Things that make you go Hmmmmmm

[robo hippy]

Just got off the phone with DMT who make diamond abrasive plates. I went to my local Ace Hardware store to pick up some newer diamond plates for sharpening my bench chisels and plane irons, and maybe even my skew chisels. I guess I should add carving chisels too. For reasons unknown to any one in the store, IT, whatever that is, had DMT classified as weapons so they couldn't access the DMT web site. So, in contacting the DMT store and chatting with a tech, I found out that they now have a 4000 grit and 8000 grit bench stones for sharpening. I asked about what fluids to use to keep the stones clean, and they say water works best. Also similar to old instructions for my CBN wheels from Dave Schweitzer at D Way, you can hit them with some Ajax and a brass or plastic bristle brush and more water. I asked about other solutions for honing and keeping things clean, and they were not familiar with the Trend Lapping fluid. They did say that some oils are not very good, especially for higher grits because the oil can leave a surface/film that is thicker than the abrasive grits. Most interesting lapping fluid I heard of when researching all this on You Tube was one person said to use automotive glass cleaner since it was thin and didn't have any ammonia in it, which could possibly cause problems with the electroplating.

Another thing I have been trying to figure out in my quest for getting a scary sharp edge on my chisels and irons is all the different honing and polishing compounds. Silly me, I thought that the colors were an indicator of grit size, but they are more an indicator of which abrasive is used..... Saw one British woodworker who commented that his red rouge compound was 16,000 grit. So, a question I have for all you out there who strop their skew chisels, what compound do you use? The black sticks from Norton that you can find at big box stores is supposed to be in the 800 grit range. I asked Formax, who has several different colored sticks about their grit and the tech said that they make them but he didn't really use them, and that the green was in the 320 grit/mesh size. To me, it feels a lot finer than that...... I am already confused without all of this.......

robo hippy

 

[john lucas]

When I did my sharpness test on various steels I found that t hff e gold bars sold to carvers worked faster in the Thompson steels than the green bars. Did not make them any sharper according to my sharpness tester. The black that I have is called Emory cake and is used for heavy cutting to remove rust so I'm guessing it is courser.

 

[Tim Connell]

Color is just about meaningless as each manufacturer has their own system and formulas/grit.

When I strop chisels, I use the green bar from Lee Valley on a synthetic strop. I think the LV bar is rated at ~50,000x. I've seen others that are green below 10,000x.

Here is a link which talks a little about different compounds and lists specifications for several manufacturers.

Complete Guide to Stropping Compounds – Color Guide and Types | Carving is Fun

In order to achieve the sharpest knife or tool edge possible, honing the tool with a strop after sharpening is mandatory. Without further refining the…

carvingisfun.com

Now if you want to talk bench stones, that's another discussion....

 

[Russell Nugent]

I've been using glass cleaner on my dmt diamond plates for about 3 years now. Works great for me. No rust. Still working great, a little less aggressive by now. If you just use water make sure you dry them well or use something like honerite mixed in the water to keep them from rusting.

 

[robo hippy]

I did find out that DMT has diamond paste in 1, 2, and 3 micron sizes. 1 micron is about 16,000 grit. I will get it figured out eventually.

John Lucas, have you ever tried the stropping compounds for sharpening the carbide cutters? I know about putting them on diamond lapping plates, which does improve them, but if I remember correctly, they never go back to factory sharp.

There is always some thing new to try....

Tim, thanks for that list, it makes some sense. I was chatting with a tech at Formax, and as he said, we manufacture the stuff, but don't really use it. He said some thing like the green bar they put out was 360 grit. Feeling it, well, no, much finer than that. Maybe he meant 3600 grit. No clue, well, more clued in than the guy I talked to....

robo hippy

 

[Tim Starliper]

For stropping, I use a green bar but forget who it is from. I am using a leather strop I made. Next to our local Woodcraft is a Tandy Leather. I have bought scraps from them previously (made a pen from leather), and used a decent sized piece attached to a piece of Baltic birch for my strop. Sharpened then stropped some chisels, I could shave with them AND could see myself in the freshly sharpened edge.

I have a set of the DMT diamond cards, I use them for touch up sharpening between time with the stones (or CBN wheel for the lathe tools). I got some thin lapping fluid when I bought them, have not had any issues with clogging, they wipe clean with a cloth when done.

As a former IT person, I do find it funny that the DMT site was classified as a weapons site. That is generally caused by a content filtering proxy server - something very common in corporate settings. These usually have, in addition to other detection techniques, a blacklist that is automatically updated - usually from multiple sources. If DMT is erroneously on the black list in the Weapons category, and there is a legitimate reason for store personnel to visit the site, they should contact their IT department and request that the site be whitelisted. Sites in the whitelist are always permitted, even if they are also in a blacklist. Now I want to go check the school radio station and see if MY content filter classes them in the Weapons category. For that matter, I wonder if my regular employer has them blocked as well.....off to 'play'!