stone. I think the ridges in the cardboard might give you negitive results. I’m sure some here will correct me if I am wrong.
 
Kyle363 said:
I used to use diamond spray on a balsa block that I got super cheap from amazon. I’ve also used diamond spray on plain paper then wrapped it around a dry sharpening stone. I think the ridges in the cardboard might give you negitive results. I’m sure some here will correct me if I am wrong.
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That's interesting, I would have thought that cardboard didn't affect anything. Might be why I'm having trouble with the red compound
 
The cardboard isn't, it's the variable support of corrugated cardboard. You are going through multiple angles, partially undoing your work.
Get or make a strop where the material is mounted on something consistently flat and solid.
 
What ouroboros Said; Cardboard isn't optimal. Imho stropping as a whole isn't optimal: why not save the money you spend on diamond-spray/compound all the time and get a really high grit Stone? Something like 10k; I used an 800/10k setup for some time and still do to maintain edges pretty often
 
Ourorboros said:
Get or make a strop where the material is mounted on something consistently flat and solid.
Click to expand...
I expected that this would be the obvious solution, and is an end of the year goal. I'm not going to deny that I wanted to have a one all solution, but it will definitely do for now.
SV-97 said:
why not save the money you spend on diamond-spray/compound all the time and get a really high grit Stone?
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I don't really know, considering I have xhp in my collection and will have s110v in the future, I will probably get a diamond sharpening stone. But I believe that the factory edges are still sharp enough as to where I can bring them to extreme sharpness by stropping with low micron compounds. I do agree that either a diafold or a combo diamond stone (if that exists?) would be great. And although I am a novice at sharpening, I do have a special little knife that I want to grind to oblivion (muhahahah)
 
Mr.SATism said:
I expected that this would be the obvious solution, and is an end of the year goal. I'm not going to deny that I wanted to have a one all solution, but it will definitely do for now.

I don't really know, considering I have xhp in my collection and will have s110v in the future, I will probably get a diamond sharpening stone. But I believe that the factory edges are still sharp enough as to where I can bring them to extreme sharpness by stropping with low micron compounds. I do agree that either a diafold or a combo diamond stone (if that exists?) would be great. And although I am a novice at sharpening, I do have a special little knife that I want to grind to oblivion (muhahahah)
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For polishing a normal waterstone works fine in my experience(even for high end steels). If you want to rebevel etc. a diamondplate would be the right choice though. Another pro argument for ceramics etc. is that you can tape sandpaper to them to get other grits easily.
 
I’ll use diamond compound on cardboard occasionally but I never use the corrugated type.

IME the cereal box type board works best.
Mostly I use scrap wood but cardboard is plentiful and cost effective.
 
willc said:
I’ll use diamond compound on cardboard occasionally but I never use the corrugated type.
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Amazon+pizza+new furniture boxes is what I get my strop stock from right now, so I will definitely try and see if I can sneak a cereal box from the recycling bin haha. I also do have some newspaper that I use, but I do not notice that much of a difference when stropping with it after I already stropped with my cardboard+compound.
 
I see what you mean about using what you have available, and if it works for you, great; but if you are going to spend the money on diamond compound, spend $3 on a basswood block at the hobby store. Or get a Washboard from our member Heavy Handed and use computer/whatever paper on it instead. Much more consistent results.
 
Thank you so much for all of your inputs! I do agree that my knives will probably need to get some high grit polishing and that Heavy Handed's system will probably be the way that I will go because I am so used to edge trailing my strops that all I need to do is just change the amount of pressure I put on it. I will ask my mom about how to get different woods and maybe make a couple of leather strops for myself (she's been woodcarving since before I was born, and I do think that there are benefits to stropping). I will probably keep my cardboard strops as a way to touch up my edges on the go, or give them out to my friends so they can try and give their knives nicer edges (yes I will mention the caveat of corrugated cardboard). Thank you all for making my birthday a little better
 
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