Thread: diamond film

I have been reading about diamond films. Has anyone had any experience with these? How do they hold up and how well do they work?
Thanks
Jerry1

Water hones and a few oil stones are for honing straight razors.
Sandpaper is for restoring.
Film is for camera's.
Diamonds are for women and knives.

Once you get the other crazy notions out of your head and conform, you have won half the battle & wasted less $$

Film works ok. Until you learn to hone off a real stone and see what a difference it is in feel. It tears and scratches easily and the edge is no way as smooth as what you can get off a stone IMO. I have lots if film left over, I honed one on film recently and couldn't believe how harsh the shave was compared to what Ive been getting off of hones. I think shooter is right. I may have gotten a reply like his a while ago, and I should've listened to him!

Thanks a lot. I will stick to stones and strops.

I'm not sure if you are asking about diamond film specifically or the use of lapping film in general.
I have only used one set of diamond film, but found no advantage compared with the standard aluminum oxide film. The diamond sheets are smaller and more expensive, so most people choose the aluminum oxide films. The Al2O3 film is inexpensive enough that I would not be concerned longevity, at least at the 3 micron and finer level. There is no problem going from a DMT 1200 plate to 3 micron film (comparable to a 4k hone).
I have a set of Shapton glass stones, but I do use 0.3 micron film occasionally as a finisher, particularly with one or two wet sheets of paper below and it has provided some excellent results.

Thorlabs - Fiber Polishing Supplies

I have had both good and bad results honing with films. They seem to work better on a straight edge than a smiling edge. I never had much luck setting the bevel with them.

The person who turned me on to films said they left a 'crazy sharp' edge. I would describe it as a very sharp but harsh edge. I'll stick to regular hones, the edges turn out smoother, more keen than with film.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Water hones and a few oil stones are for honing straight razors.
Sandpaper is for restoring.
Film is for camera's.
Diamonds are for women and knives. and lapping your hones

Once you get the other crazy notions out of your head and conform, you have won half the battle & wasted less $$

But I think you missed one

Lapping films work very nicely. For razors I prefer AlOx 1 micron films, and after having tried dozens of different stones, I still use them. The diamond films, I regularly use them for fine polishing. They are so extremely fast, I fell in love with them. But I don't know how they feel, although a friend from the site said he is very satisfied.
Don't be afraid at all to use films. Easier and cheaper than stones, do last for many honing sessions, fast, and give great edges. If I were to start now to hone razors, with limited budget, I would go for one 1k stone and lapping films.

I would say a 1k chosera, a coti/bbw combo and a hard jnat and lock yourself in a room until you get it! Film leaves such a surgical feeling edge for me anyway.

I too use Aluminum Oxide film from Thor labs, down to .03 um with great results. A progression from a 1k bevel set stone to 3, 5 and 1um work extremely well.

.03um film does make a nice finisher, followed by .125 CBN a very comfortable and keen shaving edge. 1um film and .50, .125 CBN also is a very nice edge.

The one thing I like about film is the straightness of the edge, they also cut very quickly, when compared to stones.

It is just another tool, and a good one at that.