Stock stone/strop progression (Lots of Pics!!)

[wickededge]

You can see the effect that Tom so often describes displayed very well here: the deeper scratches are revealed as the bevel gets more polished. They’ve been hiding in all the refraction from the many surfaces of the previous grits.

-Clay

[wickededge]

Next I went to .5 micron chromium oxide, also from Hand American:

The polishing continues, ridges continuing to flatten out. We’re getting closer to the valley floors.

Attachments:

• Half-Micron-Chromium-Oxide-Ascending.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

In the previous two images, the immediate convex shaping of the edge is apparent. I didn’t use very many strokes overall with each grit and yet the shape change was rapid. Note the little sedge or grass shaped scratch at the bottom of the bevel toward the right edge of the image – this little scratch stays with us for quite some time and serves as a useful reference point when comparing scratches. There are also two deep, parallel scratches in the middle that we can track.

-Clay

[wickededge]

Next up was the quarter micron diamond spray, also from Hand American:

I’ve been alternating stroke directions to make the new scratches easier to see.

Attachments:

• Quarter-Micron-Diamond.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Next came the .125 CBN spray from Ken at Precise Sharpening:

It gets confusing here, scratches running everywhere, don’t seem to be making much improvement.

Attachments:

• Eigth-Micron-CBN-Ascending.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

I decided to check out plain leather again, first top grain horse butt, moistened with distilled water:

and then top grain horse butt dry:

hmmm…..

At least our little sedge (or chicken foot) shaped scratch is getting more shallow.

Attachments:

• Top-Grain-Horse-Butt—Distilled-Water.jpg
• Top-Grain-Horse-Butt—Dry.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

At this point, I was unsatisfied with the polish level and decided to drop back down and repeat the following progression: 1 boron carbide> .5 micron chromium oxide> .25 micron diamond> .125 CBN

I didn’t photo each step, just worked quickly through the progression to get back to .125 microns. Now we’re getting somewhere!

Attachments:

• Eigth-Micron-CBN-Ascending-2nd-Pass.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Here is where things get really interesting – I decided that the bevel was polished sufficiently and we’d be able to examine the scratches from the strops in question, so I began a descending progression, starting with the 3.5 micron diamond and top grain leather strops:

Go figure….

The sedge/chicken foot shaped scratch is almost gone.

Attachments:

• 3.5-micron-diamond-paste-descending—top-grain-leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Descending yet further to the 5 micron diamond and top grain leather strops, stroking in the opposite direction. Note what has happened to our little sedge shaped scratch:

Attachments:

• 5-Micron-Diamond-Paste-Descending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

On to the 10 micron diamond and top grain leather strops. We’ve lost our sedge/chicken foot scratch but we now have an odd little hole for reference:

Still alternating strokes so we can see the new scratches clearly.

Attachments:

• 10-Micron-Diamond-Paste-Descending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Finally the 14 micron diamond and top grain leather strops:

Still switching stroke directions.

Attachments:

• 14-Micron-Diamond-Paste-Descending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Climbing back up the ladder, switching stroke direction on each grit:

10 micron diamond and top grain leather strops –

5 micron diamond and top grain leather strops –

3.5 micron diamond and top grain leather strops –

So far so good. More to come.

Attachments:

• 10-Micron-Diamond-Paste-Ascending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg
• 5-Micron-Diamond-Paste-Ascending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg
• 3.5-micron-diamond-paste-ascending—top-grain-leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Now it gets weird again:

1 micron diamond and top grain leather strops (Wicked Edge paste)-

This looks good. Onto the next – .5 micron and top grain leather strops (Hand American spray)-

weird?!? And the next – .25 micron diamond and split grain leather strops (Hand American spray)-

weirder still. Next are the .125 micron CBN and split grain leather strops (Precise Sharpening spray)-

Attachments:

• 1-Diamond-Paste-Ascending—Top-Grain-Leather.jpg
• 5-micron-diamond-paste-descending—top-grain-leather_2012-03-13.jpg
• 25-micron-diamond-paste-descending—split-grain-leather.jpg
• 125-micron-CBN—split-grain-leather.jpg

-Clay

[wickededge]

Contamination? Maybe something to do with the split grain leather…. My guess is that the top grain leather really does move the metal around the surface and the leather is doing most of the work. With the split grain leather, the diamonds are doing more work than the leather. Lots more testing to be done here!

-Clay

[wickededge]

I decided to go back to the 1 micron diamond paste and top grain leather strops since that was where I had my last, best result:

It was a worthwhile move, the bevel cleaned right up again.

Attachments:

• 1-Diamond-Paste-Ascending-2nd-Pass–Top-Grain-Leather.jpg

-Clay

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