Next I stropped the blade with 10 micron diamonds on leather and then 3.5 micron diamonds on leather:


510x - 10 micron diamonds on leather after 7000 grit polishing tape


510x - 3.5 micron diamonds on leather sequence= 7000 tape> 10 micron strops> 3.5 micron strops

The diamond paste and leather strops made a big difference quickly.

After getting the edge to 3.5 microns, I then went back to the polishing tapes:


510x - 3000 grit polishing tapes after 3.5 micron strops


510x - 7000 grit polishing tapes after 3000 grit tapes after 3.5 micron strops

I need to do a lot more work playing with the polishing tapes!

Next I decided to try 3.5 micron balsa strops to compare with the 3.5 micron leather strops:

I first went to the 3.5 micron balsa strops right after the 7000 grit tapes

510x - 3.5 micron diamond and balsa strops after 7000 grit polishing tapes

Then I went to the 3.5 micron leather strops right after the 3.5 micron balsa strops

510x - 3.5 micron leather strops after 3.5 micron balsa strops

Then I went back to the 3.5 balsa strops

510x - 3.5 micron balsa strops after 3.5 micron leather strops - 2nd pass

Then back to the 3.5 leather strops


510x - 3.5 micron leather strops after 3.5 micron balsa strops - 2nd pass

It looks like there is a clear difference in finish between balsa and leather.

Now on to 1 micron diamond and leather after the 3.5 micron diamond and leather:


510x - 1 micron diamond and leather strops after 3.5 micron diamond and leather

Looking good!

next a whole new direction....

Next I wanted to examine what happens when you go straight from the 1000 grit stones to a specific grit e.g. 1000 grit > 10 micron, 1000 grit > 3.5 micron and 1000 grit > 1 micron:


510x - 1000 grit diamond stones after 3.5 micron diamond and leather strops finish


510x - 10 micron diamond and leather strops after 1000 grit diamond stones

100 passes with the strops after the stones.