I sharpen knives for a hobby - mostly Japanese kitchen knives and I sharpen them extremely sharp. Now many people use leather strops, much like they do for sharpening razors and sometimes apply abrasive compounds to the surface. Now leather itself can sharpen a very sharp knife even sharper.

One technique I use is to use paper with abrasives on it. This has several numerous advantages that I can go in to but, even paper has abrasive characteristics, such that you can sharpen a knife with a piece of paper using a flat surface for support..

Now as the fineness of the abrasive increases, the relative contribution of the substrate, be it paper or leather comes into play. You wouldn't want the abrasive content of the paper to be coarser than the abrasive you are using, so if you were to go fine enough, it may be a limiting factor.

Now my finest abrasives go down as low as 0.1 microns. Using Japanese waterstones as a comparison, a Shapton waterstone that is a 16000 grit stone is using 1 micron particles for abrasives, so I use particles 10x finer. In comparison, a finely polished pen nib is using 12000 grit particles.

So my question is this:
Does anyone have any information about the abrasive properties of papers? Specifically the abrasive properties of the wood or cotton that goes into papers or any clay or other particulate contaminants (clay in the stream water etc).

My initial impressions, having recently started writing with a XXXXF nib is that an extremely fine nib gives a good indication of a paper's quality rather quickly. Since this is so, I figured that this sort of knowledge would best be found in a group of people who have developed a fine sense of taste for the writing characteristics of paper and the abrasive qualities of paper as it affects nib wear and performance. So far my initial impression is that Clairfontaine has an extremely fine surface (common knowldege here) and would be an excellent paper to use for this task of ultrafine knife polishing.

The responses can be more general rather than narrowly addressing my specific needs, but I'd like to get the group's thoughts on the subject of paper fineness and abrasiveness and contaminants in the paper.

Thanks in advance for your indulgence in this unusual topic.

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Ken

I just thought I'd bring this up again. If anyone has any leads on who might know this sort of information, please post that as well.

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Ken

I'm not a paper/pen expert, but my work is somehow related to the paper industry (slitting systems for paper mills and similar application).

I must tell you that "paper" is definetely NOT a precise term, and can be used to refer to such a variety of products with totally different mechanical properties that nobody can answer your question.

Pure pulp cellulose paper is totally different from (partially) recycled paper of different composition, familiarly known also as "chicken bones" (that can VERY abrasive, requiring Tungsten-carbide blade edges to assure long term slitting quality).

Almost all normal papers are somehow finished (with some level of coating, involving different chemicals likeCalcium Carbonate for glossy paper), and that changes their abrasiveness.

Enrico

Thanks, Enrico! That's a start on the subject. I heuss I'm looking for a smootj and as close to abrasion free paper as is available.

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Ken