mitch
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,636
in the recent thread on using ceramic laps, etc., Dave London mentioned using 3M Micro-Finishing paper from Rio Grande. As far as i can find, the finest grade of that stuff is 1200 grit (or at least what i could find at Rio). However, it reminded me that awhile back i bought a four grit pack of 3M Diamond Lapping Film- diamond coated polyester film with PSA backing in 15μ, 3μ, 0.5μ, & 0.1μ grits: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=68943&cat=1,43072
the sheets are 3" x 6", so i snipped off 3" x 1" strips of each and stuck them to 2" x 4" pieces of very, very clean glass. basically, i made myself a little set of 'stones'. since my graver was already pretty sharp (or so i thought), i started with the 3μ and worked thru the next 2 finer grits. using a dab of "Engraver's Universal Lube" and going thru all 3 grits with each face of the graver to avoid changing the setting on my sharpening fixture (yeah, it's a tedious process), the results are nothing short of miraculous.
under 40x magnification, the point looks like something out of an electron micrograph showing theoretically perfectly polished facets with the tip just sort of disappearing at an infinitely fine point where they converge. for $22.50, plus postage, they're well worth it in my book...
the sheets are 3" x 6", so i snipped off 3" x 1" strips of each and stuck them to 2" x 4" pieces of very, very clean glass. basically, i made myself a little set of 'stones'. since my graver was already pretty sharp (or so i thought), i started with the 3μ and worked thru the next 2 finer grits. using a dab of "Engraver's Universal Lube" and going thru all 3 grits with each face of the graver to avoid changing the setting on my sharpening fixture (yeah, it's a tedious process), the results are nothing short of miraculous.
under 40x magnification, the point looks like something out of an electron micrograph showing theoretically perfectly polished facets with the tip just sort of disappearing at an infinitely fine point where they converge. for $22.50, plus postage, they're well worth it in my book...