I tried on a Reeve insingo to gett mirror but didnt get there, used 12/1600 stones before the 5u and 3,5u strops Im thinking of getting some diamond lap films to use inbetween the 1000 and 1200 stones. It seems a big different when looking at Clays pics in https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/super-blue-steel/page/3/#post-31678 What films should I get do you think? [/quote]
Just thought I’d mention… how new are your stones? As they break-in it will be easier to obtain a mirror like finish. (Not saying the diamonds films won’t help, just that it helps if your stones are worn in a bit.)
5u(micron) paste would be first as its more coarse…. then 3.5u which is more fine. Recommend lowering the angle 2 full degrees to prevent rounding and blunting the apex of edge. If you are going for a mirror polish you will most likely need a few additional steps between the 1000 grit diamonds and the 5u paste…Hope that helps. Aloha
I tried on a Reeve insingo to gett mirror but didnt get there, used 12/1600 stones before the 5u and 3,5u strops Im thinking of getting some diamond lap films to use inbetween the 1000 and 1200 stones. It seems a big different when looking at Clays pics in https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/super-blue-steel/page/3/#post-31678 What films should I get do you think? [/quote]
You can get an idea of how “broke in” the stones are by comparing the very ends of a stone, that doesn’t make much contact with blades, with the rest… you’ll feel a difference as they break in.
I have just acquired the 1/0.5 and 5/3.5 leather strops. The ceramics that I have is the 1200/1600 grit. I manage to get a very nice mirror on the full face of the bevel when I drop 1 deg of the WE arms. My observation is that after stropping on the 5/3.5 strops, there is significant dark residue both on the paddles. then I which to the 1/0.5 strops but on this, there seems to be much less residue on the paddles.
Another observation I noticed is that the 5/3.5 strops are much easier to handle as it slides of the bevel nicely and smoothly, whereas with the 1/0.5 strops as it travels bottom-up sometimes there is some resistance (not smooth) why is that? Is it because its new strops? Do these strops require some break-in like the coarser ceramics/diamond stones?
I have everything for my Gen 3 Wicked edge, all diamonds, all ceramics and the leather strops 3 and 5 micron, I can get the mirror polish but there are still scratches,I have ordered the Glass Pallets with 3 and 6 micron lapping films, will this help get rid of the scratches?
The most important thing, is to make sure that with each finer stone, you completely remove the scratches of the previous stone. It will be very difficult to completely remove all scratches but the lapping films will give very nice results and for me personally, the result I get with 1 micron lapping films is good enough especially to the naked eye.
I think Frans made a very good point. If you’re out for a good edge and particularly out for a mirror edge, a good loupe/microscope is almost indispensable.
The dark residue on the leather is from abraded metal that is removed during stropping. There is more on your 5/3.5 strops because they have bigger particles and abrade more metal.
