Lapping Films and New Blank Handles

[wickededge]

We now have our new Diamond Lapping Films, Glass Blanks, and Glass Blanks/3m DMT Stones up and ready to go! The Lapping Films, which come in micron sizes 6, 3, 1.5, 1, .5, and .1, come in sheets of 10 and can be attached to our Glass Blanks. You can create your own custom lapping stones by applying one or more different films to the Glass Blanks or you can pair any one of the films with the 3m DMT Stones. Check them out in Stropping Compounds (both pages 1 and 2) and in Accessory Stones. All the films and the 3m Diamond stones are fantastic polishers and will help you achieve the perfect mirror edge you’re looking for.

As always, we greatly appreciate feedback so be sure to tell us what you think.

-Clay

[tcmeyer]

Thank you Clay… I’m sure this will help to further define WE as offering THE best sharpening system on the market.

And I hope I was the first to order a complete set of film.

Oh yeah… I was going to share with you that my glass platens (on my homemade blocks) suddenly started spontaneously to fall off of their handles this last weekend. The Rhino CA glue which I’d thought was so great apparently has a built-in obsolescence schedule. Sometime in their sixth week they just fall off. Clink, clink, clink, one after the other. Probably an environmental factor. Basement is now 4 degrees colder. So I switched to double-faced high-strength, permanent tape. Seems to work really good. Oh… And I had one glass platen which cracked cross-wise (don’t know how or when) but seemed to continue to work just fine. I couldn’t feel any disturbance in the smoothness of the stroke, almost like the crack was internal..

As I was stripping the old tape off the platens as I was repairing them, I realized that to leave the least amount of adhesive behind, pull the tape slowly and in a straight line. Now that the platens are bare and new film is coming, I’ll try to wait.

[Lukas Pop]

Looks very interesting. What is recommended place of lapping films in sharpening progression? Between stones and strops or instead of strops?

[Josh]

Thank you Clay… I’m sure this will help to further define WE as offering THE best sharpening system on the market.

And I hope I was the first to order a complete set of film.

Oh yeah… I was going to share with you that my glass platens (on my homemade blocks) suddenly started spontaneously to fall off of their handles this last weekend. The Rhino CA glue which I’d thought was so great apparently has a built-in obsolescence schedule. Sometime in their sixth week they just fall off. Clink, clink, clink, one after the other. Probably an environmental factor. Basement is now 4 degrees colder. So I switched to double-faced high-strength, permanent tape. Seems to work really good. Oh… And I had one glass platen which cracked cross-wise (don’t know how or when) but seemed to continue to work just fine. I couldn’t feel any disturbance in the smoothness of the stroke, almost like the crack was internal..

As I was stripping the old tape off the platens as I was repairing them, I realized that to leave the least amount of adhesive behind, pull the tape slowly and in a straight line. Now that the platens are bare and new film is coming, I’ll try to wait.

you should sandblast the back of the glass if you can and then use jb weld… I used that to attach my glass platen on my 2×72 belt sander and i have hundred’s of hours on that thing w/ no issues! You won’t ever get it off though… if your glass breaks then you may as well trash the paddle. But the solution to that is just getting slightly thicker glass! 😉

[Geocyclist]

Yes, I am quite interested how and when you use the lapping films. How do they compare to Chosera’s and Ceramics? Do you use this before leather strops?

Dumb question, but just get a feel for these – is the 3m film the same as the 3m stone? At least in general as far as the grits go, I would guess feel, etc. would be different. But would they cut and remove material about the same?

Someone with some experience please start a new thread on this, thanks.

[Mark76]

Geo, I have not experience with it, but I ordered some. My expectation is that lapping film will work faster than stropping spray (of the same size), but not as fast as a stone. But it’s diamond, and my stones of that grit size are waterstones, so maybe it’ll initially even work faster. We’ll see…

Interested in what ppl with more experience can tell us!

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[cbwx34]

I haven’t used them on the WE, I have used them with other methods. In my book they replace stropping with leather, and will leave you with some of the sharpest, “crispest” edges you’ll get… I don’t see it being any different on the WE. Hard to say how they compare to ceramics, choseras, etc. without actually trying.

Unless you’re going for an ultimate polish, I’d probably just get a couple at least to start, I’m thinking the 3m and 1m would make a good set, (depending on what your last stone or ceramic is). I also suggest that you get enough glass blanks for each film. When I tried some before (again not on the WE) I had one blank for a couple of films, and found that peeling them on/off caused them to fail sooner (not to mention it’s a pain)… so, for me anyway, it would be worth it.

If you use them slightly damp, and wipe them with a damp paper towel occasionally, they’ll last quite a while.

[tcmeyer]

I jumped into the glass block/film pool several months ago, knowing that to be efficient, I’d need a pair of platens for each film grit. At the time, I had 6 grits of silicon carbide and four grits of diamond, so to have any particular grit at hand, I needed 5 pairs with two grits each. Now, with WE offering six diamond grits, I’ll probably back off to three pairs and shelf the SC films.

