Thread: Coarse Powders anyone?

So people talk about using powders an pastes for finishing, but no one's ever mentioned coarser powders, as far as I can find. Well, in my recent communications with Naniwa, I mentioned I'd like to see some samples of their precision powders, used in silicon cutting and polishing, and their representative very kindly sent me some!

I have small bottles of both Green Carbon and White Alumina in #400, #1000, #1500 and #3000.

I was thinking about seeing how they'd work on pads as a kind of beveling set, if you will.

Now, I know that this is silly. I know that the hones we all know and love, inexpensive and widely available, are the best solution for lower grit honing, and it makes no sense to try powders for various reasons (they might cut too fast and get all messed up with swarf, they might be difficult to distribute evenly and so might hone unevenly, etc.). But I figured hey, why not? They were free, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, they could work. It'll be fun to try, at the least!

Way to go, Jim

Way to screw up everything we've worked so hard to beat into your newbie brains for years

You go have fun with your pastes. I hope you're happy

ps if it works out, hook me up!

I'm so sorry. I'M SORRY, OK?!??


no worries, I've got a lot...just let me know.

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

I hear that the balsa wood is a great base for abrasive mediums. I intend to get some for diamond spray and for chrom ox. It is cheap and glued to wood or as Randy is doing to Corian or Plexiglass. They are stable and I think would be a good testing ground for the powders.

Balsa is superior for high grit diamond sprays and chrome ox. It's just perfect as a substrate for those abrasives. I love it.

Chris L

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.