Honing Compounds - Alternatives 

I use what we in South Africa call 'rubbing compound' - the stuff used to polish out defects in automotive paint after spraying it. It's cheap as chips and works very well. I have had great results photographing fine detail through a coddington magnifier such as yours using a cellphone camera pressed right against and centred on the eye-piece. Adjust the light source correctly, fumble with the shutter button a bit while trying to hold the two together, and you have a free macro lens that works surprisingly well.

This vid helps so many woodworkers. You give us options that reduce costs and provide tested results. Thank you.

Love what you've done here Mitch, a really useful exploration and comparison, thank you.

A great topic Mitch, very interesting, Thank you for sharing, Cheers Harry

Well done! I do not know how many of those products are available here in the states, but I will. If nothing else, you have turned on a light bulb over other possibilities. Thanks much.

thanks for your time and effort...I will keep looking

I have used the green compound that comes with the worksharp bit was npt happy with the result. Picked up a tube autosol today, and that is amazing sharpness and finish.

Gotta say, thank you for the tip! Very useful

Many years ago I acquired a plate glass hone that had previously been used with jeweller's rouge for finishing microtome knives in a microscopy lab. Unable to locally find a source of jeweller's rouge I ended up with a tube of Autosol which worked brilliantly for honing knives and chisels and I have been using that method ever since. I can very quickly achieve a mirror finish after sharpening on a 600 grit diamond plate. Thanks for the video. Brian

Thanks Mitch. This'll do nicely :)

I've been brushing my teeth with the wrong stuff this whole time!

great test,been wanting to try this for a while and you have inspired me to give it a go, thanks

Thanks for this Really useful

excellent video ..I have used some of these as well for polishing knife blades, and Autosol was one of the most impressive ..I also found T cut good but messy on a polishing wheel.. thanks for the video most interesting.

Just my quick 2 pence worth.......I picked up a tube of Autosol to use on my stop a couple of years ago. I cant say that I am surprised that it has come out at the top of your experiment.....I too have had good results with this. Nice one Mitch.

Always wondered how well car polish compounds would work. Thanks for sharing you time consuming tests and results

Thanks for the video Mitch. Decision made - if I have no honing compound, from now on I will only use Autosol or GT88 for cleaning my teeth!!! No, seriously though, I had been wondering about honing compound substitutes - very useful.

There is a common product here in the states right off the shelf everyplace from your local hardware shop to Walmart called Brasso. It is a polishing compound that can bring out a reflective finish in a very short period of time. I have used it off and on for 45 years. Compare it to the others you have showcased here and see how it stacks up.

I think you're right in the different medium you can use as honing/stropping compounds. The real test is how well what you sharpen actually works as they are intended. evaluating the little scratch lines and comparing how shinny you can get it makes for a good video. The proof is in the pudding. I other than that a very informative video.

Good test! Thanks.

I’ve been using G6 car paint cutting compound and the results a amazing.

Happich Semichrome, Flitz, Mothers mag and aluminum polish work like Autosol. I use small amounts as stropping compounds on full grain leather for knives. Clean and scrape out old compound with WD40 when they get loaded up heavy. Let dry and go again. Polishing is honing a flat or curved surface without changing angles essentially, until a given finish is desired. Also Barkeepers Friend is a finer abrasive than many cleansers like Ajax or Comet etc and works well if something is lightly rusted or pitted. Great video!

I tend to coat my strop with autosol and let it dry to a powder form. have you tried that? There's a data sheet stating that it contains Aluminum oxide. ATB.

Mitch, I'd seen suggestions to use MDF for stropping before but I hadn't taken it seriously until I discovered your clip (and I'm a sucker for comparative videos anyway). I tried the Autosol on a block of MDF and it was a revelation - other compounds may have worked just as well but I didn't experiment with any others. I presume the firmness of the surface vs the give in leather strops is what makes the difference but I'm getting hair popping sharpness even on more challenging steels (well, challenging to me) like the ATS34 of my Benchmade 710. Blown away! Many thanks, Chris.

this helped a lot thank you

I've used autosol for quite a while on my woodcarving chisels and knives so I thought that would be the one to beat , I sometimes finish off with a little carnauba wax on a buffing wheel! Don't know if it makes a massive difference but it's something I like to use. Another great video Mitch , keep up the good work. Trev

Thanks Hugh Jackman :)

I used Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound (car polish). Worked great. 👍

Good test there some really usefull info.just a side note I'm amazed at the tormek stuff taking over 100 strokes. £5 ish 500g green silverline bar needs only 20-40 and in y opinion leaves a better mirror finish than what I saw the tormek did but as it's a video I may be wrong.anyway good vid.

