Diamonds are a man's best friend

[Timberwolf]

for the sharpest edges ever honed, as Gillette used to say....get some...you'll be glad you did......

[daddo]

You're gonna have to elaborate and be more generally specific.

Diamonds, and not your friends are your best friends?

What are we looking at?

[UpstateNYdude]

Stab in the dark, but I'm guessing diamond paste for sharpening and honing.

[Bruce Haugen]

though not the assortment you show.  I have 15, 3 and 1 micron paste, and they take care of business like nothing else I’ve tried, especially on A2.  I have two chunks of cast iron that do the duty.  In both the short and long run, the combination of diamond paste on iron is substantially cheaper than just about anything else.  I got the iron for free (one piece at work and one from a friend who busted up a CI bathtub), and the paste cost maybe $30.

[Timberwolf]

You're gonna have to elaborate and be more generally specific.

 Diamonds, and not your friends are your best friends?  

 What are we looking at?

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
My assortment of diamond paste..I also have some diamond powder not shown and some Boron powder, altho it is much coarser than I prefer.

[Timberwolf]

though not the assortment you show.  I have 15, 3 and 1 micron paste, and they take care of business like nothing else I’ve tried, especially on A2.  I have two chunks of cast iron that do the duty.  In both the short and long run, the combination of diamond paste on iron is substantially cheaper than just about anything else.  I got the iron for free (one piece at work and one from a friend who busted up a CI bathtub), and the paste cost maybe $30.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Totally agree, Bruce...Cast iron works great and so does plate glass..I used to make copper lap plates that I embedded with diamond for lapidary polishing...but they could also be used for fine honing.

[Mr Eddie]

Jack,
What grits do you use the most (for plane irons)? Also, I'm assuming the better brands have higher diamond content. Do you have a favorite brand?

Lonnie

[hbmcc]

though not the assortment you show.  I have 15, 3 and 1 micron paste, and they take care of business like nothing else I’ve tried, especially on A2.  I have two chunks of cast iron that do the duty.  In both the short and long run, the combination of diamond paste on iron is substantially cheaper than just about anything else.  I got the iron for free (one piece at work and one from a friend who busted up a CI bathtub), and the paste cost maybe $30.

+1 


After graduating from neandertal steel into A2, laminated, and all the other alphabet soups, I would think sharpening and honing mediums should grow up too. Diamonds certainly answered my sharpening drudgery. I just need to get another plate--and grit between TFWW's medium and fine tubes in the set of three. I only had one prepasted plate donor before switching. Veritas (LV) has nice honed steel which is still cheaper than hyped alternative mechanicals. I use leather and waxed rouge for the rest. 

The only issue with my method is being much more careful about cross contamination of grits.

[Timberwolf]

Jack,
What grits do you use the most (for plane irons)?  Also, I'm assuming the better brands have higher diamond content.  Do you have a favorite brand?

Lonnie

.....................
Lonnie, I don't use diamonds for removing lots of metal, I use a Boron wheel or belt grinder for that, but I can do fine with a 400 and an 800 grit..When they wear, they leave a finer surface anyway so before too long the 800 will be like a 1,000...Then if you can power strop on leather, it will be as sharp as you will need anyway. I have about six that I got from amazon...they are two different makers but both brands seem to work just fine..I like the fact that the steel disc the diamond is plated on is almost 1/8" thick and when the diamond is all worn off, you can just glue on a sandpaper disc and continue using your WorkSharp, or line the disc with scrap leather that you glue on, and have a power strop. You can load that leather disc with diamond paste and have an excellent strop.

Edit...You can but heavily coated diamond lapping discs but they are very expensive...But I am quite pleased the these from amazon for the hobbiest...Just use a light touch with them and keep them lubed while in use..I just use a few drops of light engine oil or mineral oil.

Another Edit..for the sharpening paste, I usually use about 0ne micron but I doubt you could tell the difference if you used 4mikes. The industrial paste is more highly concentrated and polishes faster, but the hobbyist grade works just fine IMO.

[Gary G™]

Where are you buying it Jack?