Balsa strop and diamond spray

[Southbound1]

Hi,
I am interested in trying diamond spray or paste on balsa wood. I did read somewhere that if a person used a hard cutting material like diamond, crox and cbn on a rigid surface like balsa it will micro-chip the edge?

 

[Biglo13]

How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop

Diamond pasted balsa !!!

 

[SammieM]

Unlikely for that to happen, but I imagine that would depend on the steel quality and temper of the blade first. The higher the Rockwell hardness is, the easier the steel chips. Another thing to consider is that you are doing trailing strokes, so the edge doesn't really hit the hard particles, so chipping should not be an issue. If you were doing leading strokes, there is a possibility that the ende might chip, but then you would tear up the balsa strop. I am sure more experienced members can chime in and verify these thoughts I have.

 

[Southbound1]

There seems to be alot going into this to get the variables correctly like, what concentration of diamond paste, how to correctly dilute this paste, which to buy mono or poly diamonds , get water based paste or oil based paste and the correct brand to buy that has consistent size diamond particles.

 

[SammieM]

@Slash McCoy posted on this extensively. He said he tried some Chinese stuff that worked. Ted Pella has good price on the pastes and seem to be as consistent as possible as far as diamond particles go. This is not like a CBN, You will almost never have same size particle consistency at a price that is affordable by lay people. I am sure if you are doing research you can get stuff that has tight consistency, but the price will be through the roof for something like that. I don't think mono or poly makes that much of a difference. Everything I read suggests that that matters only at very high pressure work or high temperature. Stropping a razor on balsa doesn't require that much pressure, so I don't think it matters. As far as water based or oil based I am not too sure about that, but would venture a guess that it doesn't make that much of a difference. Anyone, please feel free to correct me, but all i read ( and that is very extensive research) lead me to these conclusions.

 

[Jnatcat]

Paste and sprays are ok and I have everything from CrOx crayon to diamond spray and have played around with them several times but to keep it simple lately I’ve been doing all my work with a 1k and a Nakayama Kiita and a few different asano naguras

 

[Southbound1]

Paste and sprays are ok and I have everything from CrOx crayon to diamond spray and have played around with them several times but to keep it simple lately I’ve been doing all my work with a 1k and a Nakayama Kiita and a few different asano naguras

Love Jnat edges! I'm just now learning to hone, but on synthetic stones first. One day I will get me a Jnat finisher, for sure!

 

[Jnatcat]

Love Jnat edges! I'm just now learning to hone, but on synthetic stones first. One day I will get me a Jnat finisher, for sure!

Took me several years going thru different stones to find that perfect one for me and I doubt I will ever part with it, it’s small but it give a pretty perfect finish

 

[Southbound1]

So what diamond paste equals to a 12k naniwa? I'm confused about the terms 1.0u and .1u diamond paste . I'm assuming .1u is finer than 1.0u??I want something that equals to about the same as a naniwa 12k, so I can strop off any remains of micro-burrs. Or would a 1 micron diamond paste, be to aggressive/fast on balsa and will raise a burr?

 

[SammieM]

0.1u is finer than 1.0u. 0.1u is around 200,000 grit whereas 1.0u is about 14,000 grit. Not sure about the grit measurements of the Naniwa. I have never used that stone, so someone more experienced can chime in. The progression on balsa is there in order to prevent such a thing as burr raising. You don’t lap too many times with it. All you want is to get rid of the scratch lines on the bevel from the previous grit. You are not setting a bevel after all. In order to raise a burr on a 0.1u, you probably have to lap it in the thousands. Plus at the end you strop it on leather to smooth out the edge. Most people use 0.5u, 0.25u and 0.1u. Some people get away with just cromox on balsa. It is really a personal preference.

 

[kohalajohn]

1.0u diamond paste is close to a nani12

After the 1.0u (or the nani12) go to balsa. .5u, then .25u then .1u