Thread: A History And Justification For My Diamond Plates

Originally Posted by Mikeinri

Is there any reason I can't simply use a belt sander with fine grit sandpaper? Would that not make a pretty smooth flat surface almost immediately?

Our goal is the absolute flatness. Belt sanders don't exactly leave a flat surface. And the worst thing is, it looks flat (on knives I have seen) but isn't. As for the grit, changing it won't make it flatter.

Originally Posted by Mikeinri

Is there any reason I can't simply use a belt sander with fine grit sandpaper? Would that not make a pretty smooth flat surface almost immediately?

I do . Works fine. Make sure your on a flat surface and draw thick grid lines. Random orbit works fine. Then redraw light grid lap with your lapping plate of choice. Finishing stones I tend to lap with a 1200 grit card DMT. The down side as Utopian brings out is you have no slurry water with this method. For whacked out hard stones it saves my arms using power tools. Once they are squared by hand saves hone wear.

You can use a cheap pumice stone to clean out Arkansas stones also carborundum and India stones. Works a treat.cheers.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I now have two and a half more quarts of slurry water!

Would you describe the uses for this slurry water.

Instead of using a diamond plate or rubbing stone to create a slurry. I use a squirt bottle to apply an appropriate grit slurry to a hone. It simply is a way to recycle the remnants of lapping and to reduce the wear on hones. I have slurry water from
Dragon's tongue
Random slate
Coticule
Escher
Chinese guangxi
Ikarashi
Nakayama Asagi
Nakayama Kiita
Asano nagura
And a few jars that I forgot to label!

Interesting thing about the Asagi and Kiita slurries is that they are quite a ways far apart in pH. I cannot remember the exact numbers but they both were acidic and one was significantly more so than the other.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Instead of using a diamond plate or rubbing stone to create a slurry. I use a squirt bottle to apply an appropriate grit slurry to a hone. It simply is a way to recycle the remnants of lapping and to reduce the wear on hones. I have slurry water from
Dragon's tongue
Random slate
Coticule
Escher
Chinese guangxi
Ikarashi
Nakayama Asagi
Nakayama Kiita
Asano nagura
And a few jars that I forgot to label!

Interesting thing about the Asagi and Kiita slurries is that they are quite a ways far apart in pH. I cannot remember the exact numbers but they both were acidic and one was significantly more so than the other.

I don't keep slurry from stones because in most cases unwanted bigger particles can be present. There is also that thing small particles do, they "coagulate" and become one quite bigger particle, sometimes 50x the original size. It usually happens in suspensions, and the last years, companies who make diamond or CrOx sprays found some chemical that stops this from happening, which I assume is named slurry warfarin.
Also, your acidic rock, what stone is it? What mine? Does it have some specific flaw? It's somewhat rare to find naturally occurring, somewhat strong acidic minerals. Especially on anything involving hones.

I too, save the slurry from Diamond lapped stones. I lap them on a large cookie sheet, rinse the stone and plate on to the sheet then, let dry in the sun.

I store the powder in small jars, Baby food jars and pill containers work great. I sprinkle on wet stones for enhancing the cutting power of a stone or to polish, making a paste with a drop or two of water or mineral oil.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I too, save the slurry from Diamond lapped stones. I lap them on a large cookie sheet, rinse the stone and plate on to the sheet then, let dry in the sun.

I store the powder in small jars, Baby food jars and pill containers work great. I sprinkle on wet stones for enhancing the cutting power of a stone or to polish, making a paste with a drop or two of water or mineral oil.

I save mine on my slab of granite (OCD for true flat) and save it in empty prescription bottles. Thanks for the post.

I have lapped so many stones from dmt and haven't ever considered saving.. Almost too late to start now.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I too, save the slurry from Diamond lapped stones. I lap them on a large cookie sheet, rinse the stone and plate on to the sheet then, let dry in the sun.

I store the powder in small jars, Baby food jars and pill containers work great. I sprinkle on wet stones for enhancing the cutting power of a stone or to polish, making a paste with a drop or two of water or mineral oil.

That's hardcore,,,,,,,,,