Thread: Simple Scratch Pattern Experiment

Hey all,

So I wanted a way to test how some of my different hones affect the scratch pattern on the metal. I used an old stainless steel throwing knife and flattened a section of the handle to see how it looks after different hones. I just used my scanner to take the pictures, so sorry that it couldn't be of higher quality. But I still think useful comparisons can be made. I know the scratch pattern alone doesn't tell you the quality of the stone or how finely it can sharpen a razor, but I still think it's interesting.

The order of the pictures is:

1) DMT 325
2) DMT 600
3) DMT 1200
4) Norton 4000
5) Norton 8000
6) Coticule (used with just water)
7) Yellow/Green Thuringian
8) Nakayama

The changes are pretty obvious in the first few, but from the thuringian to the nakayama there isn't that much of a difference. It looks a bit finer in the scanned pictures as well as in person, but it's not like a night and day thing.

Here they are!

EDIT: Looking at the pictures again I don't think I spent enough time on the naturals....I will look for another flat piece of metal I can test on, but one that isn't such a large area. I think it was too large of an area for the naturals to work on, well without a LOT of strokes that is. I was using a hard coticule, and I know that my nakayama is a slow one. When I try this experiment again I will post the results. Hopefully the progression from the naturals will be more obvious and less residual scratches will be left.