The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
I'm not really completely sure.

It's fine for it to separate some. It's going to.

But if it ever forms a solid concretion, I don't know that you're going to get that to go back into suspension. A month or two is fine. A year or two probably won't work. But I haven't tested this.
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Couldn’t someone just take a rod/dowel and grind the settling back into powder, then shake it up? It’s not like there’s a resin/binder, or like diamonds naturally bond with each other.
 
Nathan, in a quiet moment testing the limits of shmoo....


images
 
bluemax_1 said:
Couldn’t someone just take a rod/dowel and grind the settling back into powder, then shake it up? It’s not like there’s a resin/binder, or like diamonds naturally bond with each other.
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If you just dump diamond powder into water it makes clumps and it's hopeless

It goes in as a powder that gets dispersed. I think that if the particles stick together and start to clump at the bottom, you're going to have a hard time getting a fine suspended powder again and instead you're going to end up with a mix of clumps. It's still useful but it won't spray so it's not ideal.

I'm not sure
 
Chemical dispersants often want to get sticky as they dry. They're also frequently incompatible with oil and wax that might already be on your strop. Finding the right compound and the right process to make the schmoo where it doesn't get sticky and it adheres to the strop in a fine frible structure was important to making it work for me and my sharpening process.

But, the downside of it not being a paste or a soap is this settling out of suspension problem. Which is why I think it will never be a successful mainstream product so I'll probably just keep it in house for our process here
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Chemical dispersants often want to get sticky as they dry. They're also frequently incompatible with oil and wax that might already be on your strop. Finding the right compound and the right process to make the schmoo where it doesn't get sticky and it adheres to the strop in a fine frible structure was important to making it work for me and my sharpening process.

But, the downside of it not being a paste or a soap is this settling out of suspension problem. Which is why I think it will never be a successful mainstream product so I'll probably just keep it in house for our process here
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So there IS more!!! 🤣
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Chemical dispersants often want to get sticky as they dry. They're also frequently incompatible with oil and wax that might already be on your strop. Finding the right compound and the right process to make the schmoo where it doesn't get sticky and it adheres to the strop in a fine frible structure was important to making it work for me and my sharpening process.

But, the downside of it not being a paste or a soap is this settling out of suspension problem. Which is why I think it will never be a successful mainstream product so I'll probably just keep it in house for our process here
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It’s quite an amazing product.

I almost feel or smell like it’s clay/primer/paint suspension or something. I can’t name it but I swear I smelled this binder or product before. But whatever.

I guess I’ll enjoy what I have until it’s gone.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
If you just dump diamond powder into water it makes clumps and it's hopeless

It goes in as a powder that gets dispersed. I think that if the particles stick together and start to clump at the bottom, you're going to have a hard time getting a fine suspended powder again and instead you're going to end up with a mix of clumps. It's still useful but it won't spray so it's not ideal.

I'm not sure
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This reminded me I had some old Schmoo from before you sold it when I won a wonderful race for chopped nails, bolts, and this. I haven’t used it all in the roughly 3ish years because I tend to forget about things.

It’s been sitting in this location, unused, for roughly 1 year and 8 months since I moved into the new place. Found it sitting on the bench after I read this. For data point sake I’ll assume it hasn’t been disturbed since I replumbed the bathroom in February of last year(it’s directly over this spot in the basement, so if it moved that would be when).

After I shook it up this is what it produced in terms of spray pattern and how it reacted to being shaken. The resting time for the photo was roughly 15 minutes. Seems very usable to me and performed similar to when I received it.

Take that for what it is, but it does still seem to be viable.
 

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