jake556
@jake556
active 5 years, 9 months agoForum Replies Created
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If you go diamond to 1500, you will have a very sharp edge. You can use the ceramic, but they will need a lot more breaking in than the diamond. I would suggest you use Ceramic after diamond, and expect it will need to be broken in. Personally, I never really enjoyed the ceramics, and they never got enough use to break them in, I had both super fine and micro fine. I have replaced them with diamond lapping film. Diamond stones to 1500 and 6 micron lapping film out performed my diamond to 1000 then 4 step ceramic on the second knife I tried them on. I expect the pair will only improve as the 1500 is broken in.
Nice this is exactly what I wanted to hear, with all the choices available I didn’t want to spend excess dinero. So thank you for that.
Welcome to the forum Jake. I haven’t found switching mediums back and forth, (diamonds > ceramics > diamonds > ceramics) to be a effective course of action. The scratch patterns of the mediums are different. There’s more to it then just reducing particle size as you go from coarse to fine. I agree with Justin that the ceramics take a long time to break in before you’ll see their true benefits. If you don’t have the ceramics yet, you can certainly do with out them. Diamonds through 1500 in my experience the way to go. At this point, after the 1500 grit diamond, you can chose to strop the edge and it should be very sharp. For a new user, as you say you are, I’d wait till your diamond stones are broken in more. At the same time you’ll be gaining more experience with your technique and your WEPS. Then in a month or two with some sharpening under your belt, the Diamond lapping films are a good way to go to get the ultimate sharp and shinny knife edge. Right now, with your diamond stones still so new and your level of experience I don’t think you’ll gain the true benefits of the Diamond lapping film quit yet. If you don’t mind the investment and the fact that the films are a fairly costly, a consumable commodity, then have at it. You won’t hurt anything using them. You just may not see your best results yet.
Thanks for the welcome and the great information! So down the road if I get interested in stroping what would be the correct size I would need past the 6 micron film?
Hi Jake and welcome to the forum. I don’t own any of the ceramic stones, just the diamonds from 100 to 1500 and then some lapping films and strops. Clay has shown that the 1500 grit diamond stones do a superb job of removing the 1000 grit scratches and you can go straight from the 1500 grit to the lapping films (see this thread for a detailed analysis). Many of the more experienced WE users on the forum have retired their ceramic stones in favor of the 1500 grit diamond. Although the ceramic stones are not necessary, options are always nice to have. Some users have said that they like the ceramics as a finishing grit for a micro bevel. If you want to know more about how a the ceramics compare to other abrasive types be sure to check out Mark76’s blog posts on the subject as well as this thread.
Nice, again this is great information, thank you. I have read through Clay’s analysis of the diamond film really interesting stuff. So in your opinion for a “mirror” finish what do you use past the 1500 stone? 1500->6 micron diamond film-> ?
I really appreciate everyone’s prompt responses. Thank you and Happy New Year!
PS: Optic Planet has 10% until midnight tomorrow. (great price on WE stuff btw) plus Free shipping
