Sharp enough with Extra Fine, or is XX Fine better?
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Tools and Tool Maintenance/Restoration / Sharp enough with Extra Fine, or is XX Fine better?
I bought a DMT bench stone that has Fine on a side and Extra Fine on the other. I follow with a strop with jeweler’s rouge. Do you all think that is enough, or would you also get the Extra Extra Fine, and then follow with the strop? I guess what I am asking is if that would get my edges sharper?
Also, I have been using glass cleaner, but with that kind of stone don’t really know if it is necessary.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
As someone who owns all three stones you have, my feeling is that no, it does not make for a sharper cutting edge. I’ve done my own unofficial tests 🙂 and I was hard pressed to notice any difference in the edge. I would say don’t bother with the XXF stone.
About the only thing I notice is that the XXF stone is pretty good at removing the burr, reducing stropping time.
I’m not sure what jeweler’s rogue is like, but I’d say just use tried-n-true “green” compound. I used to use Flexcut Gold, but I felt that it did not really cut fast enough. I switched to the Lee Valley green stuff and it feels noticeably more aggressive. Not overly so, but just right. I feel like this compound really completes the edge, more so than either the Flexcut Gold or the XXF stone. Only my 2 cents.
Thanks – this is good to know. The jeweler’s stuff is what came in the Ryobi Polisher a put on my bench grinder. I have some of the flexcut compound as well, but have never used it. I just strop my flexcut knives with the jeweler’s rouge. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I didn’t think it would when you go to stropping – I guess unless you were into some really, really fine instrument making or something like that.