Diamond Stropping Compound - any good?

B

Barmaley

Joined
Dec 31, 2016
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220
Hello,

I use Sharpal 162N with great success for my kitchen knives. Twice a week I do 2-3 strokes on fine side of my already sharp knives to keep them sharp (I think I use it instead of a ceramic sharpening rod). However, the grit of the stone is 1200. I guess I am missing on extra sharpness since I don't have a 3000 stone; I don't want to buy junk and don't want to invest a lot. I am thinking about buying diamond paste since one of my knives is m390 which need diamonds only for sharpening. Will this Venev Diamond Stropping Compound do the work if I strop and what grit I need to buy? I found it on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Venev-Diamon...prefix=diamond+compound+,aps,160&sr=8-27&th=1

Thank you in advance
 
It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that sprays work better. The less gunky filler there is in a compound the better also just cakes up the leather. I used stuff like this in the past for finishing blades but I don't use on leather for stroping for the above reasons.
Barmaley said:
Hello,

I use Sharpal 162N with great success for my kitchen knives. Twice a week I do 2-3 strokes on fine side of my already sharp knives to keep them sharp (I think I use it instead of a ceramic sharpening rod). However, the grit of the stone is 1200. I guess I am missing on extra sharpness since I don't have a 3000 stone; I don't want to buy junk and don't want to invest a lot. I am thinking about buying diamond paste since one of my knives is m390 which need diamonds only for sharpening. Will this Venev Diamond Stropping Compound do the work if I strop and what grit I need to buy? I found it on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Venev-Diamond-Stropping-Compound-micron/dp/B07B8RTQJT/ref=sr_1_27?crid=6BGP7PRICMPG&dchild=1&keywords=diamond+compound+paste&qid=1602884354&sprefix=diamond+compound+,aps,160&sr=8-27&th=1

Thank you in advance
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It's great stuff, but I agree it's not for leather. Balsa works, though. Keep the coating very light, and rub it in hard. I wear a nitrile glove when doing that, because I don't want diamonds abrading my circulatory system. Might be good for plaque in the arteries, I suppose, but you'd have to regard it as not properly tested.
 
I should mention that a lot of people say that a great way to experiment with grits you don't have in stones, on a budget, is to buy some lapping films and experiment.

As for grit on these, 8 micron is a nice grit for kitchen knives, and you could get some 4 micron.
 
3M offers diamond lapping film anywhere from 30 micron to .5 micron. Good stuff.

I've used, and been well satisfied with 6 micron, 3 micron and 1 micron.
 
I have three tubes of DMT diamond sprays (6mu, 3mu, and 1mu). They are very effective for the first few uses but after a while, the strops do not seem to be as effective, so I'd have to clean them and reapply. I feel the green extra buffing compound that is much less expensive can get the same work done.
 
What kind of steel is your kitchen knife and what do you do to it that you need diamond on it twice a week?
 
UncleBoots said:
It's great stuff, but I agree it's not for leather. Balsa works, though. Keep the coating very light, and rub it in hard. I wear a nitrile glove when doing that, because I don't want diamonds abrading my circulatory system. Might be good for plaque in the arteries, I suppose, but you'd have to regard it as not properly tested.
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Gloves? I have just been rubbing it in with my finger tip. Are you saying the diamonds are going to work through the callouses on my finger, be small enough to get into the capillaries at the fingertip and then from there move throughout the circulatory system?
 
c7m2p3 said:
Gloves? I have just been rubbing it in with my finger tip. Are you saying the diamonds are going to work through the callouses on my finger, be small enough to get into the capillaries at the fingertip and then from there move throughout the circulatory system?
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I was saying exactly that, but as a joke, making fun of my own caution. I have no idea whether it's a real risk. Probably not. But nitrile gloves are cheap, so why not use one here?
 
UncleBoots said:
I was saying exactly that, but as a joke, making fun of my own caution. I have no idea whether it's a real risk. Probably not. But nitrile gloves are cheap, so why not use one here?
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Totally fair. Im used to just getting my hands dirty and since im not sharpening my blades with any kind of respirator on and I would figure that metal and diamond particles in the air would be far more dangerous than anything coming through my skin I guess I never even thought of it.
 
Ourorboros said:
What kind of steel is your kitchen knife and what do you do to it that you need diamond on it twice a week?
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All my knive's steel are pretty ordinary like VG10 and Cromova and a few german steel like henkels' knives and I can strop them on Flexcut Gold yellow compound. But one knife is M390 chef knife which I understand has carbides which can be only cut by diamonds. It is getting pretty sharp on diamond plate 1200 grit but I feel its sharpness could be improved. Can I assume that 3000 grit is all I need for razor sharp blades? I don't care if my blades are polished and shiny, I am after sharpness, not the look.
It is not that I diamond twice a week but I use is instead of sharpening steel. I found that two or three very light strokes every few days keep knives very sharp and since the stone does not need soaking it is a very practical solution to keep it in the kitchen on a countertop.

sharp_edge said:
I have three tubes of DMT diamond sprays (6mu, 3mu, and 1mu). They are very effective for the first few uses but after a while, the strops do not seem to be as effective, so I'd have to clean them and reapply. I feel the green extra buffing compound that is much less expensive can get the same work done.
Click to expand...
Is there such thing is 3000 diamond stone at a reasonable price and will it be cheaper on a long run to use the stone than spray on a strop? I never get a chance to try anything finer than 1000 grit and would like to know what should I expect.

As I looked at amazon lapping films are aluminum oxide and not diamond and not cheap as well. There are some wetstones under $20 on Amazon. Are they OK or I need to go to $80 category to get something worth money if I want to but a stone to VG10 steels?
 
I just bought the Vene 3micron lip Blam container and put it on a smoth leather strop. I bought this one because it was cheap enough to experiment. Two weeks ago I pulled out my cold Steel code 4 in s35vn and the edge suddenly has several areas chipped. The dmt plates got it very sharp with but not shaving sharp. I stooped it with both white and green compound I put the diamond compound on and stoped about 10 times per side. Now it is shaving sharp. I am assuming there was a small bur I could not see or feel.

Long story short it worked the first time I used it.
 
I googled but could not find any good match for Vene 3 micron lip balm. Could you please send us a link?
 
PSX_20201101_121024.jpg PSX_20201101_120936.jpg . I bought it on the big South American river web site. I tried posting a picture with m iPad but it was too blurry. Will try again later when my phone is charged. Alonso it was Venev by gritomatic
 
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I know everyone has their favorites, but honestly I've had excellent results with a dozen different diamond and CBN sprays and pastes.

Everyone I've used works well.:thumbsup:
 
Ben Dover said:
I know everyone has their favorites, but honestly I've had excellent results with a dozen different diamond and CBN sprays and pastes.

Everyone I've used works well.:thumbsup:
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I could not agree more. I just posted my results of the only one I have tried so far.
 
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