I got a lot of stones on the 'bay. Apparently the sellers father was a big knife and razor guy who had passed on. I picked out all the old oilstones, the absolutely destroyed paddle strops, the broken V-style rod sharpening system, the laughably cut up and rotted leather strop (the guy had been using the linen and for some reason left the useless leather attached), a couple ceramic rod "steels", and a few more things I considered trash. Took out the diamond hones, a big hunk of clay that I think is a 1200 or 2000 grit japanese (king 1200 probably), another synth that I suspect is a 8k JIS, A Spyderco UF ceramic, and the only paddle that appeared to be still useable, though the leather was in rough shape still.
The 8k chamfered and lapped in a minute or two. The lower grit one took awhile because it had more chips around the edges and took a LONG time to stop drinking up the water while I lapped it, the Spyderco took a few minutes to polish up on 1200 paper. I messed around with a beater razor to figure out what I had. Once I was done with the stones I spent a freaking hour working on the leather on the paddle (probably should have just given up on it), finally got to a point I consider usable (though still a bit damaged). I trimmed a lone nick out of the flesh side leather strop underneath it (used for pastes), and rubbed a bit of one of the two powders it had come with (red and white). No idea what it is. Jar is labeled R04050 or something like that. Put on wayyyyy too much (dust was flying everywhere when I stropped. Did 10 passes on that paddle and then about 30 on the leather and looked at it under the scope. From 8k edge to Bullet straight @ 400x like off my jnat without even trying.
The downside?
The edge looks fantastic, but doesn't HHT any better than it did off the 8k. Went to a hanging strop to ensure the paddle wasn't the problem. HHT still virtually identical to off the stone prior to the powder. Really it just looks way better under magnification.
The 8k chamfered and lapped in a minute or two. The lower grit one took awhile because it had more chips around the edges and took a LONG time to stop drinking up the water while I lapped it, the Spyderco took a few minutes to polish up on 1200 paper. I messed around with a beater razor to figure out what I had. Once I was done with the stones I spent a freaking hour working on the leather on the paddle (probably should have just given up on it), finally got to a point I consider usable (though still a bit damaged). I trimmed a lone nick out of the flesh side leather strop underneath it (used for pastes), and rubbed a bit of one of the two powders it had come with (red and white). No idea what it is. Jar is labeled R04050 or something like that. Put on wayyyyy too much (dust was flying everywhere when I stropped. Did 10 passes on that paddle and then about 30 on the leather and looked at it under the scope. From 8k edge to Bullet straight @ 400x like off my jnat without even trying.
The downside?
The edge looks fantastic, but doesn't HHT any better than it did off the 8k. Went to a hanging strop to ensure the paddle wasn't the problem. HHT still virtually identical to off the stone prior to the powder. Really it just looks way better under magnification.
