Valve grinding paste for lapping??

maybe

bill tindall


>the grinding compound is typically silicon carbide. In the coarse grades, say 120 or 220, it crushes easily and i found it useless for coarse grinding. It may work in the very fine sizes where it would be less apt to crush.

Diamond is very cheap. I have used but a small fraction of the $15 tubes I bought 3 years ago. A 5 ml tube appears to be a lifetime supply.

Re: maybe

ThomD


>I have that lawnmower kit too. I find it is a littlr messy, and while SC particels and water or kerosene work fine, and I have heard VGC is good too, I think the loose stuff is better. I have some of the loose stuff that LV has sold at various times. They used to sell a laping plate and about 5 grits, now they just sell one, as far as I can remember.

I'd be more excited if LV would sell the diamond stuff for a reasonable price, then I could join Bill in happy laping and grinding with the diamond paste.

Re: maybe

Robert Tarr


>Maybe...I think diamond is probably the way to go, unless you have some lapping compound on hand. I have used lapping compound for sharpening auger bits, but have even switched to diamond paste for that too...very cheap and clean-up is a snap. I typically drill a hole in a maple block about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep and back out the auger...I then put in a dab of grinding compound (now diamond for me,) making sure to get some in the lead screw hole (if it isn't sharp or is rusty.) I then put my auger back into the hole and run the brace backwards. This works great to hone the cutters. I then run the lead screw in a couple turns and that seams to sharpen up the screw as well.

Not really the answer to your question, but maybe it can help.

Robert (I think I have a sharpening addiction...)

Other options

woodburnbob


>I bought a tube of it some years ago and experimented. Like Bill, I wasn't impressed. There are a few other options besides the little syringes with diamond.

The polishing compound that Tormek sells is pretty good, but quite fine. I don't know what the abrasive is.

Woodcraft sells a white "diamond" polishing bar (like the green ones) with abrasive in wax (for loading buffing wheels). The wax easily dissolves or the bar can be used as a crayon for application to a surface.

For loose coarse grit, I found the largest range and lowest price by searching the Yellow pages for lapidary/rock hound stores. The one I went into here in PDX (out Burnside nearly to 82nd) could have been renamed "The Grit Store" or "The Loose Abrasive Mother Load Store".

Clover compound

woodburnbob


>Yes, I forget to mention traditional Clover compound in the little half pint cans. SIC in grease, it comes in a range of grits. You can get it locally with a little hunting or mail order. Perhaps Woodcraft and the like still carry one or two grits. They used to.

I've been experimenting with Clover and Tormek paste the last week or two. I have some 6" diameter aluminum drops, around 3" thick. I chuck them in my South Bend 9A and face them off. Then put a pea-sized glob of paste on the face. Then distribute the paste around. The turn on the lathe and lightly (or heavily) touch a blade or chisel back to the spinning aluminum (lap) surface. I've also got some cast iron disks and have prepared and tried out one.

When I'm done playing around, and if I learn much, I'll take some photos and post a show and tell...but for now I'm just playing around with this stuff to see what happens.

Re: Other options

Bruce, a MN Galoot


>I use the Tormek paste on a slab of Corian, and I've been very pleased with the results.

Bruce, who is very new to this stropping business.

Re: Other options

Frank D. in Montreal


>Another polishing compound that cuts VERY quickly and leaves a very fine polish is the Flexcut compound. I started using it on my carving tools, but when I saw how fast it cuts (I could actually get quick results by hand on leather, unlike other compounds, not only on a felt wheel) I now use it on any edge tool that I want to give a quick touch-up to.

FWIW

Re: Other options

Michael Brady


>I read somewhere that aluminum plate made a good final surface for honing. I even went to the trouble of having an aluminum "stone" surface ground and dimensioned at a machine shop. I haven't used it in a long time, but I remember that it wore rather quickly and I wasn't in the mood to flatten it by hand. Nortons H2O stones are my choice now.

I was interested in one of David Charlesworth's posts the other day, stating that many of us probably are leaving a wire edge on our blades despite our best intentions. This is due to improperly prepared back sides on irons and chisels. Thus his argument for the "ruler trick" on plane irons (but not chisels, apparently).