Diamond paste

[Chris Vandiver]

I am looking for a good source of diamond paste for use on a kanaban(steel plate)for flattening purposes. Anyone have a supplier they would recommend?

Thanks

[David Weaver]

If you're open to using powder (much cheaper) for the coarser grits instead of paste, I would look into a supplier named yuriy06 on ebay, I think that's his user name.

Last I checked, 100 carats of powder was about $25. That is an incredible amount of diamond powder, and if you're charging mild steel or cast iron sparingly, as you should with a kanaban, using the grit that's already in the plate for a long time, you may not go through it in a lifetime.

I like norton's paste for the polishing grit, but any reputable lapidary shop should be fine. I'm not sure I trust the inexpensive powders enough to go by their grit claims unless they actually describe it by micron size. I have some norton paste (and it is very fine cutting) and some loose powder that was claimed as 60,000 grit, and I'm not sure I believe the 60k grit powder - it is still very aggressive.

(i did not buy my fine powder from this yuriy guy, i see he lists what appears to be micron size, and he has 0-0.25 micron and 0-0.5 micron graded diamond powder, and about $20 shipped for 50 carats, I guess it wouldn't kill anyone to try it since a grit size is given with it).

[Tony Shea]

I've also gone the kanaban with loose diamond grit as per David'd reccomendation and have been very pleased with the results. I also went through yuriy06 on the bay and he has been a very reputable dealer of loose diamonds. Shipment is always very prompt and price is very reasonable for the amount of diamonds. I started out using the a batch of 80 grit diamond poweder and decided was too aggressive. I moved up to 100grit for heavy lapping and am much happier as diamonds cut deep. You prob could get away with 120grit as it takes longer to remove the scratches than it does to flatten the blade. Just apply some oil and sprinkle a very sparingly amount of diamonds and your good to go.

I've never been able to come up with a supplier of such coarse diamonds in paste form for flattening purposes.

[Jim Koepke]

I've never been able to come up with a supplier of such coarse diamonds in paste form for flattening purposes.

I am following this thread with interest. I have not tried loose diamonds or paste as of yet.

My question is about the paste. Is it just a carrier or lubricant for the loose diamonds?

Could one come up with their own media for a paste?

jtk

[David Weaver]

It's a carrier and a lubricant. You can use anything as the lubricant, though, choosing the viscosity based on how aggressive you want the diamonds to be.

I use Wd40 on 100 grit diamonds, it works well.

As tony says, they cut *deep*, much like the first narrow and deep scratches you'd get with a new sheet of norton 3x, except they keep that keen deep cutting behavior.

100 grit seems to be just about ideal for removing the pits from old tools, as long as the surface that it's being used on is flat, and especially if you have a gizmo to put a lot of pressure on the surface being lapped.

Coarse grits will wear the kanaban a little bit, so it's nice to lap it from time to time (that may only be once a year or so depending on how much it's used, but I have over time worn mine hollow a little, and the more it wears, the more work that you have to do on a later stone to get scratches all the way to the edge - something undesirable).

[Tony Shea]

Yikes David, I was wondering about that very thing the last time I was flattening a wide chisel. What stone are you lapping your plates on? Seems like a bit of a daunting task even if the kanaban is somewhat soft metal. Brings me back to the last time I lapped a plane sole flat, not something I care to do more than absolutely neccessary.

[David Weaver]

42 inch long glass reference plate - stick down 80 grit and then 220 grit paper.

Longer makes it easier as long as there is somewhere flat to put the glass on (if your bench is very flat, that's a good place to put it, you can put paper on the bench top if you're worried about the swarf).

I haven't done it yet with the kanaban, but I have lapped a LOT of planes on it and scratch made infill planes (O1 steel) and lapped them on it. Mild steel is a bit gummy feeling on the paper (on an infill plane), but lapping the kanaban shouldn't be too hard because it's not very big in surface area like a large plane would be. If you recall from lapping, to work on a #7 is more than twice as hard as working on a #5, which itself has much more area than the kanaban even if cast iron is a bit easier to lap. I'm thinking it won't be that hard, but I can verify afterwards. It will probably ruin the paper.

I have an old delta jointer that I got a long time ago that I think is going to be sacrificed to the gods of sharpening. It's one with the fixed tables like the craftsman jointer that's all over craigslist, and I think the cast tables cut down for lapping are worth more than the jointer is worth (I would assume the jointer is worth about $75). In terms of being a useful machine as-is, it is a turd with a capital T.