Stropping Grits... Input or info appreciated

Unbreakable

Unbreakable

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So I'm setting up my sharpening bench at home and among all the other crap I have I would to work on strops of varying grits... I've heard the Veritas Green compund is pretty aggressive and really does a good job... I've used flitz for years with good results. Now I have seen this diamond paste offered by DMT... it's like a 1/2 micron. What order do you think these would be in as far as the grit... I would tend to think if going from the order of least fine to the finest it would be Veritas Green, Flitz, and then Diamond Paste... please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm kinda thinking of making a 4 sided strop that gets finer and finer on each side so input would be appreciated on good compounds. Thanks.
 
Diamond pastes work great and come in various grit sizes.
1 micron is equivalent to 14,000 mesh, providing a terrific finish. 1/2 micron is most likely an overkill, equivalent to around 50,000 mesh. One word of caution - if you intend to use more than one diamoned paste (I use 3 and 1 micron). The diamond particles tend to cling into the metal (and also stick to your fingers, for that matter). Be sure to wash both hands and blade, and wipe with a clean cloth before moving from one grit level to the other. Otherwise, some coarser particles might be transferred to the finer strop reducing its performance to that of the coarser one.
Finally, read the fine-print before purchasing diamond pastes, compounds or powders. Some manufacturers specify AVERAGE particle size rather than MAXIMUM size. Therefore your 1/2 micron paste may actually contain particles of size between 1/4 to 1 micron, giving you an effective finish of less than 50,000 mesh. This is not a bad thing - you can move to the higher grade paste - just know what you are buying.
 
D.P. said:
Diamond pastes work great and come in various grit sizes.
1 micron is equivalent to 14,000 mesh, providing a terrific finish. 1/2 micron is most likely an overkill, equivalent to around 50,000 mesh. One word of caution - if you intend to use more than one diamoned paste (I use 3 and 1 micron). The diamond particles tend to cling into the metal (and also stick to your fingers, for that matter). Be sure to wash both hands and blade, and wipe with a clean cloth before moving from one grit level to the other. Otherwise, some coarser particles might be transferred to the finer strop reducing its performance to that of the coarser one.
Finally, read the fine-print before purchasing diamond pastes, compounds or powders. Some manufacturers specify AVERAGE particle size rather than MAXIMUM size. Therefore your 1/2 micron paste may actually contain particles of size between 1/4 to 1 micron, giving you an effective finish of less than 50,000 mesh. This is not a bad thing - you can move to the higher grade paste - just know what you are buying.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. Might you know the ratings of Veritas Green and Flitz? Also... would you suggest the DMT paste or is there a better supplier that offers higher quality more accurately rated paste? And again thank you very much for the education.
 
.25 micron! WOW! Thanks for the link... I like that wide body stop too. I think I might just do a two sided strop with the Green paste and then .25 diamond on the other side.
 
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