No, on second thought, there’s a couple of SC grits I have (9 & 12 micron) which are roughly equivalent to the 1200/1600 ceramics, which I don’t particularly like. I’ll keep them.

I use the films as if they were normal WE stones. No water, just wipe clean occasionally with alcohol. My home-made blocks are made with 1/4″ plate glass on each side and are relatively heavy. I didn’t have a way to drill a 1/4″ thru-hole and keep it straight, so I epoxied in 1/4″ bronze bushing at each end with a rod in place to keep them aligned with one another. They feel really solid in use. I can’t imagine going back to strops now that I have the Variable Stone Thickness Adapter to keep the angles right. Try a pair with the films to replace what you are now using for strops – for instance, the 6 and 3 micron films to replace your 5 and 3.5 micron stropping compounds. I think you’ll like it.

[Daniel maloon]

I agree with tc. Jumping from my really worn in 1000 stones to 6 micron film works but giing to the 9 m film would cut even quicker. Wiping them with alcohol works as well as using them slighty damp if you’d like.

[Richard Jackson]

Are these meant to replace stropping in the cases where you would want to use them?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tcmeyer]

I can’t speak for Wicked Edge, but I use film as a direct replacement for strops. When used with the Variable Stone Thickness Adapters, I am able to set the angles very precisely and know that I am polishing right at the apex without rounding it off. Additionally, the film on glass lets you use both up and down strokes, provided you use them carefully.

[Josh]

I can’t speak for Wicked Edge, but I use film as a direct replacement for strops. When used with the Variable Stone Thickness Adapters, I am able to set the angles very precisely and know that I am polishing right at the apex without rounding it off. Additionally, the film on glass lets you use both up and down strokes, provided you use them carefully.

Last night I sharpened up two straight razors… 800-10k choseras. On the second one, I decided to try my SiC lapping film that I had from a year or two ago. I decided to go w/ the 1 micron film. It was interesting!

I have aluminum blanks that I lapped flat on a course diamond stone and that’s what I mounted the lapping film to (glass would be better here obviously). I took some pics w/ my scope, which I will try to get up soon, but they are on my home computer.

It took around 100 passes at a slightly elevated angle to remove the grit scratches from my 10k choseras (which are on the 2 micron level). It was interesting though, I could still notice a “wire edge” from the lapping film I believe, but this was probably due to the fact that I wasn’t doing edge leading passes at all. Straight off of my lapping film I could not pass the HHT at all.

Interesting thing happened when I went to my nano cloth… I could feel some “bumps” on my nano cloth, which felt like the substrate or the actual fibers were not perfectly flat. This yielded an edge that was irregular where it folded the wire edge over in certain parts and not other parts, in an irregular fashion. I finally backed to my 1um cow leather strops (very smooth) at a lowered angle, and then from that directly to my .125 CBN roo strops (again, very smooth) and I finally was able to pass the HHT at all points on the blade.

I need to do more testing… but at this point I still like going directly from my highest stones to light stropping for straight razors. I think I will order the glass/film from WE or Oldawan just to check it out.

[Daniel maloon]

Ive got mine mounted to aluminum like Josh. You can scrub with the film. Ill lap to .5 with the film then switch over to leather and progress. The film erases and polishes, the strops refines and perfects the edge. Of coarse the lowest i have is .5 film so maybe bringing it to .1 would eliminate the need for strops as it would pretty much be the same as .125 on nano right? Just knew that leather affects the steel differently from other mediums and was essential in the final steps of edge refinement. Who knows.

[wickededge]

Are these meant to replace stropping in the cases where you would want to use them?

The can replace or augment the strops. Stropping can cause a slight rounding of the edge which doesn’t happen with the lapping films, unless you’re putting them on leather. I find the films to be very efficient at cleaning up scratches from the diamonds, so if I’m going for a super polished edge, I’ll use the films first, down to at least .5 microns and then use my kangaroo strops with .25 and .125 micron sprays to get the rest of the way there. I haven’t done enough testing to see what kinds of cutting performance and edge retention differences there might be between a stropped blade vs one that is finished with the films. Project coming up!

-Clay

[Josh]

Are these meant to replace stropping in the cases where you would want to use them?

The can replace or augment the strops. Stropping can cause a slight rounding of the edge which doesn’t happen with the lapping films, unless you’re putting them on leather. I find the films to be very efficient at cleaning up scratches from the diamonds, so if I’m going for a super polished edge, I’ll use the films first, down to at least .5 microns and then use my kangaroo strops with .25 and .125 micron sprays to get the rest of the way there. I haven’t done enough testing to see what kinds of cutting performance and edge retention differences there might be between a stropped blade vs one that is finished with the films. Project coming up![/quote]

oh how I do miss the experimentation!! :unsure: can’t wait to see what you come up with! 😉

[Author]

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