Re: order between stones, strops and 3M micro lap film

[Mark76]

I am about to buy the Wicked Edge system, probably from the German reseller. Living in Europe, that avoids me having to pay high import taxes and transport costs.

I’ll buy at least the base package, with the 100/200 stones and the 400/600 stones, as well as a pre-drilled base, which the German guy seems to make himself. I’ll likely also order the 800/1000 stones.

From there on, I’m so not sure. If I base myself on this grit table, I could either get the strops with 5/3.5 micron stropping paste for polishing after sharpening at 1000 grid. And then even finer stropping stuff, if I wanted to.

Or instead I could get the 1200/1600 stones. If I wanted to do stropping afterwards, I’d have to start with 1 micron stropping spray (since 1600 grit translates to 2.85 microns). And again, I could go even lower if I wanted to.

My goal would be really to obtain a mirror edge. Which of the two approaches would you recommend? Start stropping after the 1000 grid stones or also use the 1200/1600 stones? Is stropping even necessary after using the 1600 stones?

In this respect I am a bit confused by the video in which Clay sharpens a knife with a somewhat convex edge (the CRK Sebenza – which I own and want to sharpen to perfection) and starts stropping already at 10 microns (presumably after finally sharpening at 800 or 1000 grid) and then moves down to “only” 5 microns. Using this he is able to get a mirror finish. But according to some other messages you need stropping at smaller micron sizes for a mirror edge.

So basically my questions boil down to: if I want to obtain a mirror edge, what would I do after having sharpened my knife on a 1000 grid diamond stone:
* Start stropping at 5 microns, then 3.5 microns and possibly even less microns, e.g. 1 micron?
* Continue sharpening at 1200 and 1600 grid, and then stop?
* Continue sharpening at 1200 and 1600 grid, and then strop at 1 micron or even lower?
* Or an entirely different strategy, for example what Craig showed in his Sebenza video?

And a related question: how far do you need to go with sharpening/polishing in terms of micron size in order to get a mirror edge?

I know there are also Shosera stones out, by let’s leave them out of this equation, for the time being, not to make this already complex discusssion overcomplicated.

Thanxalot for your answers!

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge