Diamond Paste

[David Weaver]

Flattening on sandpaper, if you're careful to avoid buckling and pay attention to technique, is totally fine for both planes and chisels. I'd still prefer to do the final laps on a fixed diamond stone—not the entire back, though—just near the edge.

Yeah, me too on finishing the back with something more firm. The PSA roll paper (I've been getting mirka gold for about 5 or 6 years, or whatever they've branded their premium al-ox) is forgiving because you can lap on it like a stone and it has enough adhesive that it will never buckle. Same with 3x if there's enough goop under it to make sure absolutely none of it moves.

But the stone is still more precise and a more logical next step after 100 or 200 grit sandpaper (or more preferably, 100 grit sandpaper that has been worn to the latter in use).

[Kees Heiden]

I really want to get away from sandpaper on glass. I can't find the psa stuff and using sprayglue is a pain. I also always dub the corners.

[Jack Curtis]

...Just using the stuff will probably learn me more then reading more about it on the forums.

That's for sure, just put a foot down on the circle somewhere and get started. It's lots more fun than spending your days engaging in a plethora of petty prattle (your English lesson for today ).

[Andrew Bell]

There was some talk about using loose diamonds because of the quality assurance and price. I was wondering if its possible to make your own diamond spray or crayon from the loose diamond powder? Also is it possible to create your own crox spray / crayon from the raw ingredient? This feels easier to get even distribution than using a finger.... Thanks

[Chris Griggs]

There was some talk about using loose diamonds because of the quality assurance and price. I was wondering if its possible to make your own diamond spray or crayon from the loose diamond powder? Also is it possible to create your own crox spray / crayon from the raw ingredient? This feels easier to get even distribution than using a finger.... Thanks

I can't speak for diamond but I've been mixing my CrOx powder with mineral oil and make a paste when I spread it on my strops. I don't see why you couldn't mix it with some mix of wax and oil and make sorta a soft crayon. I'd rather just use it as a powder or paste though. I've only been working with pure CrOx for a couple weeks though so either of the Dave's can probably give you a better answer.

[David Weaver]

You could make your own crayon with beeswax, or you could make a paste with beeswax and mineral oil or just mineral oil.

I wouldn't want to spray diamonds around in my shop, and a distribution as even as a spray provides is probably only necessary on razor strops.

Someone makes the various chromium oxide powders, I can't remember their name, but they have varying levels of other things in the powders, some much more pure chromium oxide than others. If I could remember the name, you could just look theirs up.

The stuff that's sold to razor folks is back and forth between being the most expensive when compared to woodworking retailers, and the only pure crayon that I've seen is one marketed by thiers issard, and it's expensive.

You can pave the way with the crayons, though, if you'd like. If I were going to do a crayon with diamonds, it would be closer to a paste with mostly oil and very little beeswax. If chromium oxide, I guess you could balance between carnauba wax, beeswax depending on how hard you want it to be (like if you want to apply it to a buffing wheel).

I wouldn't bother with any of it, though, other than maybe making a mineral oil based paste with the chromium oxide.

For diamonds, the easy way to use them is to put your finger in the baggie they're in, dry, and you'll get a tiny amount sticking to your finger. Just smoosh your finger around like you're sprinkling salt over your substrate and it will end up pretty even. It should all end up on the substrate that way, too.

[Chris Griggs]

Someone makes the various chromium oxide powders, I can't remember their name, but they have varying levels of other things in the powders, some much more pure chromium oxide than others. If I could remember the name, you could just look theirs up.

Hand American, I believe is who you're thinking of.

This place has the best pricing I've found on the stuff.

http://shop.starshaving.com/category...2?categoryId=8

As much as I typically like Chef Knives To Go, the folks who sell this stuff through them (IIRC its Ken Schwarz) put like a 100% mark-up on it.

[David Weaver]

Formax is the name of the company. Though I don't see anything they have that's green chromium oxide that's not blended with aluminum oxide. That said, I can't think of anything that needs to be sharper than the crayon shown here will make, it definitely steps up the edge off of every stone I've used, even if it's not as pure as chromium oxide powder.

http://www.formaxmfg.com/individually-boxed--labeled

They could be contacted, I guess, but it's a matter of chasing something not needed. I just don't think the effort to make pastes is probably worth it, anyway, unless it's chromium oxide in mineral oil (that wouldn't take much effort).

Yeah, CKTG's stuff that includes Ken Schwartz has prices that don't make sense to me. It may be that too many people need a slice of each transaction. Most of the posturing between the different retailers trying to convince you that you need to spend GOBS of money for something they just repackaged (you know, pictures of each others diamonds and claims about particles sticking togehter, etc) make no sense to me when you can get cheap pigments and cheap loose diamonds.

[Chris Griggs]

Most of the posturing between the different retailers trying to convince you that you need to spend GOBS of money for something they just repackaged (you know, pictures of each others diamonds and claims about particles sticking togehter, etc) make no sense to me when you can get cheap pigments and cheap loose diamonds.

Yeah, as you know the pigment suppliers is a new discovery for me. Some of the razor guys get their CrOx from here. 100 grams .3 micron CrOx for under $8... As Dave already knows, there are other finer pigments you can purchase from this place as well but its stupid overkill for tools. Pigments get into levels of sharpness that are probably a total waste of time on tools (unless maybe your carving and paring spruce all day), but they are fun to mess with and as Dave has said before and I now understand, if you shave with a straight you can feel the difference on your face.

[Glenn Vaughn]

It looks like the beauty of diamonds hasn't quite reached the Dutch shores yet. I can't find anyone supplying these.

How about silicum carbide? That stuff is cheap and very easy to get.

I did find a mild steel plate in the shop, but am afraid it is far from flat. So just to be sure I'll order the Veritas one.

I have purchased from http://www.diamondtech.com/products/...rice_list.html - grits from 60 to 60,000. No problem with the company but customs in the USA made me jump throu hoops.

[Andrew Bell]

I have purchased from http://www.diamondtech.com/products/...rice_list.html - grits from 60 to 60,000. No problem with the company but customs in the USA made me jump throu hoops.

Thanks for the link and all the other comments above; I think I'll just use mineral oil and the loose on the fingers approach in my experimentation, I had just assumed that the sprays / creams / pastes / crayons served a more practical purpose, the general consensus is that they dont so as I'd rther spend my time woodworking I'll leave it for now.

[David Weaver]

Crayons are handy for applying compound to a power buffer, not so great for much else unless they're really soft.

Sprays are popular for soft strops where the diamond basically stays where it lands. You won't be bound by that.

[Metod Alif]

My idea is similar to yours. I just got some diamond powder two days ago. Mixed a pinch with a few drops of WD-40. I used an old (clean) artists brush an painted a thin film on a plate. I keep what's left of the batch for future applications. It works fine. Would a commercial paste work better? I don't know.
Best wishes,
Metod

[Andrew Bell]

I was wondering if anyone has tried embedding the diamonds in an old cabinet scraper for sharpening? Some of us are unable to source an old plane body and don't want to use mdf.

[David Weaver]

You don't want something that hard. Pick anything made of mild steel or cast iron.