questions about paper wheels.

S

Spacehog

Joined
Mar 2, 2013
Messages
2
Ahoy to everyone, I am brand new to your forum as of today, and I had a couple of questions for some of you experts out there. I tried searching the forums for this info, but I haven't found it yet. Sorry if these questions are repeats.

1. I have the Razor Sharp Edgemaking System which has worked really well for me so far. I am wondering about how much wax to apply to the silicon carbide wheel though. On the instructions it says things like, "Touch the wax to the wheel each time you start to sharpen." and "The Grit wheel is going to seem very aggressive the first 4 or 5 knives until it looks smooth and waxy. Be careful not to put on too much Wax. If you do the Grit can’t do it’s job!" I'm trying to be careful with the amount of wax I put on, and so far I've had no problems. However, I am noticing that wax is starting to build up a bit on the wheel now, so I'm wondering if I should back off on the wax. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has advice about how you can tell if you have too much (or too little) wax on the wheel. Also, I'm curious if there is anything you can do about having too much wax on the whell. I suppose you could grind off the wax and start over with applying silicon carbide, but that seems a bit extreme. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

2. What is the makeup of the white rouge included with the set? Is it diamond paste? "Blizzard compound"? Something else? Can you use a different compound to substitute for the one that they give you?

Thanks in advnace!
 
If you have too much wax on your grit wheel, it will only be less aggressive when using. If you are not seeing a lot of sparking when you use the wheel, then there is enough wax on the wheel. You should only see a very light amount of sparking when all is good. If you think you have way too much wax, you can take a small toothbrush shaped metal brush and lightly remove some of it. I only apply more wax when there is some obvious sparking going on. The purpose of the wax is to keep the heat down and under control when grinding. Too much will slow down the grinding action. You can just let it naturally grind off with use, before applying more.

The white compound is a medium grit with polishing agents in it. I have tried other compounds, but have found the supplied compound works best. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto :o)

Here is a link to the long thread about the paper wheels that will answer any and all questions you may have. It was started by Richard J. the guru of the paper wheels.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ing-wheels-when-your-time-is-important-to-you

Blessings,

Omar
 
Cool! Thank you so much Omar, very helpful for sure. The reason I'm curious about the white compound is because the store where I bought the paper wheels was sold out of the white compound. However, I have plenty of my own white compound which I hope can work if I run out of the original stuff. But the white compound is a bit frustrating to me because I have 2 white compounds that are very different from each other. Normally the compound colors are pretty consistent (e.g. green=chromium oxide, black=emery, etc.), but I never know what white actually is. If the white that comes with the set is medium, then I think I've got some stuff that can step in if need be. Thanks for the link, that helps a lot too.
 
I found the generic 1200grit white compound (ferrous metals & wood) $5 per lbs is 80% to 90% as good as razorsharp for the slotted wheel and strop. i.e. razorsharp stuff is higher quality & cuts a bit faster too. Someday, I might try Bark River 12K white compound.
 
i have some finer white compound that someone gave me back in the 90's and it did not do as good a job as the compound from razor sharp. i think i'll stick to the medium grit that mike sells. you can order the compound directly from mike at razor sharp.
 
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