06-14-2017, 11:35 AM
Hi Mr. Grepper, sorry for my absence. I've been on the road since I left for the Blade Show, with a circuitous but very successful return trip!
As usual, Mr. Pete has given much good information. I agree that fine CBN is non-aggressive, and great for burr removal.
I haven't used the rough side of a belt in ages either. It just never seemed to work as well, and it takes way too much compound.
The least aggressive compound I use is 1u boron carbide. I use it specifically to deburr soft stainless, which it does like magic.
You are going to find that compounds work much differently on powered equipment than on hones. That's why I spoke of using no pressure and/or stropping on a stationary belt or hone. That's where the most aggressive compounds shine.
During my recent trip, I got to spend some time with Mr. and Mrs. Rupert Lucious. I'm not fond of the southern weather, but I can put up with anything to spend time with them. Of course Mr. Rupert got one of the hones I recently sent out, and we made a poignant discovery with it.
As we were having lunch, I grabbed a few regular paper wrapped drinking straws. Mrs. Lucious is well used to sharp knives, of course. She spent a few minutes reading the edge on my pocket knife. The S35VN blade wasn't very sharp by her standards. It could slice through the paper sheath ok, but it didn't want to bite into the plastic straw without a little effort.
When we got back to the house, we got out the hone I'd sent Mr. Rupert. First we looked at the surface of the hone with one of the AWESOME 10x magnifiers Mr. Rupert has recently discovered. (I can't imagine a better magnifier for the money!)
I could easily see that Mr. Rupert had spent a good bit of time in the driver's seat. The diamonds weren't easy to see due to significant loading and low magnification, but we could still see some diamonds sparkling, which relieved much of my concern that all the diamonds had fallen off during shipping.
There's good reason for the popularity of S35VN . It's pretty hard and very wear resistant with it's high concentration of vanadium carbides. I gave the blade a measly half dozen strokes per side, just to see how much, if any difference that would make, and handed the knife to Mrs. Lucious. I did not want to sway her judgement in the least. She spent the same amount of time retesting the blade.
Surprise! The blade easily bit through the paper and the plastic straw! The difference was remarkable. The blade really didn't feel sharper, and it didn't shave arm hair any better, but I could hardly ask for better performance than 16u (1,000 grit) poly diamond on a leather hone.
JMHO, but that's why I've been using coarse poly diamond instead of finer compounds. I'm sure I could remove any burr with fine CBN on a belt, then give it some tooth and maintain the edge on a hone.
YMMV
As usual, Mr. Pete has given much good information. I agree that fine CBN is non-aggressive, and great for burr removal.
I haven't used the rough side of a belt in ages either. It just never seemed to work as well, and it takes way too much compound.
The least aggressive compound I use is 1u boron carbide. I use it specifically to deburr soft stainless, which it does like magic.
You are going to find that compounds work much differently on powered equipment than on hones. That's why I spoke of using no pressure and/or stropping on a stationary belt or hone. That's where the most aggressive compounds shine.
During my recent trip, I got to spend some time with Mr. and Mrs. Rupert Lucious. I'm not fond of the southern weather, but I can put up with anything to spend time with them. Of course Mr. Rupert got one of the hones I recently sent out, and we made a poignant discovery with it.
As we were having lunch, I grabbed a few regular paper wrapped drinking straws. Mrs. Lucious is well used to sharp knives, of course. She spent a few minutes reading the edge on my pocket knife. The S35VN blade wasn't very sharp by her standards. It could slice through the paper sheath ok, but it didn't want to bite into the plastic straw without a little effort.
When we got back to the house, we got out the hone I'd sent Mr. Rupert. First we looked at the surface of the hone with one of the AWESOME 10x magnifiers Mr. Rupert has recently discovered. (I can't imagine a better magnifier for the money!)
I could easily see that Mr. Rupert had spent a good bit of time in the driver's seat. The diamonds weren't easy to see due to significant loading and low magnification, but we could still see some diamonds sparkling, which relieved much of my concern that all the diamonds had fallen off during shipping.
There's good reason for the popularity of S35VN . It's pretty hard and very wear resistant with it's high concentration of vanadium carbides. I gave the blade a measly half dozen strokes per side, just to see how much, if any difference that would make, and handed the knife to Mrs. Lucious. I did not want to sway her judgement in the least. She spent the same amount of time retesting the blade.
Surprise! The blade easily bit through the paper and the plastic straw! The difference was remarkable. The blade really didn't feel sharper, and it didn't shave arm hair any better, but I could hardly ask for better performance than 16u (1,000 grit) poly diamond on a leather hone.
JMHO, but that's why I've been using coarse poly diamond instead of finer compounds. I'm sure I could remove any burr with fine CBN on a belt, then give it some tooth and maintain the edge on a hone.
YMMV