Diamond Dust

[1911maker]

I've heard that once you have your graver/chisel cut to the desired angles, all that is required to maintain its sharpness is leather with diamond dust/powder sprinkled on it.

If true, where are you getting your diamond dust from? I looked at eBay and found all sorts of diamond dust gradients. Which type should I use?

Thanks!

 

[sam]

Dimond powder on eBay. Get 50,000 mesh or .5 micron.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

I happen to have 1 micron synthetic diamond powder which is more than fine enough & works.

 

[Brian Marshall]

A bit of oil or Vaseline on the leather helps it to stay put. Don't saturate it.

You want the hardest skirting or sole leather you can find. Not some soft suede...

Well worn stirrup leathers are my favorite. If you are around a saddle shop you may get 'em for free when they change a set out.


Brian

 

[silverchip]

I will split the top grain off of hard skirting leather and glue it down to a piece of steel for a stiff backing then spray it with denatured alcohol and rub in the dust so it get in the pores of the leather and run a burnisher over it to even it out. Guess you could use some glycerin or light tallow as well??

 

[Indy Joneds]

do you use this stuff to resharpen or maintain sharpness ? thanks

 

[silverchip]

Indy, I mostly use this for polishing after sharpening and to maintain the polish for bright cutting. The main tool I do this with is a flat tool although it can work with a square or onglette too. If you are sharpening line gravers, avoid using it on the lines themselves much but you should polish the face after sharpening.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

but you should polish the face after sharpening.

I'll polish the face of a half round bead raiser or splitter, otherwise I deem it abit worthless?
All it does is brighten the underside of the metal you are cutting out.
If someone can enlighten me on a proven benefit I'll start doing it...

 

[Brian Marshall]

It might help you Chris, if you use narrow flats tor trim around/between stones to keep those cuts bright.

Does help to polish heels for our American Western bright cut style engraving - and makes the graver slide a bit easier in various metals.

I pre-cut most stone settings when I can, and use one of the exotic carbides for platinum.

Once sharpened and polished it can go for years. But all bets are off if it hits a diamond...


Brian

 

[Gemsetterchris]

You'll have to convince me better than that Brian, sides & underside should be plenty..& likewise I'll cut everything first (with exceptions like the last watch case).
A brass wire wheel does a good job of brightening some tricky areas for me.

 

[Brian Marshall]

What do you mean by sides & underside, Chris?

Never tried a brass wire wheel, but will this afternoon when I return...


B.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

What do you mean by sides & underside, Chris?

Never tried a brass wire wheel, but will this afternoon when I return...

B.

On a flat scorper Brian.. the underside being the part with (or in my case without) the heel & the side of the tool which can come into contact with metal... that leaves the top of the tool including the face unpolished.

 

[Brian Marshall]

OK, I do the same on flats and onglettes, the difference being that I do polish the face... probably don't need to, leftover habit from the days of bright cutting silver.

Does seem to help quite a bit on the exotic carbides that I reserve for platinum?

B.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

I use the same tools for everything including steel & that is M42 (had to check that)
Actually I lie, as my half rounds are made from old beading tools, as are lots of things come to think of it. (aren't they just great)!

 

[Brian Marshall]

Yup, everything other than the carbide platinum gravers are either M42 - or some Glardon Valorbe yellow tang hand push gravers from back when I could hand push... (I still pick them up and pet them and them every once in a while - they served me well - until I was forced to switch to doing everything with power assisted handpieces)

I found that platinum would stick or kinda plate itself to everything else EXCEPT high polished carbides, so I keep them for just that purpose.

They never get dull in platinum alloys. (if there are no diamonds in the way, I generally pre-cut)


B.

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Next time you lot re-sharpen, try without polishing the face & report back...as far as I can see the benefits are nothing but a myth.

 

[sam]

Next time you lot re-sharpen, try without polishing the face & report back...as far as I can see the benefits are nothing but a myth.

That's interesting, Chris. I get asked that question a lot (about polishing the face), and I tell people that when I'm after the brightest cut possible, I will polish the face, but I'm not certain it's making any improvement other than making the graver look nice. I don't think face polishing makes a brighter cut, but I've never tested the theory. But doesn't it stand to reason that on a microscopic level, not polishing the face could result in a jagged cutting edge?

 

[Brian Marshall]

Tried it late last night on a platinum silver alloy job...

I use a higher magnification than most, simply because the script lettering I cut was 4.5 mm to 2 mm.

I think I was using a 36 or 38 flat, this computer is in the office on the other side of the place so I can't go double check right this minute.

Long story short, I did notice a difference under the scope. No real difference to the naked eye. Definitely wouldn't be visible to anyone who wasn't an engraver. Stonesetting is a different ballgame than script lettering though...


And it may have been my imagination, but seemed like a tiny bit more drag? Hard to tell using power assist.

Will try it again with some 2 mm pre-cut stonesetting over the weekend.


Brian


“New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving your way to hell with them - as usual.” - Mark Twain

 

[Marrinan]

Any scratch or micro-scratch is a potential fracture point.

I started the trades as a joiner's (cabinetmaker) apprentice. He was an English Master, 81 years young and he did not let me have a tape measure. He would put two lines on a layout board and when you made your pieces he better be able to pick up any one of them and half that line better show on both ends, We learned to hone and diamond polish both flat sides and the edge of our cabinet scrapers to a perfect mirror polish. My super fine stone has a grove just like it had been cut on a saw. When you properly ran your burnisher down the edge in a singe pass to raise the cutting burr that tool would throw up a curl like a plane because of the polishing on those non-cutting surfaces. Fred

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Unpolished is simply unshiney, not necessarily rough & I'm presuming you use a fine stone to sharpen...I'm not bothered about what happens at microscopic or scientific level but what is viewable realistically.
Isn't that the whole point of our work?