Thread: Recommended hones for stainless steel

Originally Posted by Jimbo

The only thing I have ever noticed about stainless steel is that it takes longer, as it is harder. I have honed stainless on everything from the Norton 4/8 to the Asagi finisher. It just takes a bit more patience.

My personal belief is that you don't need any special type of stone to hone stainless steel.

James.

I don't know if it is harder, that would depend on the heat treatment and tempering, but I do know that it is abrasion resistant. It also tends to gall when machined if tool bits aren't really sharp. In fact when Colt introduced their Government model 45 in stainless I read that they had to use a different alloy stainless for the slide and the frame. The rails tended to gall if the same alloy was used for both. I agree that any hone will cut stainless with patience and persistence.

For me the Shapton GS 16K works well for my lonely stainless razor, I haven't tried my Nakayama on it yet so I can't tell you how good/if it works, but So@Japan Tool told me it should work.

I think that echers or japanese finishing hones suit the harder steeled stainless blades slightly better than say a coticule that seems in its element with a softer carbon steel blade.

That said, I don't really think it matters as long as you remember to keep on stropping until you are happy.

You don't need to use the X pattern if you're using the diamond film, it's big enough to fit the entire blade. Sometimes I hone with the heel leading, which gives a similar effect, but I have never felt any performance difference nor seen any difference aside from the direction of the microscopic striations on the edge bevel.

The diamond lapping film is velvety smooth to hone with. Even at 9um, which is equivalent to a 1200 grit hone, it leaves a very even scratch pattern, no chipping, etc as that which can be seen when using the 1200 DMT plate (even once broken in...)

9um, 6um, 3um, and 1um diamond film will kick serious butt any any and all razors. Tosukes are known for using very hard steel--the diamond film honed that up as easy as any other razor. I've even used it to hone my ceramic razor, which is about 10x more wear resistent than stainless.

The only downside to diamond lapping film is that it does wear out in time (especially when you hone ceramic!!)


No matter what you do, take some 220 sandpaper and round off the edges on those tiles!

what exactly is the diamond film and where can i get some or at least look at them

I would just ask Lynn what he would suggest as a finishing stone on your particular razor. After he's done with it he will know what it likes. Also, I know that he has done quite a few Hess razors in the past.

Yes, I did break in the DMTs quite thoroughly. I used a handle of an old Craftsman screwdriver on them, sharpened a bunch of kitchen knives, and had used them to set the bevel and refine edges on probably 20 or so razors before taking the Hess to them

I absolutely could not break in a DMT1200 and DMT8000 that I had.
Using steel on it was a joke; I even lapped some old Spyderco hones
for hours with no success. They would scratch the heck out of any-
thing that touched them: hones, chisels, etc. I didn't even get close
to taking them to a razor.

Could be a fluke, or it may be related to what you are experiencing.

I'm currently using Shaptons, coticules, Eschers, and a Nakayama;
all of these seem to work great on stainless, but the natural stones
can vary in their performance from one stone to another. I would
go with whatever you preferred, a couple Shapton GS stones or a
coticule (the latter being cheaper).

Good luck!

- Scott