I have up to 1600 grit ceramic stones and I get my knives extremely sharp, but I’d like to up my game a little bit and be able to put mirror finishes on my edges. Any suggestions? Will strops help me achieve my goal?
Strops will definitely help you. I’ve switched to the diamond films, they’re great!
What grits are you using Mark?
Like Mark, I too use film with great results. After the 800/1000 stones, I switch to four film stones I have. These are blanks with aluminum plates. One pair is 6/3 micron film; and the other is 1/0.5 micron film.
After the diamonds I start with 6 micron. You can also start with 4 micron after the ceramics. Sometimes I end with 0.1 micron, but usually I think this is overkill. One grit less fine also gives great results.
What is the difference between glass and aluminum platens? also, does anyone use the 3 micron diamond stone and glass platen?
They both serve the same function. The aluminum platens are less expensive, but also not as smooth and flat as the glass. If it’s within your budget, the glass platens are superior. I don’t use my 3 micron stones much anymore and instead use the lapping films. Although they’re consumable, they’re more consistent and give a better finish.
I agree with Clay, but I think if you lap the aluminum platens, you can make them very close to the flatness of glass platens. I bought a 12-inch square of 3/8" glass from my local glass shop and used sheets of sandpaper, starting with 320 grit and going up to 2000 grit.
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Although they’re consumable, they’re more consistent and give a better finish. [/quote]
By Consumable, are these replaced after one use or do they last more?
No, it depends a bit on how you use them, but my diamond films last about 7-10 knives.
Thanks Mark. What makes you aware their not working anymore? Do you feel it or is it by examining the edge?
With some experience it’s both. You feel it and also notice they become less effective. Easy enough once you’ve used one.
The diamond films load up fairly rapidly and need to be washed every 3 or 4 knives (I use alcohol). When you do this, give them a good inspection. I find that I replace them more often because of cuts and tears than loss of abrasive grit, but you can easily see areas where the grit is lost.
What about sandpaper? As I understand, films are more durable, but a sandpaper is whole lot cheaper. I wonder if it makes more sense to grab 3k/5k/7k grit papers for ~$10 for 2 sheets each and produces 24 strips of abrasives. Even if it lasts only one use, it is still ~9 times cheaper than film strips from Wicked Edge.
1 sheet of film = $30, it contain 10 strips, $3 each, last 5 sharpenings = adds $0.60 per grit.
1 sheet of sandpaper = $1.88, cut to 24 strips, $0.07 per sharpening, per grit.
I know from youtube videos that others have used sandpaper (followed by stropping with diamond pastes on leather) to obtain mirrored edges, so that should work. My guess is that the diamond films are going to get you the results you want (removal of the scratches from the previous grit) faster than sand paper would because diamond is much more effective at cutting metal than the abrasives used on sandpaper.
My experience with sandpaper is that it doesn’t take much to knock the grit particles off of the substrate, or to “wear out” the abrasiveness, especially when using more than a little pressure. When polishing a bevel, the square inches of grit under pressure is very small, thus making the PSI really high. Diamond film doesn’t seem to lose grit at all, except after long use. I would expect the film to last much longer than sandpaper.
A disclaimer… I’ve never actually used sandpaper on my WEPS, and yes, I know that there are many out there who have. Anybody out there who’ve tried both to support or debunk my theory?
If you don’t want to spend the money for diamond film, you can get non-diamond (Aluminum Oxide) PSA film for much less. It looks and acts like diamond film and since it’s PSA, you don’t have to deal with double-sided tape. See some at: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,44047&p=74729
This link shows 3, 1 and 0.3 micron PSA film costing $3 per 8.5 X 11" sheet. At 5.5 X 3/4", you get 22 strips per sheet. Not counting shipping, that’s less than 30 cents per pair. What’s to lose?
Thank you! Great tip. Actually, I ordered diamond films from WE, so I have something to test against. I will also try sandpaper and AlOx films.
Mark,
I haven’t used diamond film on my WEPS yet, but I have used them on my Edge Pro. When I use them, I use them wet (few drops of soapy water). Do you use them wet or dry? Cant wait to get a set for the WEPS.
I use my diamond film dry. When they get dirty, I wash 'em with a little spritz of alcohol. Rub a finger over it a few times and the dark stuff seems to float right off. I then wipe 'em off with a paper towel. Seems to work really well, and there’s no mess at the knife edge.
I need an advice from experienced mirror-edgers 
So far, I am unable to get rid of 1000 grit scratches. My stones are fairly new, so I hope, this is a temporary issue.
At first, I was trying to do 1200/1600 ceramics, followed by 1.4/0.6 ceramics and then followed with strops. Now I am doing 15μm film after 1000 grit. It takes out ~90% of scratches and leaves me with pretty much mirror finish, with only several hair-like scratches. My plan is to try 60/30μm films. I wonder if that can do the trick.