Thread: Coarse Powders anyone?

Originally Posted by ChrisL

Not a weird concept at all, and it sounds like you've gotten a jump start on the experiment before I've had a chance to. I've thought for quite some time about seeing how well pastes would work from 500 grit on up. I'd like to use diamond, but the cost of powders in a wide array of grits is limiting of course. I've wanted to use monocrystalline for the coarser grits then polycrystalline for the finer grits. All pre-made diamond pastes and sprays from DMT to anything sold on razor sites for razor honing utilize mono-crystalline diamonds which are much more aggressive and leave a much harsher edge than poly diamonds. I will still complete my experiment, but I'm really interested to see how you come out.

I would like to see a butter knife dull razor taken from that stage to shaving sharp using nothing but a paste progression ending with chrome ox and......back honed from start to finish. Yup, that's the idea I've had for an experiment.


And, Jim, I think it will work. I see no reason that it wouldn't. "What about (lip quivering here) wire edges?". No biggie. Draw them off and keep going with no probs.

Chris L

Thanks Chris, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was lying in bed last night, fantasizing about honing. (What, you don't do that?)

Here's the thing--I have 1k and 3K. That 3K is 4 microns. I'm ordering some diamond pastes today--1 micron, .5 micron, and .25 micron. But the jump from 4m to 1m is pretty big...are there any 2m pastes or powders?

Also, as balsa wood is not readily available at my local shops, I'm thinking of using medium density fiberwood. It's sold in perfect sizes, two boards for a dollar, at my local dollar store. It's a fairly porous texture that seems like it should hold powders/pastes well, but I think it's firm and smooth enough for razor work. Does anyone see anything wrong with that?

The MDF we have here is smooth on both sides. And, as it's flat relatively speaking, it makes a great medium to apply diamond to. The diamonds imbed and do their job. I don't know about the 2 mic diamond. There are diamond powders available in many different particle sizes though. I would mix them with, or, if you're buying pre-made diamond spray, etc, alcohol or oil based. You don't want a water based paste going on wood.

Since you do have 1k paste, you should first try setting a bevel by backhoning on some of that MDF and see what happens. I'll keep an eye out for your results.

Chris L

Maybe you could use them on a lower grit hone to speed up the bevel setting process. I am thinking using the 1500 or 3000 on the BBW to speed it up. Kind of like Bart did with the chrome-ox. You could then use the BBW as a bevel setter if you wanted.

Originally Posted by Pyment

Maybe you could use them on a lower grit hone to speed up the bevel setting process. I am thinking using the 1500 or 3000 on the BBW to speed it up. Kind of like Bart did with the chrome-ox. You could then use the BBW as a bevel setter if you wanted.

That's an interesting idea, but what that cause rounding of the bevel? I remember Bart talking about how using heavy slurry on the coticule for bevel setting created a slightly rounded bevel from the slurry-dulling effect. Would using coarse powders like a slurry on a hone create the same bevel-rounding?

BTW, I don't have any answer to this, I'm just supposing.

Dave has a good point but the ceramic particle shape and how it breaks down might affford some insight at the very least. Long shot but may some of the larger grits rolling around break down end up with a fine edge polished too and you could start a post One Pasted Strop Stropping
I am a sucker for stuff like that, it's all about them little particles.
Mike

Not to be a terminology snob, but I think you mean round the edge rather than the bevel, Dave. The bevel on each side of the blade meet at a line, the edge. I agree, with edge leading honing strokes and a free abrasive, the edge could suffer from "rounding". Edge trailing though? That's what I'm curious about.

Chris L

Originally Posted by ChrisL

Not to be a terminology snob, but I think you mean round the edge rather than the bevel, Dave. The bevel on each side of the blade meet at a line, the edge. I agree, with edge leading honing strokes and a free abrasive, the edge could suffer from "rounding". Edge trailing though? That's what I'm curious about.

Chris L

Yes, the bevel is not rounded but the edge, thanks for the correction. I imagined a bevel still created by two planes intersecting, just rounded over at the very edge. So if you zoomed in one the very tip of the bevel you would see a "U" shape instead of a "V".

Bart's illustration of a rounded edge after creating the bevel using a coticule w/slurry is a good picture of what I mean. Hopefully he won't mind me using the image again for demonstration purposes: