motocoder

[motocoder]

you should drill some absorbent dish mat and offer that too – would make the rack a good way to dry the stones after washing them

[motocoder]

The problem you get when the stones are not flat is that they create a convex edge. I can get a mirrored edge with them, but they do require more strokes than the diamond lapping film. I should clarify that I’m just talking about the 0.6 ceramic – the other side appears flat to me. I do have the leveling kit that I was using with my edge pro, and while I’m tempted to use it, it will reduce the life of the ceramics significantly (and they are already not very thick). I feel like WE shouldn’t have sent me a stone that was this defective, and that they should replace it.

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sksharp

[motocoder]

sksharp wrote:

My 1.4/.6 ceramics are the same as you describe, I started re-setting my angle on every stone a few weeks ago to eliminate the slight, and sometimes not so slight, angle differences between the stones. Just make sure the angle is your starting angle on both sides before you start each one and I don’t think you will have any problem with them.

But if the stone’s thickness varies from one end of the stone to the other, that’s not sufficient. Honestly, I think this stone is defective and should not have been shipped by WE. I am going to call them and see if they will swap them out.

 

[motocoder]

Actually, in looking at my micro-fine ceramics, I notice that one of the micro-fine (0.6u) stones is not very level, and in fact is noticeably less thick than the other one. I wonder if that’s why I am not getting great results with them.

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sksharp

[motocoder]

Mark76 wrote:

I think the above reasons for using the 0.4/1.6 micron ceramic stones are all good ones. In addition, they’re ultimately cheaper than diamond film, since the film should be replaced after x uses, whereas the stone can be used for a very long time. Another thing is that it is hard to give a “grit size” to a ceramic stone since, unlike most other sharpening stones, it doesn’t consist of grit in a material to hold it. You can actually change the size of the scratches a ceramic stone produces by rubbing it on a diamond stone. I wrote a couple of blog posts on a similar subject of which https://moleculepolishing.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/ceramic-stones-for-the-weps-compared-again/ is the last one.

Interesting article. It would be good if the scratch pattern was oriented consistently in each of the photomicrographs. I would expect if a directional light source (versus a ring light) was used, one could get misleading results due to different contrast levels between the peaks and the lands.

 

[motocoder]

Organic wrote:

I believe that the ceramic paddles do have their place. Many people like using them for adding micro bevel that has some tooth or simply as the final grit in their progression. Unlike the lapping films, they aren’t consumable and will last many years without need for replacement. That said, the lapping films are great and you won’t be disappointed if your goal is a mirrored edge. With regard to skipping the 1 micron leather strop; Clay has shown that diamonds of a given size tend to leave smaller scratches than that size when used on a stropping medium. The theory is that the leather is pliable and does not push the diamonds into the steel with as much force as you would get with the same diamonds embedded in a plate. For that reason, many find it useful to use a larger grit size diamond strop than the grit of their last paddle.

Thanks, that is good to know. So given that, and assuming I include both (1u and 0.5u) strops as the final two steps, if you were going to add a set of glass platens and the lapping films in-between the 6u lapping film and the 1u strop, which two lapping films would you use (options are 3u, 1.5u, and 1u)?

 

[motocoder]

thanks for the replies. So I am thinking I will order a set of handles with glass platens and 3u and 1u films, and substitute those for the ceramics.

Why do people use those ceramics?

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Salomonalcantar

[motocoder]

Try mineral oil instead. Works well for me, and doesn’t dry the leather out,

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wickededge, Organic, Marc H

[motocoder]

If you have a spare slot in your rack, with a McDonald’s straw and some tape you can make a rack-compatible holder for your Sharpie marker (see pic).

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Organic, wickededge, Marc H

[motocoder]

The rack I ordered from Marc just arrived in the mail today. I just wanted to say what a nice job he did with this. The rack is just exactly what I wanted – keeps the stones from contaminating each other, makes it convenient to swap out stones, and it’s fairly space efficient.

Anyone on the fence should just go ahead and order one.

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wickededge, Marc H

[motocoder]

Hi Marc –

I like the configuration that you made for Clay – picture earlier in the thread. It was 4 x 5 (20 stones) with aluminum rods. I would like to order one of those.

Thanks

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