I use Autosol on a piece of leather for all my woodworking tools as part of my sharpening routine. It provides a razor sharp edge and cleans up the faces. Most times an edge can be 'stropped' with Autosol with a few strokes to bring back the razor edge.

Nice bit of research. Thanks. I've had good results with AutoSol and Flitz - both are slower than Cr Ox or diamonds. I suspect that most automotive rubbing compounds would work well. Some abrasive compounds like that in toothpaste are, by design, soft so that they won't cut into the enamel and won't do anything to steel.

Interesting. I wonder then if the finer grits of cheap ebay diamond pastes will be worth much compared to brasso/autosol/etc.

Thanks Mitch. Interesting video. I would have been interested to see Brasso in the lineup. I think the particles in Brasso are even finer than those in Autosol.

You inspired me MItch. I'd been meaning to make a test like this for sometime. I didn't have the same products as you and none of your top 3. What I had was fiberglass cleaner, chrome cleaner and leather cleaner. The No. 7 Chrome Cleaner was far better than the fiberglass cleaner. I didn't expect anything from the ArmorAll Leathercare Gel but it cleaned up the scratches left by the Chrome Cleaner. I then tried it on a chisel that had only been on a rough India Stone. It would have taken awhile to get it at best with the leather cleaner but it did do a decent job in short order. After a few minutes I could shave the arm hairs. I really expected nothing from the Leather cleaner, I was quite surprised at the results. btw, Enkay green compound is not fine at all. I think Ajax would do better. On US Amazon the Tormek is the cheapest. Anxious to give that a try. I have nowhere local to buy any of your top 3 products so will have to buy online. I would imagine the Tormek will beat the leather cleaner easily. Still surprised at the results with Leather cleaner, if anyone has some give it a try. Maybe I'm imagining how well it worked.

Hi Mitch very interesting video, I wonder if Eucryl tooth powder would be worth trying as a polishing compound?

Thanks for the video! It actually saved me money since I already owned an AUTOSOL tube and now I don't need to go buy actual honing compound since it seems to perform decent enough. One question though: Between MDF and HDF which would be better since I can't get my hand on some tough leather?

helped me out,thanks

Thank you for the no bull video

and to think i have only used autosol for cleaning cast iron beds on the jointer, planer, saw and lathe bed. and it does an excellent job of keeping those surfaces rust free.

Great test, Mitch.

Love metal work this was helpful. You definitely remind me of Logan! He would need to polish his metal claws. Awesome video 👍🏾

Thank you for these comparisons. I heard another good tip of making a strop-like sharpener with the smooth side of leather. Apply valve grinding compound from an auto parts store.

Extremely useful

I have always used wet and dry paper up to1200 grit on a piece of tempered glass and then honed my blades on a leather strop, first with AUTOSOL, then just leather alone. My blades may not be the most sharp but they are good enough for me and shave hairs off my arm with no effort. You made a very interesting film that I enjoyed. Thanks. N.

Good 'ol Solvol Autosol. Been using it for so many things for over 40 years.

Very interesting. Thanks for doing this experiment. Coincidently, I was fooling around yesterday on this same subject. I used an automotive buffing compound on a cotton buffing wheel, then used the green rogue usually reserved for the leather strop. The results were amazing, and really quick. Is there any reason not to use a buffing wheel for a final polish?

Could you achieve the same with pulverized wood coal?

Question if you're still around what do I use the strop on to sharpen woodturning tools on?

Very good, might try some stuff on my rotary shaver and obviously clean thoroughly before use.

When i grind the primary bevel, i then sharpen at a secondary bevel with just a few strokes on a 1000 grit (and maybe a few strokes on a higher stone) ... This takes only a few seconds but it means that every time i hone, i have to do much less passes for a polish .... After establishing the primary and secondary bevels , i keep my strop block and autosol beside me, and after using the chisel for some time , i strop the bevel and the back around 30 strokes ... This makes it cut hair again doing it over and over prolongs the need for resharpening

Sorry for a slight OT. What grits of abrasive paper should I use for flattening 1000 and 3000 Japanese waterstones? BTW, I'm thinking of splitting my combination waterstone into separate plates. I don't like that I lose much of the slosh or contaminate the finer side when turning around the stone.

I found a silver polish pump spray for jewlery. It has aluminum oxide as one of the ingredients. I'm going to test it out.

Thank much.

Great video - I liked before o even watched it. Would be interesting to see how t-cut would have coped...

Interesting to know the avg costs of the two best and the benchmark control materials

Greetins from mazatlan sin mex.where did you buy this green grease And tell me the name please.

