Diamond paste sharpening ...

[Alf]

Yeah, go on, Miles, put me down for one. If it's a case of needing just one more to get the order then put me down for <wince> two.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

I just read all posts and what a fascinating thread. I was sorely tempted to jump in and order with the rest but the thought struck me 'why?'.

What I mean is why use paste on difficult to source (and clearly expensive) substrate when DMT and Trend diamond stones are flat, and ready made and, I would imagine, cut equally well as they too use industrial diamonds.

I guess one could argue that DMTs etc. wear out, but I have only had to buy one adn it is still going storng after several years use.

So, why go for the paste option?

 

[gidon]

Tony
Absolutely agree - but diamond stones only go to 1200 grit. Diamond paste goes to <0.25 microns .
If DMT came up with a 1 micron (fixed) diamond plate I would buy it an instant.
There are other arguments for diamond paste through the whole grit range but I already have diamond plates up to 1200 grit so am not so concerned with trying the larger grits.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Chris Knight]

Gidon,
In your search for a perfect edge, I wonder if you have examined the effects of time/usage on sharpness? I can see the point in striving for the very best possible edge only if it lasts long enough to be useful.

It would be great to see a graph of sharpness expressed in some meaningful way (like the force needed to take a decent shaving versus number of strokes). I suspect (pure speculation here) that the super-sharpness benefits disappear after a few strokes and then the blade will behave in a "normal" way. In other words, the dulling gradient is very non-linear.

 

[gidon]

Chris

I'd love to see a graph like that too!

It's not I'm so concerned about the perfect edge - it's more that I am after a mess-free method with few variables. I've mostly used waterstones in the past and whilst they give me very good results, I can't be bothered with them - especially since I have no running water - just too messy and too many variables (ie keeping them flat).

I'm pretty happy with diamond stones - satisfy both my criteria. But you can't argue with the difference between an edge coming off the 1200 grit stone and one polished on a <=1 micron paste / or microfinsishing film? And that edge lasts for a me a decent amount of time (would be very hard to quantify) before it gets reduced to the 1200 grit edge. All for the sake of a less than a minute of polishing.

To be honest I find that a bit of microfinishing film (.5 micron) slung on the DMT stone for polishing works pretty well. But would be nice to effectively have a <=1 micron diamond stone.

Also with such a graph - you'd need one for all the different varieties of metal out there . You need to find a metallurgy student looking for an interesting PhD thesis to look at this properly .

Cheers

Gidon

 

[mudman]

Which plates are you talking about ordering? Is it the Kemet GP4 Sheet?

One thought though, does the composite stay flat in use? If it wears quickly like a waterstone, then I can't see them being much use.

 

[Miles968]

Yes, it would be the GP4 sheet. It sounds like funny stuff, with a mixture of metal particles and a binder matrix. I suspect it is quite hard, to give good support to the diamond particles, but I have not had time to find out more.
Are you interested in getting some to try it - it would help to get towards our minimum order size!

cheers

Miles

 

[mudman]

Go on then, sign me up for two.