Reply To: Diamond grits
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@smassiesr I tried the 3 micron plate because I find that the strop does not give me as much as I get from my old waterstones. In other words, if I go from the EZE lap coarse/fine/superfine sequence to my 6000 or 10000 Japanese stones, I have better cutting than when I just go to the strop with green Lee Valley compound. Usually, this extra refinement does not matter, but sometimes it does. I had noticed that a ceramic stone that I use for chip carving, which is supposed to be around 3 microns, brought me to a better edge after the superfine then when I just went to the strop, but that stone is only about 2″x4″. So, I tried the DMT 3 micron plate.
I find the strop does not give me a mirror finish unless I put in a lot of work on the strop. Maybe I’m not getting the scratches out from the coarser grits? Not sure. Personally, I think the jump from superfine (around 10 micron) to compound (0.5 micron) is a big jump. For pine and oak, it does not matter and I can just use the strop, but as I play with maple and some trickier things, it does seem to matter.
Right now, if it weren’t for the need to flatten the stone (which I have little patience for), I’d go from the superfine to the 10000 grit waterstone. The stone is faster than the strop and gives a better edge. The grit size is a bit under a micron, which is comparable to the Lee Valley green compound. The only reason to flatten the waterstone is that I still put the back of the iron on it. Paper could be used for that, but then the whole thing is getting to be a bit fussy.
It’s funny…I used to sharpen without fuss and was happy. Then I started playing with maple and wasn’t happy with my sharpening, so I adjusted my technique, and now am turning most things into screwdrivers. It will get better than what I was doing originally, I’m sure, but it may take a blood sacrifice to appease the sharpening gods.