mirror finish

[Daniel maloon]

I have all the diamond and ceramic stones along with the strops but have never been able to get a truly clear mirror edge with this progression. Recently I bought some lapping film 6m-.5m and was impressed. After the micro fine ceramics i have been retracing to the 6m film and progressing down to .5m then stroping. Wow. Super clear. The films are quick cutting and ive done about 17 knives so far without needing to replace the strips yet. Ive heard that the same can be achieved with the WE waterstones but i dont have those. Any other ways out there to get a mirror edge

[Josh]

All I got to say is make sure you remove the scratches with the diamonds! I recently had some issues, Goin all the way up to my waterstones and finding that I still had some deeper scratches from my 100 grit diamond 🙁 you can imagine my disappointment! I would track the progress with a microscope if you can 🙂 post some pics!

Josh

[Mark76]

Dan, my two ways: 10K choseras or ceramic stones followed by strops with WE 3.5 mu diamond paste. There are ppl who say the latter method doesn’t result in a true mirror :huh: , but I beg to differ.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Stephen Sharkey]

I tend to agree with Josh. Removing all scratches from previous grits take quite a bit of time, especially with <60 RC steel. The best thing I have found is to use up and down strokes and then push strokes. A person can cross hatch too. Heres an example.

I did up and down strokes with the 400 grit stones until all the previous 200 grit strokes were gone. The way I could tell this is because I do every grit twice, up and down and then sweeping diagonal push strokes. So after I did the up and down strokes with the 400 grit Stones I did diagonal strokes with the 400 grit Stones. Then I proceeded to do up and down strokes with the 600 Stones. Etcetera etcetera etcetera.

If you follow this procedure as you progress all the way to your micro fine ceramics stones you will be able to achieve a true mirror polished edge.

One major thing that I found that really helped me out was to do sweeping strokes hilt to tip and back down to the hilt without lifting off really helps u raise the vertical grind lines. Especially when you get to higher grits.

I am by no means an expert but I would like to try and help as much as I can.

Steve

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[Stephen Sharkey]

That was supposed to say erase not u raise. I was using voice to text. Definitely listen to Razor Edge Knives and Hence industries. I’ve learned a lot from their posts.

Cheers

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[Stephen Sharkey]

Jende industries

Stupid auto correct

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[Stephen Sharkey]

To Danmaloon

Did you put the lapping film on the blank metal paddles from WE? Or did you use soft strops? That sounds like it would be a lot less work. Thanks

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[Stephen Sharkey]

I meant DanMaloon

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[tcmeyer]

As I’ve mentioned several times on the forum, I warn against using anything lower than 400 grit when you’re close to the apex. Occassionally, they’ll produce overly deep scratches and even break out thin sections along the apex.

The chip in the above photo appeared after stoning a cheap kitchen knife (chef’s knife) with a 200 grit stone. I had deliberately shunned use of the 100’s. With scratches like this, ain’t nobody gonna get a mirror finish without a lotta work.

Now, on my sharpening bench, rule #2 says “Thou shalt not approach an apex with less than a 400 grit!”

Attachments:

• chip2_2014-04-10.jpg

[Mark76]

That’s a good point, TC, but it also depends on the angle and the steel. I have no problem appproaching the apex of, for example, 13C26 steel with the 100 grit stones when sharpening at 20 degrees.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Stephen Sharkey]

I have all the diamond and ceramic stones along with the strops but have never been able to get a truly clear mirror edge with this progression. Recently I bought some lapping film 6m-.5m and was impressed. After the micro fine ceramics i have been retracing to the 6m film and progressing down to .5m then stroping. Wow. Super clear. The films are quick cutting and ive done about 17 knives so far without needing to replace the strips yet. Ive heard that the same can be achieved with the WE waterstones but i dont have those. Any other ways out there to get a mirror edge

Boy, that sounds like something I would really like to get into. I’m fairly new to the forum so hopefully you get this message. I’m just curious if you had the sticky back film or if you glued it on.
Was it 3M brand? Etc. I know you can get black paddles from WE.

Thanks

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[Daniel maloon]

Hi. So i got my film which is 3m from amazon because i had a gift card, you can by it from several places. I measured and cut them. They weren’t adhesive backed so i used doubled sided tape. The material i put them in was the same thickness of the stock stones. I typically reduce the angle a half degree while using the films, return the angle for the super fine ceramics then drop 2 degrees and strop. The edge is super clear. I cant speak for the waterstones because i went with the diamond. Ive done more knives than i can count and my stones are completely broken in to the point of needing new ones again. Ive tried many tricks but so far this is the quickest way to achieve my desired results. I think a dmt 6/3 m dimond stone would be worth looking into. Take it easy

[Stephen Sharkey]

Thank you very much. I think I am going to try sticking the film to an extra set of stones that I have using foam tape. This may act like the strops. I usually do not reduce my angle when using the leather because I always put a micro bevel on that is 2 degrees more obtuse. I have found that by using the micro bevel I can aim the teeth backwards and I do not have to do that motion which is a more difficult motion for me the whole time I am creating the secondary bevel.

[Raleigh]

call me crazy but I’ve had pretty good luck doing small circles with the ceramics up and down the stone to even out the wear. super light pressure, almost the weight of the stone and nothing more. it’s giving me really good results, and I’ve been starting with the 100’s to do initial profiles quick. It takes a lot of work but by the time I end up on the fine white ceramic it’s nice and shiny. 15-20 minutes with the strop and paste and they are looking very nice.

[tcmeyer]

I bought two sheets each of 6 different grit (0.3, 1, 3, 5, 9 and 12mu) adhesive-backed lapping films from Best Sharpening Stones, cost $92 w/ shipping. About 16 strips per page, less than $0.50 per strip.

Wanting to sharpen with diamond grits higher than 1000, I then bought 2 sample packs of diamond grit film from Lee Valley. (Stock # 54K9630 Set(4) PSA Diamond Films) Each pack had 6 small sheets of different grit which would each produce only about 3 strips per sheet. Cost about $47. About $0.65 per strip.

Knowing I was trying to accumulate a lot of grits, I ordered a blank set of blocks from WE, but then decided that I needed way more than I could afford. I made a bunch of blocks out of wood with bronze bushing inserts and 1/4″ plate glass. So far so good. My experience it that they last longer than I thought, but I haven’t tried more than a few so far.

They are all adhesive-backed film. I even tried moving a used one from one block to another and found that if you lift the tape up keeping tension toward the lifted end, you’re less likely to leave adhesive behind.

I’d never use them on a soft substrate, but just because it seems intuitively wrong. Metal or glass get my vote.

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