diamond paste

[Al=name]

I normally use sandpaper on glaas for sharpening my chisels and handplanes.. I recently bought some diamond grit paste from LV no 6 micron which wouild compare I think to a coarse grit in sandpaper. I have tried using a cast TS surface and on a piece of maple. I am not getting the expected results when compared to sandpaper, seeminly not half as fast. Is this normal?

[dickandjane]

Hey Al,
As far as I know #6 micron is still quite fine particle size - lee valley lists it as comparable to hard black arkansas, or a norton #4000 water stone. Those would be intermediate/fine stones, and not for coarse metal removal.
I have a norton SiC stone, (coarse and fine) for my basic edge shaping, moving up to a 1000 water stone, and I finish at 4000. Able to shave with the edge at 4000. If I need the edge "sticky sharp" I will use green compound.


Hope this helps.

[Ajcoholic]

The stuff LEe Valley sells (packaged by DMT) is quite fine. Really for finish stropping or putting the last little bit on a blade.

You can buy, from some industrial suppliers, diamond paste in a wide range of grits. I use several "grits" to go from my coarse stone, all the way to polished edge.

I bought mine from Enco in the USA. Much wider range of grits.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?P...MITEM=619-0157
AJC

[John in London]

Andrew:

What do you use as a base for the diamond paste? Steel plate, glass?

[Jack in Nepean]

You might wish to look at Derek's site http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...ues/index.html

[Ajcoholic]

Andrew:

What do you use as a base for the diamond paste? Steel plate, glass?

I use it mainly to strop my carving chisels, knives and straight blades so I have the 6 various grits I have on a leather strop glued to a wood backer.

I have also applied the paste to wood to use as a hone, and also on aluminum and steel.

I am "old school" and still do my rough shaping on two oil stones

AJC

[Al=name]

Thanks all for the info., and Andrew is good to know about the the other grades and where to buy them.

Al

[Ajcoholic]

Enco is a pretty good place to deal with. I do some metal working as a hobby and also maintain my woodworking equipment. I originally bought the diamond paste/grease to lap metal - but started to use it for honing/stropping my knives.

I have the green, red and brown from Enco. They supplement the much finer grits from LV well. The syringes give you quite a bit and I have had the same ones for 10 years now. You use such a small amount.

AJC

[michaely]

Mail order diamond pastse from Lopacki in the U.S. is another source that is cheaper and has a wider range of grits than LV. $6 for a 5 gram syringe

http://www.lopacki.com/polishes/

I haven't ordered from them but if you search 'lopacki' on this forum you should bring up an endorsement of their stuff from Frank D. in Montreal who has ordered from them.

I think that diamond paste is the least expensive way to get into honing with diamond.

good luck

michael

[Al=name]

Thanks michael

Al