# Diamond pastes for stropping - advice needed!



## Mangelwurzel (Oct 13, 2014)

Hi folks,

I'm thinking of adding a leather strop and some diamond paste to my sharpening set up.

I currently have 400 JCK, 800 JNS, and 6000 JCK stones and am undecided between 1 Micron or 3 Micron diamond paste.

I think 3 micron equates to 8000 grit and 1 micron equates to around 14,000 grit. Most people around here seem to swear by 1 micron diamond. Is the jump from a 6K stone to 1 micron too severe? 

Thanks.


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## Mucho Bocho (Oct 13, 2014)

Mangel, Seems your taking a pretty large jump on the stones from an 800 to a 6K. I have lots of strops: horse, cow, felt, balsa some naked some covered with compounds like boron carbide and 1u Diamond spray. They're good for cleaning up an edge but if used too often, will make the edge smooth/slippery/dangerous, all be it sharp. This hair popping edge will also deteriorate very quickly. IMHO, maybe find something between the 800 and 6K, then use the 6K as a strop to maintain the edge.

I've found different substrates/compound combinations work differently on different steels. My 6-8K Takenono (arashiyama) from Dave Martell leave my Ginsan & SG2 stainless in perfect toothy shape but only polishes my Blue #2 and AS steels.

Really depends on what is being worked on. Sorry if that isn't much help.


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## psfred (Oct 13, 2014)

I finish with 0.5 um chromium oxide on wood (pine in this case) or leather. This is readily available in the US as polishing paste for power buffers in the local hardware supply stores.

I would say you have a very large gaps in your progression -- 800 to 6000 is too far for low hardness stainless, you need a 3000 in there, and that's where I stop for soft stainless. No point in going farther as the edge will collapse quickly in use and without the "tooth" from a 3000 grit stone will not come back when steeled very well.

On top of that, for a hard steel knife in the RHC 60 range, you will be working forever to get the scratches out of the edge with that jump, and will never get really sharp knives. At the very least you need a 1000 or 1200 grit stone in there -- this is where I actually sharpen most knives, I only use lower grits if they need repair or a bevel reset. I would also suggest a 3000 grit stone for hard knives, it will greatly reduce the time it takes to clean up and polish the edge.

From there you could either use 3, 1, and 1 micro pastes on a hard substrate (dry horse leather, balsa wood, etc) or use an 8000 or 10000 grit stone to replace the 3 micron. I use a kitayama stone after a 6000 grit King stone, then strop on 0.5 micron chromium oxide on wood. Works great for knives and woodworking tools except for soft stainless. I stop at 3000 grit for those.

I'd personally not worry too much about a fine strop, I'd get a 1200 grit or 2000 grit stone first. You can strop till you drop and never get that edge clean of heavy scratches, a strop won't remove enough material. Ditto for the 6000 grit stone -- it would take a very long time to grind out the scratches from an 800 grit stone in VG-10 with a 6000 grit stone!

Hope that helps!

Peter


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## Matus (Oct 14, 2014)

Hm, others with more experience with hopefully chime in, but whether the step between 800 and 6000 depends also on the stones. Just an example - Jon said that one can go from Gesshin 600 directly to 6000. And the JNS800 in my experience leaves surprisingly smooth finish for a stone that coarse, to the jump to 6000 may not be so far off. Now - whether adding a medium grit stone for stainless (in particular softer one) is a different story.


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## Mangelwurzel (Oct 14, 2014)

Matus is right. The jump between JNS 800 and a 6K stone isn't as big as it sounds. It is a great stone and I think it's intended to go hand-in-hand with a 6K stone. My 6K stone takes the scratches out with very little effort. 

I'm aware that 6K is too high a finish for most stainless knives and but I'm only using carbon knives at the moment (steels are AS, white #2 and swedish carbon) so don't need anything around the 3K mark just yet.

All this is a bit of a distraction from my real question (perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned my sharpening set-up!), which was is 1 micron diamond a good place to finish or would 3 micron be better? I know, for example, that Will C goes from Chosera 5K to Sigma 13K and finishes on bare leather.


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## Matus (Oct 14, 2014)

Mangewurzel, I do not have experience with stropping, but still would like to ask a basic question - what do you intend to achieve with a strop after the 6k stone? Maybe answering this question could yield answers from users with experience on the subject.


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## Mangelwurzel (Oct 14, 2014)

I guess the same thing most other people that strop with compounds want to achieve: a more refined edge. I know putting a finish higher than 6K on gyutos is probably unnecessary but it feels like a right of passage I need to go through!

The other thing I'd like to use it for is regular touch-ups.


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## TB_London (Oct 14, 2014)

I could load a bit of leather with some 1 micron diamond and put it in the post for you to try if you'd like? Just PM me your address.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Mangelwurzel (Oct 14, 2014)

TB_London said:


> I could load a bit of leather with some 1 micron diamond and put it in the post for you to try if you'd like? Just PM me your address.
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom



Thanks, Tom. That's very kind of you. I've sent you a PM.

Cheers


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