Anyone tried boron carbide?

Boron carbide paste/slurry seems to be popular amongst the crowd who wants their kitchen knifes shaving sharp.
Anyone here who has used in their honing regime?
What I have gathered is that it is usually about 1.5-2 my & cuts very fast, but scratches less then diamond.

The only seller I've found that carries it is HandAmerican & they only have a gigantic bottle that I certainly can hand down to my grandkids..
So before shelling out the cash plus shipping I wonder here if anyone has experience?
Might be useful for these really stubborn blades

honed said:

Boron carbide paste/slurry seems to be popular amongst the crowd who wants their kitchen knifes shaving sharp.
Anyone here who has used in their honing regime?
What I have gathered is that it is usually about 1.5-2 my & cuts very fast, but scratches less then diamond.

The only seller I've found that carries it is HandAmerican & they only have a gigantic bottle that I certainly can hand down to my grandkids..
So before shelling out the cash plus shipping I wonder here if anyone has experience?
Might be useful for these really stubborn blades

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If it was expensive, I would get the specs from the vendor: particle size distribution and a chemical assay to check for what may be crystalline impurities.

No, but if you try it out that is exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping for in the R+D thread. Sounds interesting.

Woodash said:

If it was expensive, I would get the specs from the vendor: particle size distribution and a chemical assay to check for what may be crystalline impurities.

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It wasn't that bad, 25 USD & maybe 10 more for shipping.
And it's from Keith @ Hand American.
With his kind of reputation I doubt that I have to worry about the quality of the product.

It was more a question if anyone actually has used it on straights.
Diamond is of course another option & I have played around with that, but the edge always turns out a bit to harsh for my delicate face
Hence trying something else.

Boron Carbide is another good option for razors. I got mine from Keith - personally

It's 1 micron and is of the highest standard. I have it on the Hand American Bench Hone with the balsa wood strop. It basically cleans up any fraying on an edge, and removes some scratches (depending on how big and deep). I haven't shaved off it directly, but continue to the .5 micron HA Chromium Oxide, and had very pleasant shaves.

IIRC, Keith uses a 2 micron, 1 micron BC progression followed by the .5 chromium oxide for keeping his straights.

jendeindustries said:

Boron Carbide is another good option for razors. I got mine from Keith - personally

It's 1 micron and is of the highest standard. I have it on the Hand American Bench Hone with the balsa wood strop. It basically cleans up any fraying on an edge, and removes some scratches (depending on how big and deep). I haven't shaved off it directly, but continue to the .5 micron HA Chromium Oxide, and had very pleasant shaves.

IIRC, Keith uses a 2 micron, 1 micron BC progression followed by the .5 chromium oxide for keeping his straights.

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So you use it!

It was some kind of progression like that I was thinking of.
I do well with my hones but experimenting is fun
And some razors just don't want to get that final keeness & then diamond paste 1.5my or 1my works, but makes the edge to harsh for me alas maybe boron carbide could be a nice addition.

If I understood correctly chefknivestogo soon will have variety of grits of Cubic Boron Nitride
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/888985/pid/2243547/post/last/m/1/#LAST

mainaman said:

If I understood correctly chefknivestogo soon will have variety of grits of Cubic Boron Nitride
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/888985/pid/2243547/post/last/m/1/#LAST

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That sounds really interesting!
And I do see a name there that already has the pastes, that reminds me of someone I know...

Honed - I'm guilty as charged! I'm not the worlds biggest paste/spray/powder fan, but I love to experiment, and feel the need to know as much as I can. I haven't gotten a chance to even open them yet though - I went straight for the Okudo Suita when the box arrived!

Mainaman - the Boron Carbide (BC) is different than the Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN). The CBN is supposed to be harder, and it goes to 11 (actually, it goes to 0.125 micron, or 120,000 grit!). Ken knows a lot more about it than I do.

Mods, if it's OK, I'd like to ask him to post about the differences here to avoid confusion between the two.

jendeindustries said:

Honed - I'm guilty as charged! I'm not the worlds biggest paste/spray/powder fan, but I love to experiment, and feel the need to know as much as I can. I haven't gotten a chance to even open them yet though - I went straight for the Okudo Suita when the box arrived!

Mainaman - the Boron Carbide (BC) is different than the Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN). The CBN is supposed to be harder, and it goes to 11 (actually, it goes to 0.125 micron, or 120,000 grit!). Ken knows a lot more about it than I do.

