Hey fellas, I picked up a couple nice Washitas for next to nothing a while back and in the course of playing around with them discovered that they cut quite nicely and very quickly on water using a slurry generated with a diamond plate. In testing with a chisel I have used slurry made with a 400 grit plate and a 1200 grit plate now. Both cut ridiculously fast, and the 1200 plate gives a pretty darn good finish actually. Going to straight water after the slurry work (the stone has been smoothed a LOT at this point) looks like it might produce a decent edge. I figured I'd start this thread in case anyone wanted to follow along. If nothing else, it seems like this technique might make for a very nice natural intermediate stone in a progression. The speed of cut is literally almost shocking. The slurry darkens in seconds. I will be starting further testing soon on a razor.
Washita as water stone experiments
- Thread starter eKretz
- Start date
I used my LLW with water and I got a decent/good edge from it. Nice stone, but mine is sorta small.
I did this a while back just playing around. My stone with slurry isn't as fast as you describe, but it set the bevel quite well. One thing that surprised me was that it didnt load at all with the water and slurry, even when I used pressure. Cool experiment.
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- #4
Started playing with testing on a razor, cuts fast as all get out in the beginning but slows down significantly after about 30 laps. Seems to act just like the stone when used with oil really, cuts very aggressively when freshly lapped but then slows down quite a bit unless pressure is used. This was with a 1200 surface lap and 1200 slurry. Here's a photo of the slurry darkening in only 30 eraser pressure (light to medium) laps. The slurry started out pure bright white. Those 30 laps nearly erased the scratch marks from a 325 DMT though! After this the slurry darkened much more slowly.
If the slurry is regenerated every 30 laps it will cut quick but that's a pain. Next I want to try a 400 surface lap with 400 slurry and see if it will gradually smooth out.
If the slurry is regenerated every 30 laps it will cut quick but that's a pain. Next I want to try a 400 surface lap with 400 slurry and see if it will gradually smooth out.
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- #5
Oh man. I think I'm seeing why nobody does this on a razor at least, heh. I tried a few more trials on the razor with different slurry consistency and surface lapping, etc. Seems like most every combination results in serious apex damage once I look at the edge under the scope. Some combinations it's even visible with a 10x loupe. I'm talking BIG chips and major convexing.
Going to try a few more things and see what I can figure out but not looking real good. It's looking like the slurry dulling happens no matter what combo I use. I'm guessing it's due to the fact that the stones are so homogenously composed of silica - it's basically like scrubbing two pieces of sandpaper together - rapidly dulling the slurry abrasive as well as the stone surface.
Other stones that work better on slurry have some buffer since they have weaker binder materials so that the silica isn't constantly scrubbing against other silica - and also they can pull more silica particles out of the matrix of the stone, keeping things cutting faster longer. The novaculite stones are extremely stingy at letting slurry loose even with a diamond plate. I'm pretty sure none is coming loose during slurry honing.
Going to try a few more things and see what I can figure out but not looking real good. It's looking like the slurry dulling happens no matter what combo I use. I'm guessing it's due to the fact that the stones are so homogenously composed of silica - it's basically like scrubbing two pieces of sandpaper together - rapidly dulling the slurry abrasive as well as the stone surface.
Other stones that work better on slurry have some buffer since they have weaker binder materials so that the silica isn't constantly scrubbing against other silica - and also they can pull more silica particles out of the matrix of the stone, keeping things cutting faster longer. The novaculite stones are extremely stingy at letting slurry loose even with a diamond plate. I'm pretty sure none is coming loose during slurry honing.
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I don't know that I'd want to slurry any type of stone like that.
Might try stropping strokes - the old manuals suggested that when using a Washita, spine leading work helped to reduce edge annihilation.
Might try stropping strokes - the old manuals suggested that when using a Washita, spine leading work helped to reduce edge annihilation.
- Thread starter
- #7
That's an interesting thought, I'll try it. I wanted to slurry it because of the wicked cutting speed. If it weren't for the edge damage it would have made for a killer bevel setter or intermediate. On a related note, I did some pretty involved testing for cutting speed on a bunch of my stones today and one of my found slates is outstandingly fast on a worn 400 Atoma slurry. Switch to a 1200 slurry or rubbing stone slurry and it puts on a pretty darn respectable edge as well. I recently got a little Frankonian bout from Peter and it's faster on both slurries than the Frankonian.
My only suggestion is to breadknife the blade after using a slurry to set the bevel. Clear the stone and use oil to make the finish. When the blade cuts arm hairs go to a crox strop. Clean and use a clean linen followed by a clean leather to strop (allow a modicum of slack in the clean strops). The blade should sever hairs using the HHT cleanly and silently. Shave.
Chris
Chris
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