Thread: bench honing tonight

i placed and order with www.cyberrockhound.com on 5/14. i ordered diamond pastes of 3 and 1 micron, or 8000, 14000 mesh. i had never heard of them before, and so i took a chance. 5 grams are only $10, so with shipping $27. i emailed them on the 5/22 since i had not received the package, and called them. nothing. then on 5/23, received shipping confirmation. 9 freaking days to ship.

then today, 4 days later, with 2 weekend days and a holiday in between, package arrived. still upset it took 9 days to mail, but oh, well. then i open it up. 5 grams of 3 micron, 5 grams of 1 micron, and 5 grams of .5 micron or 50000 mesh. i guess he felt bad for taking so long. either way, i am going to be a honing tonight!!!!!

i have 2 3x6 hand american leathers attached to basswood backing at home that has been awaiting this pastes. now i need another one. dang, another trip to woodcraft. poor me.

hopefully this stuff works out. cheaper than anywhere else i found and so we will see. i will take photos when i get home and post them up.

vgod

Sounds great!

Do you mean that you'll be stropping with them, or honing? (not that it really matters)

i will be using as honing. john crowley put a good edge on a henckels i had with a 3 micron handamerican bench strop. i then took it to the 4k/8k norton and got a shaver out of it. i am just using different diamond paste, but hoping to get the same results.

btw, no honing tonight. need to let the paste dry a little bit. there's always tomorrow.

vgod

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

Sounds great!

Do you mean that you'll be stropping with them, or honing? (not that it really matters)

well i took a W&B arrow wedge 9/16 that i am restoring and took it to the 3 micron(8000) paste. this was after setting the bevel on 800 king stone and about 60 laps on a 4000 king stone. i usually go from the king 4000 and norton 8000. however i had a great edge and bevel was ready for final polish. i moved to the 3 micron paste. i put on 20 laps and felt the edge. 2 things i noticed immediately. 1st was that the edge was so smooth and polished. more so than i normally get with the norton. 2nd was that the edge was duller.

i went back to the 4k and got the edge back. moved back to the 3 micron, same thing.

any thoughts?

i think i may have to much paste on the leather. any thoughts of getting some of it off?

the paste is already turning black, so i know i am taking off metal, but not sure why i am loosing the keen edge.

btw, after resetting the edge on the 4k, i put it on the norton 8k. 5 min later 30 laps on paddle coticle, 10 laps on cro-ox, 30 laps on paddle leather. popping hairs. good shave last night. turned out well.

vgod

Sounds like way too much paste to me.

Try some Gojo or Goop hand cleaner (non-pumice type) and a squeegee and/or paper towels to get some of the paste off. I've used a butter-knife edge as a squeegee with good results.

Good luck.

Most would say that .5 diamond is a general purpose finishing paste. .25 for ultra polishing. 1 micron is kind of a rough polish and 3 micron is really rough stuff for final work. Diamond works very differently than other media.

I don't know how soap on leather will turn out, never tried it but it doesn't seem like a good idea.

I usually take a paper towel and ball it up, then rub it back and forth and in circle over the leather surface. The paper towel will remove everything that just won't come off of the leather, what you're left with is the right amount of paste spread very evenly from all of the rubbing.

so last night i took a razor that was really close to shave ready. whipped out the norton and king stones. a few laps on the 4k, some on the 8k. a little here, a little there. good edge. i think shave ready. popping hairs okay. so instead of the 3 micron, i pulled out the 1 micron(14000ish grit) and put on 20 laps. wow, now that i could tell a difference with. another 10 laps for the hell of it. 10 laps on cro-oxide paddle, getting better, 30 laps on paddle leather and hairs are falling like teeny boppers at a beatles concert.

i did not get a chance to shave with it. i will put 50-60 laps on hanging leather tonight and shave. i think this might actually be helping if i keep it as a final polish method. we will see. also, i have not put the .5 on leather yet. i have it, just have not done it. project for tomorrow.

vgod

btw, the edge is super looking under a scope.