Mods, if it's OK, I'd like to ask him to post about the differences here to avoid confusion between the two.

Click to expand...

I am aware they are different things, that is why I also specifically mentioned CBN in my post.

jendeindustries said:

Honed - I'm guilty as charged! I'm not the worlds biggest paste/spray/powder fan, but I love to experiment, and feel the need to know as much as I can. I haven't gotten a chance to even open them yet though - I went straight for the Okudo Suita when the box arrived!

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Oh man, you life a rough life.
So busy with trying out a high end J-nat that you don't even have the time to try the new 120.000 grit pastes.
My happy place that always cheers me up when I feel down is thinking of Tom's honing station

jendeindustries said:

Mainaman - the Boron Carbide (BC) is different than the Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN). The CBN is supposed to be harder, and it goes to 11 (actually, it goes to 0.125 micron, or 120,000 grit!). Ken knows a lot more about it than I do.

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From what I have gathered only diamond surpasses it on the Mohs scales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boron_nitride

jendeindustries said:

Mods, if it's OK, I'd like to ask him to post about the differences here to avoid confusion between the two.

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While I'm no mod, I do have gotten myself a new, fancy badge
And I really can't see any problem with getting such a well-respected, knowledgeable guy write a post about those substances.
We also know that he sells this stuff, so there would be no "hidden" commercial interests.

I myself stay away from radioactive things like Boron............

WilliamIam said:

I myself stay away from radioactive things like Boron............

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I do not see any radioactive properties of the boron materials being discussed in this thread. Variations of this material are widely used in lipstick and eye-liner. I doubt they are radioactive.

Carbon has radioactive forms. Oh no, we're doomed!!1

DavyRay said:

I do not see any radioactive properties of the boron materials being discussed in this thread. Variations of this material are widely used in lipstick and eye-liner. I doubt they are radioactive.

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That's why I thought I'd bring it up. Actually, that's the only reason I read the thread. From what I remember Boron is actually radioactive in its most stable form, not an isotope like Carbon or any other element can become with a few extra neutrons in its nucleus.

Has anyone bothered to check?

WilliamIam said:

That's why I thought I'd bring it up. Actually, that's the only reason I read the thread. From what I remember Boron is actually radioactive in its most stable form, not an isotope like Carbon or any other element can become with a few extra neutrons in its nucleus.

Has anyone bothered to check?

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The stable forms of boron are apparently stable enough to be heavily used in glass, ceramics and even radiation shielding (and let's not forget borax). It's also used to control reactions in nuclear reactors. I really don't think you have anything to be worried about. (By the way, the radioactively stable form of an element is still called an isotope.)

WilliamIam said:

That's why I thought I'd bring it up. Actually, that's the only reason I read the thread. From what I remember Boron is actually radioactive in its most stable form, not an isotope like Carbon or any other element can become with a few extra neutrons in its nucleus.

Has anyone bothered to check?

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I checked before I posted. I did not just make this up. Try Google or Wikipedia and "Cubic Boron Nitride".

Looks like there are two stable isotopes (not a problem, you are full of stable isotopes) and a bunch infinitesimally abundant radio isotopes with half lives measured in nanoseconds or microseconds.

If you want to hone in the dark you will have to move fast.

This stuff looks well worth trying.

It is my understanding that Boron (an element in cubic boron nitride as well as boron carbide) has two naturally occuring forms a b10 and b11 form, neither of which are radioactive, composing 20 and 80% of the total, respectively. The other radioisotopes (radioactive isotopes) include b8 b9 b12 and b13 not found in nature with half lives well under a second varying from .77 seconds to 8 x 10 to the -19th power seconds. Boron is used in products that are ingested (used in metabolic studies) and placed on the skin (cosmetics) as well as used to wash your clothes, etc. , all circumstances where alpha emitters would be particularly dangerous. In short, there is little to worry about. In powder form, as with almost all abrasives you shouldn't inhale it or drink it. I would wash my hands after using it, as I would with any abrasives just to be on the safe side and avoid getting it in the eyes (again as with any abrasive).

I have used Keith's Boron carbide preparation and recommend it.

Regarding the CBN preparations, if it is OK with the Mods, I would be happy to discuss it and answer any questions in general as well as specifics about my products as I don't yet have a large number of posts on this forum, but hope to be a useful contributor to this forum.

---
Ken

And here I thought the biggest problem would be the differences between the BC and CBN, not whether my hair would fall out from using it!