Thread: Diamond Spray on Stones: Your Techniques

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Tried it once on a very hard Iwasaki western. 0.5 SRD diamond spray on a lapped Spyderco UF then finished on my Asagi. Happy with the results but haven't needed to use it on mere mortal razors.

I'm wondering if I could get by w/o the Spyderco for now, just using it on other hard stones. Seems like I could as I've heard of people using the stuff on coticules. Leaning toward SRD so I can pick up a felt pad for my CBN.

Give it a try. You can always lap the stone if concerned about about diamond embedding itself in the surface.

I'm thinking out loud here mate, why would you take a fairly expensive stone and put a coating on it?? I know it's an experiment, but you will change the working of the stone until you can lap out the diamond particles. Lots of extra work. Best, IMHO, to just use as stated above, leather or balsa wood surface's and use as a bench hone, so to speak.

Hope I came accross Ok on this, I still am,

tinkersd

Well, the black Arkansas I have is pretty useless for me on razors as is, so I'm not too worried there. As for the coticule, the hybrid side (the side I'm planning to use) is so hard, I couldn't even really lap it w/ my D8C--not too worried about submicron particles. As for balsa/leather/felt, that's what my CBN is for!

Originally Posted by PA23-250

Well, the black Arkansas I have is pretty useless for me on razors as is, so I'm not too worried there. As for the coticule, the hybrid side (the side I'm planning to use) is so hard, I couldn't even really lap it w/ my D8C--not too worried about submicron particles. As for balsa/leather/felt, that's what my CBN is for!

On some blades I use CBN as a final step on my hone. Works very well. It is different using CBN on a flat stone vrs a piece of felt because one is stropping method the other is a standard honing method.


Later,
Richard

I've used Crox spray (my own mixing with the old hand American brand) on a Cnat or C12k. I had a friend in Hong Kong sent me one. It's superior to the one's you buy at Woodcraft.
I've had good results with the crox on the cnat, diluting as I go, and finishing on water.

Wouldn't the diamonds cut into the stone? just a thought?

I first started using diamond sprays on ceramic when I was sharpening gravers in the workshop. It's a tried and true method to get super sharp and highly polished graver, which is necessary for bright cutting. It didn't take long for me to realize that the same principle would cut just as well on razors as it would on gravers, which can be both made of the same steel. Diamond dust can be used on iron or copper plates, which allow the abrasive to actually embed in the metal, which is something to consider when using diamonds on stones. When using something as soft as a coticule, something would have to give and I believe it would be the coticule. I wouldn't expect a very fast cut on a coticule. Using ceramic, the diamond slurry will not embed, but will work on the surface and give you the quickest cutting. There is a reason that so many gems and even carbide gravers are lapped and finished with diamond on ceramic. It gets the job done and it gets it done fast. You may need to tweak it a bit more for the best edge, but ultra fine diamond spray (I use 100,000 grit) has given me very good results. As mentioned above, I do work the blades over well on strops after honing, but the results are quite good and I've done some high magnification studies with my metallurgical microscope at 400x magnification that confirmed the quality and consistency of the edge with this method.

I've not done much experimentation with stones softer than ceramic, so how that works is speculation on my part, but I do speculate that the ceramic is probably a better substrate than softer stones unless embedding the diamond in the stone would be desirable. It might create a finer edge when only a small amount of the diamong grit is working. I can only guess.

Originally Posted by zib

I've used Crox spray (my own mixing with the old hand American brand) on a Cnat or C12k. I had a friend in Hong Kong send me one. It's superior to the one's you buy at Woodcraft.
I've had good results with the crox on the cnat, diluting as I go, and finishing on water.

Wouldn't the diamonds cut into the stone? just a thought?

I'm pretty sure they would. Most gems are lapped with diamond spray (often on ceramic wheels) so it will obviously cut most stones.

PapaBull if you get the chance instead of diamond on razors try CBN. CBN does not leave the predictable angular cuts in the steel like diamonds do and thus the edge on a razor is quite different visually and from anecdotal observations during shaving. The keenness is excellent with razors that have a superior steel.

Yes I am biased, but this particular bias has stuck with me over a year now and quite frankly I see no real need to proceed to a different technique.

Take Care,
Richard

Originally Posted by riooso

PapaBull if you get the chance instead of diamond on razors try CBN. CBN does not leave the predictable angular cuts in the steel like diamonds do and thus the edge on a razor is quite different visually and from anecdotal observations during shaving. The keenness is excellent with razors that have a superior steel.

Yes I am biased, but this particular bias has stuck with me over a year now and quite frankly I see no real need to proceed to a different technique.

Take Care,
Richard

I'll probably be giving this a try once I get my shop set back up in Ohio. Right now busy as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest trying to get the house prepped for sale and the shop prepped for the move. I don't rely on diamond spray/ceramic for final finishing as I've had outstanding results with Linde A lapping powder and it has left the finest edge both microscopically and by feel of anything I've triied to date.

BUT.... I've found a lot of different paths can lead to the same place.