New guy question. These are my abrasives, does this order of use make the most sense.

J

jimmybjj

Joined
Nov 30, 2010
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19
dmt extra course, dmt course, dmt fine, dmt extra-fine, dmt extra-extra-fine, 1 micro diamond spray from handamerica on leather strop, fine .5 micron chromium oxide (green bar from sharpening supplies) on leather strop, uncharged leather strop.

Thanks for any help or advice.
 
Yep, that order makes the most sense, but you may just want to skip the bar of CrO2 and get the .5 micron spray from Hand American.

I've heard good things about the DMT 6 and 3 micron pastes as well.

Some people like using the diamond sprays/pastes on wood.
 
Well if you want a mirror edge its not going to be that easy skipping from the EEF to 1 micron compound on leather. It will work but you will not be able to remove all the scratches.

The 0.5 chromium oxide is great for carbon steels and straight razors but is a level of sharpness not needed for knives. And if your just starting out it would be a long time before you discovered the true potential of the 0.5.

I would say after the stones DMT 6 & 3 micron compound finishing with the HA 1 micron compound would give the better result and a better step down of grits.

If you have straight razors the 0.5 and bare leather would be good but otherwise don't bother.

When it comes to bare leather it would be best to use horse leather (also sold by HA). I find it to be a good step after the EEF stone to bring a slight increase to the bevel shine and a truly scary sharpness to the edge.

Note: 1 micron will yield a perfect mirror shine so if that is not your result then something was missed in previous steps.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I would say after the stones DMT 6 & 3 micron compound finishing with the HA 1 micron compound would give the better result and a better step down of grits.
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are you using DMT 6 micron paste before or after the extra extra stone? Would the 3 micron diamond paste be redundant since i am using the extra extra stone?
 
When the plates are new you will need to follow the EEF plate with the 6 micron paste but once broke-in you can go EF, 6 micron, EEF, 3 and 1 micron. The diamond paste on balsa, hardwood, or MDF will make the paste act more like a stone and yield a scratch pattern more like the diamond plate. With leather you get more polish and a finer scratch pattern, it will also work a little slower. Sometimes when finishing on the balsa even the 1 micron shows a scratch pattern or haze effect, following on leather with 1 micron will correct this. Unless you have a good sharpening background I wouldn't worry too much about the polishing steps for now and work on getting your technique down on the stones. It pays off more to have a very sharp edge before stropping.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Unless you have a good sharpening background I wouldn't worry too much about the polishing steps for now and work on getting your technique down on the stones. It pays off more to have a very sharp edge before stropping.
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best advice on the thread. :thumbup:

i'll go further saying that as long as you don't get shaving edges on the F stone it's useless to switch to polishing. work your fondations then try to enhance something that's already good.
 
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