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Thread: Diamond paste sharpening
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14th May 2007, 01:11 AM #1
Diamond paste sharpening
I usually hone on waterstones (King 800, 1200 and 8000 or 1.2 microns) but have been experimenting with other methods recently in an attempt to find a quicker and less messy method. One new method involves diamond paste.
Diamond stones have been around for quite a long time. The best make are DMT and their lowest grit, until recently, has been an Extra Fine, which is 1200 grit (14 microns). Just not good enough for plane blades. DMT have now brought out an 8000-equivalent. This should be a terrific stone, with an advantage over waterstones of remaining flat, but early reports of its performance are not encouraging.
Over the past few months I have been using diamond paste. This is available in both oil- and water bases. I obtained oil based pastes on eBay in 40, 10, 1 and .5 microns . I did get a sample of this from McJing about a year ago, but the finest grit they had then was 2.5 micron (equiv to a 5000 waterstones).
This stuff is quite cheap. The ebay purchase was 12 x 5gm syringes (of my choice) for $24. This could last a few years.
To use, I prepared a few hardwood boards (I used offcuts of Jarrah), planed smooth, and smeared a pea-sized amount of paste. Instant diamond stone.
Using hollow ground blades, I went from 40 micron to 10 micron to 1 micron.
I have not yet used the .5 micron paste. Instead I used Veritas green rouge (.5 micron) rubbed on a leather strop. This was followed with a plain leather strop.
Excluding time for the hollow grind, the complete honing sequence probably takes about 2 minutes. The result is a razor sharp edge. Really sharp!
Regards from Perth
DerekVisit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.
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14th May 2007 01:11 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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14th May 2007, 01:25 AM #2
Lynndy will be pleased to have her wash trough back
- Wood Borer
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14th May 2007, 12:08 PM #3
Derek,
I have always used DMT diamond stones, and avoided waterstones, for the reasons you mentioned. For the final honing I use Veritas honing compound rubbed onto a lightly oiled offcut of MDF. Hopefully Carbatec or Lee Valley will start selling the diamond pastes that you mention soon.
Rocker
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14th May 2007, 12:18 PM #4
I suppose you could use that on plate glass as well? Or do you think it needs to be used on something that will capture the grit rather than allowing it to 'roll' around?
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14th May 2007, 02:17 PM #5Senior Member
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I've tried it on plate glass and found the glass scrached which may affect the action on the paste and lead to contamination if you use the same glass for the next grit.
ron
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14th May 2007, 03:57 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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Glass with a plastic sheet on top should work. Like the Veritas lapping kit. I wonder if Overhead Transparency sheets would be ok?
Dan
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14th May 2007, 04:25 PM #7
The best surface is a cast iron machinist's lapping plate. These are seriously expensive! Not going there unless someone wants to make a donation.
A closeup:
On the 40 micron Jarrah block I scored a similar cross hatching. This created ridges so I smoothed the block with a plane leaving fine lines. The paste becomes inbedded in the grooves. So far the Jarrah has not dished. If/when it appears to do so I will just use another piece.
Keep in mind the danger of cross contamination. This will show up as scratches in the steel surface. Wipe everything down carefully, especially if using a honing guide (so far I have mostly done this freehand).
I am waiting on a set of Shapton ceramic waterstones (1000, 5000 and 8000 in the Professional series) and will report on these later.
Back to the diamond paste - I have a 400 grit diamond stone, which is the same micron rating as a 40 grit paste. On the paste I was able to flatten the back of a 3/4" chisel blade very rapidly. It left a scratch pattern much smoother than the 400 stone. This leaves me to consider that the stones may not have as uniform a grit as the paste (but I do remind myself that the 400 stone is not a DMT, just a cheap Chinese copy - although it has been flat and great value-for-money from Carba-tec - I originally got it to flatten waterstones).
Regards from Perth
DerekVisit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.
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14th May 2007, 05:38 PM #8
What do you call "seriously expensive"? I've been thinking about getting a lapping or surface plate for other metal working activities.
I suppose the other question is what damage the diamond paste would do to the plate? If it wears the blade of a chisel or plane, wouldn't the diamond cutting action wreck the cast iron plate too?
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14th May 2007, 06:59 PM #9
SC
They are upwards of $500.
The idea is that the diamonds become enbedded in the cast iron.
Regards from Perth
DerekVisit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.
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14th May 2007, 07:18 PM #10Hewer of wood
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FWIW I'm playing with wet and dry for sharpening purposes and a piece of float glass 10mm X 100mm X 800mm was $45. And yes it does scratch when grit goes astray.
This is all novel to me as a bumbling amateur but it was a fun to hone down to 2500 paper and shave the hairs off my forearm. Might be why I'm getting funny looks on the train these days.Cheers, Ern
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31st December 2007, 11:57 AM #11
Question how suitable would a plate of stress relived and milled flat steel be as a base for the diamond paste?
As it is stress relived it would resist warping, the milling would make it flat enough for the purpose of sharpening, and if I could get the cross hatch cut into it it Or fine drilled depressions into the surface just like the DMT plates it should be little different to a cast iron machinist's lapping plate for far less money.
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31st December 2007, 12:58 PM #12Novice
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Cheers for the advice.
-Pete
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31st December 2007, 02:02 PM #13
I'm a retired Marine Engineer. We always did lapping of compressor valves and similar on a thick glass plate, usually round in shape. Yes the glass does "scratch" and takes on a cloudy appearance. A quick wipe over with a cloth and spirits gets rid of all contaminants.
As i am just setting up my shed, and being reminded by this post that I would need to sharpen things I nipped down to my local glazier before xmas. For $20 a bought 2 sheets of 10mm float glass roughly 300mm x 400mm. These had all their edges and corners bevelled for safety. I have siliconed the sheets together (one atop the other) to form a solid plate. I will mount this surface plate into a light frame with a ply lid to protect it from damage.
If you find that your grinding paste dries out in use it is a simple matter of adding a few drops of light oil as you lap to return it to a paste.
Lapping can be very therapeutic.
prozac
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31st December 2007, 08:42 PM #14
I took one of my spare 50 x 100 x 8 mm blade from D2 batch 01 which does not have a bevel ground on it and rubbed some Veritas rouge on one side to use it as a makeshift machinist's lapping plate. I am glad to say that it works much better then any wood or leather stropping surface I have used, you can put a fair amount of down pressure without risking a dig in. The Veritas rouge did drift around allot and I thing the grid lines would be very helpful to catch the Veritas rouge or diamond paste.
I may just have to have a few of these made up for me in a larger size.
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17th January 2008, 12:42 PM #15
Derek, if you're having good success with these on Jarrah, is there any reason you couldn't use MDF? I've been using the Veritas green honing compound on MDF with great success and it occurs to me that an oil based paste might work equally well. It's certainly a cheap alternative to a series of 12 diamond plates!
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