Honing w diamond paste

[David Ragan]

Happy Thanksgiving,

Am away from home w the chosen activity of.......carving.

Have taken on the activity of now trying to hone my chip carving knife:

First, the diamond paste-

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Now, the relatively flat basswood strip:

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The thing is....I suck @ this-am not able to get an edge. Finally, I am trying to just pull the knife along, consistently-giving just an edge of polish as below:

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I guess the knife is lifted about 20*; obviously, this has no jig, so I'm SOL there.

My chosen grits are 40, 20, 5 and 0.5 micron; I sure would like it if this basswood strip thing worked, as I brought a bunch to customize for some gouges, etc also.

Any ideas beside practice, practice, practice?

Thanks, D

[Vincent Tai]

I don't use diamond paste for sharpening and am not very experienced and knowledgable about it but basswood seems like a poor substrate for paste. Some sort of cast iron or steel plate thats flat is more suitable. Works for hand lapping. LV sells some sort of steel plate for diamond paste (not the lapping plate) and its not too expensive and it's accurate. I don't see the basswood being able to stand up to any sort of pressure. And maybe the diamonds will sink too well into the basswood, you'd be wasting the diamonds if they just go into the wood and don't touch the steel. From the photos it seems like more diamond paste is being used then necessary if using a metal substrate. Though it's been a long time since I touched diamond paste so I am a little unsure. Perhaps the cost of the steel can be offset by some paste saved and the paste actually sharpening your tools. And maybe some old cast iron parts or tools can become the substrate for free.

Vincent

[David Ragan]

I think you nailed it Vincent

The diamonds sink right into the soft basswood. Dang

Good thing have back up diamond stones, and couple gouge stones

[Bruce Haugen]

I use diamond paste on cast iron and it works great. The grits I use are 15 for serious angle fixing, 3 and 1 for real finishing. For changing the angle on my carving knife, my carving friend suggested I use 400 grit w/d paper. I did and it worked very well.

[Vincent Tai]

I think you nailed it Vincent

The diamonds sink right into the soft basswood. Dang

Good thing have back up diamond stones, and couple gouge stones

Keep the basswood with the finest diamonds around; in the knife and straight razor world it is a popular stropping method. Can't hurt to try now. Just no heavy pressure though.

[David Ragan]

I also have rather thick and thin Tandy leather- the diamond paste will work on leather right?

[Bruce Haugen]

It might work, but I don’t think it would be as effective. It also might dub the edges. Try the diamond on a piece of mdf.

[Bob Glenn]

David, I have played around with chip carving a bit, but I am by no means an expert. However, it is my understanding that you are sharpening your chip carving knife incorrectly. According to what I've read you should not be raising the knife up off the sharpening surface at all. I believe I can see a plane of reflected light off the edge of your knife blade. That should not be there. There should be no bevel on either side of the blade. Each side of the blade should be one flat plane that meets the other side at the edge. Looking at your picture, you are going to have some serious reshaping of the blade faces to accomplish this, then hone perfectly flat on each side. I agree with the above advice on substrate, you don't want to dub the edge. Good luck and let us know how this turns out.

[Bruce Haugen]

David, I have played around with chip carving a bit, but I am by no means an expert. However, it is my understanding that you are sharpening your chip carving knife incorrectly. According to what I've read you should not be raising the knife up off the sharpening surface at all.

I couldn’t get my chip carving knife to work worth a hoot until my carving buddy clued me in to what you described. I reshaped the blade so there was no bevel at the edge, IOW, a flat plane from the back of the knife to the edge. It makes for a thin, very sharp knife.

[David Ragan]

I couldn’t get my chip carving knife to work worth a hoot until my carving buddy clued me in to what you described. I reshaped the blade so there was no bevel at the edge, IOW, a flat plane from the back of the knife to the edge. It makes for a thin, very sharp knife.

For the chip knife.....I haven't done that type of work yet.....the knife just needed sharpening.

But what you describe, proper or not, means that every time you hone/sharpen-the entire side of the bevel is done. Izzat how it is done? Why?

For the original topic, I made leather strop of Tormek paste, and it worked great.

However, I was very disappointed in the DMT plates in the picture, I rubbed off all the diamonds across the end...the black (60u?) one.

That DMT plate is about 10 years old, but has not seen much use.

I looked at some literature, thinking seeing "Lifetime Guarantee" would be nice to see (True); but no such guarantee is seen.

[Bruce Haugen]

For the chip knife.....I haven't done that type of work yet.....the knife just needed sharpening.

But what you describe, proper or not, means that every time you hone/sharpen-the entire side of the bevel is done. Izzat how it is done? Why?

For the original topic, I made leather strop of Tormek paste, and it worked great.

However, I was very disappointed in the DMT plates in the picture, I rubbed off all the diamonds across the end...the black (60u?) one.

That DMT plate is about 10 years old, but has not seen much use.

I looked at some literature, thinking seeing "Lifetime Guarantee" would be nice to see (True); but no such guarantee is seen.

Chip carvers sharpen the whole thing because any other angle is too blunt. As a regular hone/strop, I use either a piece of maple or MDF with green compound. Works great.

I know nothing about DMT plates, I use cast iron.

[John K Jordan]

David,

I have sharpened my chip carving knives several ways.

I like this the best: http://mychipcarving.com/product_info.php/sharpening-kit-p-77

The video on that page shows the sharpening method. The same method should work with your diamond paste-on-basswood
I think this is the same video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmUn2EXLocs

JKJ

[David Ragan]

Chip carvers sharpen the whole thing because any other angle is too blunt. As a regular hone/strop, I use either a piece of maple or MDF with green compound. Works great.

I know nothing about DMT plates, I use cast iron.


This method has great appeal-how does one do it cheap?

[Bruce Haugen]

This method has great appeal-how does one do it cheap?

I did it with w/d 400 grit sandpaper. It only took a sheet or two.

[David Ragan]

Bruce, I meant to ask how where does one get cast iron and then you have to take to machine shop for sizing and flattening, right?

eBay to find it, like old planes, or how about buying a cheap CI skillet.....and have it sized and ground-izzat metal the correct kind?

[Bruce Haugen]

I worked in a plant that tore down a huge engine (3,500 hp diesel). I got one of the port covers. I’d suggest a scrap yard. Or you can look for something called dura-bar or grey cast iron. A local community college with a machinist program surface ground my plate for free, as practice for their students. I also have a chunk of a cast iron bathtub that works just as well.

I know of people who use mild steel, too.