This is one of my 2 favorite small EDC’s I carry. Its definitely not for heavy duty use with that delicate tip but for quick deploy & low profile is perfect for my used. Also its one of the first that I mirror polished by hand some time ago. Looking at it now it could probably use another go, especially now that I have my fisher price USB scope to check it with. 😛
What makes this special is now it has the finest edge Ive yet to produce with the Wicked Edge…
I believe the steel is Sandvik 14C28N with the edge bevel at 14dps & 1mm from top to bottom. The full progression was 100-1000 diamond stones, 2000 grit sandpaper, p3000 grit sandpaper, and then 12, 9, 3, 1, .3 micron lapping films. The process was very smooth and the grit patterns were uniform and easily removed all the way down.
Here’s a shot of the tip at p3000:
And finally a higher magnification video of the finished apex and edge bevel. I just noticed if you watch the apex there is still a bit of roughness there that perhaps a very light stropping would remove? I did adjust the angle up .5 degrees for 10 light passes with the .3u film to call it done. Once again I am at the end of the road for what my magnification equipment can show well. 🙁
The Leek is an icon for EDC. Most of the population is an office commando…me most of the time…And I carried the leek for over a Decade before being actually interested in different steels and edges and knifes in general. The Leek is one of the perfect office EDC out there in my opinion. Great for opening letters..boxes and many other things.
I need to get mine out again and hit it on the WE. I have just been too busy at my normal job and my side business to have had any time to play with sharpening!
Great work on a most excellent design! It is amazing how awesome stuff looks..and for it to look that good under magnification is something..
Its early in the game, but at this point Im becoming a huge fan of the micron strips. Could ya tell? 😛
Heres a couple more shots I documented as I progressed…
1000 grit:
2000 grit:
3000 grit:
12 micron: Missing
9 micron: Missing
3 micron:
1 micron:
.3 microns: I went back and removed those leftover scratches later…
Not to bad for some paper strip that take less then a minute to complete at each level. :whistle:
Thanks for the reminder! I do have a set of blank paddles to convert to glass platters. Currently I just use the 1000 grit paddle to tape strips on for a single one time use then discard. I keep them in the envelope they came in for now.
A 8.5x11in sheet costs maybe $4. Cut in half lengthwise I can get 22 1in strips @ .18cents each. I ordered a combo set of 1 sheet each from 12u – .3u for $20.
Looks nice Cliff. Alum oxide films are really cheap. They work but are disposable after the first knife or two similar to sandpaper. Its a decent trade off for the price. You can find those on a lot of websites as well as Amazon.
Yours are so much more reasonable in cost. Do they have a sticky backing like WEPS, or do you use double sided tape, or something else?
You can get them on Amazon for a set for $10.00…THEY A RE PROBABLY not the quality of the WEPS but they work…..you just use some double sided tape or tape them directly to the paddle. Just look up Wet/dry sandpaper and you will see the micron paper there.
I am believe the sample pack I have is the 3m lapping film 261x. It doesn’t have the PSA backing so I taped it to the paddle as shown in the pic above.
You could choose the adhesive backed and to have it precut into strip but I don’t mind doing it myself one bit for the cost savings. I did also receive some in .3u with a thicker paper backing but haven’t tested it yet…
Also what Dan said is spot on. They are alum oxide and are a 1shot use then discard. I almost think that’s all to the good to get a fresh strip each time free of contaminates and with a known abrasive quality every time.
Thanks for the interest & feedback!
Update: 1 I just checked out my .3m lapping film with the PSA backing. Well duh its peel & stick! Not sure of an exact product number since I got it from ebay, 266x maybe?
Very interesting! Can’t believe I missed this post… thanks for sharing Cliff! I know Tom did extensive testing with Clay and others I think to determine a high quality, durable lapping film at the correct grits. I have used it and it is good quality stuff. But what you have may be similar. Anyway, you don’t need to use tape or psa.. . check out tom’s video below.
Besides the WE diamond film, I also use some aluminum-oxide film from http://bestsharpeningstones.com/Micro-Polishing.htm. They come in 8.5X11 PSA-backed sheets. Very reasonable at $7 per sheet. Plus shipping, of course.
That’s actually one of the highest prices I have seen. PSIdragon.com doesn’t have the lowest prices (less than $7 though) but you can buy single sheets, and I have ordered from them and the product came very nicely packed. For plain-back (non PSA) 3M lapping film the lowest price ($1 per sheet) I have seen it at fiberoptics4sale.com but I have never ordered from them.
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