Diamond powder?

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clovehitch

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Jan 8, 2018
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Anyone use diamond powder for stropping? I'm seeing good results with budget-friendly pastes so far (3, 1, 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 diamond) on Bass wood and leather. The general consensus seems to be that high quality sprays are the most effective, I just haven't got around to purchasing any yet. For some reason I don't see much discussion on diamond powder.

Would powder not be similar to a spray after it soaks in/dries? Would it not be a good way to increase the concentration of a paste to make it cut more aggressively? And finally, if my goal was more aggressive cutting, is powder an option or should I just quit being a cheapskate and get some good sprays?

Thanks.
 
Hrmmm, haven't tried just the powder, go figure.

I've tried just chromium oxide powder, works better then the waxy based stuff made for buffing wheels.

I'd be curious to try just the powder.

Just do 1 micron though to see if you like it. The coarser stuff loads too fast. The finer stuff needs progression.
 
The powder works great, but I like to use some sort of binder to make it stay put.

I've applied a small amount over the top of regular compound and it works very well. I made some vehicle binder with no abrasive added and sprinkled some ground material from a resin bonded diamond grit jointer sharpening stone - it worked very well.

The compound I make for use with my Washboards has a blend of silicon carbide and diamond powder - about 8-9% of total abrasive weight at 3 micron size, and it makes a big difference on high carbide steel. At that concentration and used for hand stropping/polishing a very small amount will last years. And that is using it on paper and tossing it every few uses.
 
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I decided to give it a try, ordered some 3 micron powder to add to my Tormek PA-70 honing compound, which 20cv mostly seems to laugh at.
 
Here's what works for me: Get 2' paint stirring sticks free from Home Depot. Glue vegetable tanned leather; smooth side up to stick, trimmed to fit. Mix dry lapidary diamond powder with some liquid dish detergent and water. Apply to leather on stick and let dry. Makes a great diamond strop. When surface gets shiny from much use, wipe off with a damp old rag and re-apply. Been doing this for years and works great for my uses.
 
I know of Ken Schwartz, the sharpening guru. I just haven't forked out the money on his products. I might bite the bullet after a few more paychecks. I've heard good things about jende industries' products, and they have reasonable prices on sprays, especially CBN. Handamerican seems hard to find.

Cheap diamond pastes put an unbelievable edge on s30v and s35vn, however 20cv at 62rc is taking way too long for my liking. If the 3 micron powder speeds up the process significantly, I'll likely get more fine powders as well.
 
HeavyHanded said:
The powder works great, but I like to use some sort of binder to make it stay put.

I've applied a small amount over the top of regular compound and it works very well. I made some vehicle binder with no abrasive added and sprinkled some ground material from a resin bonded diamond grit jointer sharpening stone - it worked very well.

The compound I make for use with my Washboards has a blend of silicon carbide and diamond powder - about 8-9% of total abrasive weight at 3 micron size, and it makes a big difference on high carbide steel. At that concentration and used for hand stropping/polishing a very small amount will last years. And that is using it on paper and tossing it every few uses.
Click to expand...
I need to figure out a binder so I can make my own bars of diamond Rouge... Any recommendations? I would like to have something I can use on my leather belts for vanadium carbide steels...
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I need to figure out a binder so I can make my own bars of diamond Rouge... Any recommendations? I would like to have something I can use on my leather belts for vanadium carbide steels...
Click to expand...


The stuff I make is best on paper but also works on my leather belt. It has to be heated outside or under a good ventilation hood or it is unhealthy to breath at melting temps. In use on a belt as it heats up you get a slight odor of pine but other than that is 100% natural and safe. Roughly:
60% beeswax
30% paraffin
10% pine rosin (dancers rosin works great)

The above constitutes 2/5 total weight, so another 3/5 is silicon carbide and diamond dust. If you wanted to make it with just diamond you might add about 10-20% by weight diamonds, one carat = .2 grams

Mine are roughly 12-15% diamond by total weight and that seems to be the sweet spot, at least in conjunction with SiC but I suspect even by itself 20% would be the most you'd have to go.

I whipped up a couple of slugs using the above binder ratio and adding some baking soda to get the rosin to distribute evenly. Applied to paper or leather you can then apply a small amount of whatever powdered binder you want and it stays put very well.
 
clovehitch said:
I know of Ken Schwartz, the sharpening guru. I just haven't forked out the money on his products. I might bite the bullet after a few more paychecks. I've heard good things about jende industries' products, and they have reasonable prices on sprays, especially CBN. Handamerican seems hard to find.

Cheap diamond pastes put an unbelievable edge on s30v and s35vn, however 20cv at 62rc is taking way too long for my liking. If the 3 micron powder speeds up the process significantly, I'll likely get more fine powders as well.
Click to expand...
ken works with Hand America now. he ditched Jende Ind and they still used his videos despite him asking them not to.

ken is adamant about quality. consistent micron size and good amount of abrasives in the substrate.
 
Mo2 said:
ken works with Hand America now. he ditched Jende Ind and they still used his videos despite him asking them not to.

ken is adamant about quality. consistent micron size and good amount of abrasives in the substrate.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of him working with either company. Good to know!
 
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As a Lapidary and a newfound knife nerd allow me to put in my 2 bits...
Whatever you decide to use for your strop material, spray it down with 100% silicone spray. Garage door lubricant, high quality bike chain oil, etc. Sprinkle on your diamond, rub it into the material with a gloved finger...go to town. One charge should last a looooong time. Just hit it with another spritz of your medium before your next project. Make sure you bag it to keep contaminates out.
 
Should work just as well if not better than most compounds, but it won't stay on as well, hence the compound part. I'm interested to see your results. I usually mix my dried up soviet era diamond compound with sewing machine oil so rather than flaking off it soaks into the leather real nice. I've got a clean strop I might experiment with, but finding industrial diamonds in small quantities could prove difficult.
 
I have used diamond powder on leather and mixed it with water to then put on the leather. Without a carrier it is hard to not put too much on, you barely want any, so the water works well but it causes the leather to move around more, as in shrink and curl the edges, on my strops. Probably wood would be a good choice as the water wouldn't mess with it as much.

It is interesting how aggressive a leather strop loaded with diamond powder is, and how uniform the scratch pattern is. It is also the best way I know of to sharpen ceramic knives. It works as fast as a stone but doesn't cause any microchipping.
 
Can’t you blend the diamond paste in wax and just use that? Melt the wax in a pot on your stove. Add diamond paste. Stir. Pour out and let cool. ?
 
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