In AUs , I use, if I can not get green buff compound , I use as a back up , Brasso and Silvo which works great but is a liquid form and can be messy compare to green compound

Mothers mag and aluminum polish makes a mirror finish and pretty fast on a pocket knife only takes 20 passes for a scalpel sharp edge.

Thats cool

Autosol on a piece of mdf works quite well for me

I really like the results i get from using Autosol, but it smells like petrol fumes and burnt rubber, how's the smell with the Tormek compund?

You need to use smokers toothpaste, with as much bicarbonate trace as possible. It's a far better aggressor than colgate. With a felt wheel it will mirror polish but still takes a bit of time. I am surprised you didn't try brasso to be honest. It's quite good. But I am going to have a look out for that scratch remover gt88 Thank you for the education.

Confused. I though you said the ajax powder was best?

Hi Mitch Peacock - WOmadeOD Thanks for the nice informative video. One question, I see a lot of woodworkers use a block wood with a leather strip and then the honing compound, Will the leather improve any of the products you use? Thanks

Thanks for great experiment, Most of those brands aren't sold off shelf in New Zealand. But Autosol is thankfully. Regarding the toothpaste I thought it would have worked great but no? At least the chisels would smell nice haha

What about 'Orange Power' ? (The hand scrub commonly found in garages/ shops)

A great topic Mitch. I have a bunch of sharpening to get done today. I have put it off too long.........again. LOL Derek

I don’t know what video I have seen that green compound is pretty much green crayon. Is any of that is true? Help please.

Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound for heavy use works real well.

Cutting compound. Available from 1500 to 3000 grit. Works wonders.

Before i bought an actual compound i tried to think of what i could use that has the most in common with stropping compound. I ended up rubbing candle wax on a piece of leather for a strop and it actually worked surprisingly well. However, I don't think there's really too much out there that will polish a blade as good or even really close to how good actual compound will. Honestly if you want to strop a knife or any metal just buy some compound, even cheep compound works good and you can pick some up for under $10 online so there really is no reason not to get any.

White ceramic floor tile will polish. Ragweed Forge has cheap 6" ceramic sharpening stones, about 2K grit. Cheap diamond paste and a dremel buffer leaves a mirror finish on an extremely hard tungsten carbide ring. A pound of green compound will last forever. Shuangxin (bull pic) diamond paste syringe, soluble oil, 1.5 micron, $1 ebay Woodstock D2902 Green extra fine buffing compound, 1lb, $12 amazon, 4.6 stars

Autosol is a great product . I have a simular domestic product called starclean I think it's actually only a rebadge.

Try silicone dust mixed with any lotion perhaps even dishwashing liquid as well. Now I'm not talking about silica beads the absorbing agent,but the actual silicone dust. I think that may work great. Maybe.... lol

Are any of these products better than chromium oxide compound?

Hello Mitch...have enjoyed your Down to earth videos...for some time...Thank You...! This test is well done... and easy to reproduce by anyone. Lots of info also...in the comments...!I learned early...that one of the cheapest...and always around honing compound...is the smear leftover...from the stone or plate. The particles left are smal...and mixed with the steel leftovers. I think...you will need a piece of leather for this...for the particles to embed( have not tried the mdf for a long time). The plant "Horsetail"-"Snakegrass"-"(Equisetum) is a well known abrasive...it contains silica...will polish both Wood and iron. A final note for now: Toothpaste is a great (superfine) plastic polisher. I have polaroid sunglasses and glasses...and the finer scratches...have been removed...!PS: Do not use Autosol on your glasses...! Greetings.

Great video! Your toothpaste results confirm mine: no result. The reason is that aluminum oxide has been entirely eliminated as an ingredient in toothpastes in the US. I use Mother's Metal Polish which is cheap and readily available here.

Has anyone ever tried Silver polishing paste or Brasso metal polish?

Nooice!

try using a dime size amount of turtle wax polishing compound mixed with a bit of alcohol

If this wasn't from you I would newer have trusted the advice!:-)

I was thinking of trying polishing rouge like you use on a buffer, it's cheap and comes in many grits. Has anyone tried it? Thanks

There is a toothpaste for smokers, it has an abrasive quality to it, I've used it to brush the dogs teeth, works great. I have used Brasso, but be careful with that, don't use in an enclosed environment and wear a proper mask for fumes not just dust. Inhale the fumes from that stuff for awhile you may get a headache and be seeing spacemen.

this is really cool really thank you for making this video i used the car polish and it worked ok + then i ordered a small block of green compound from ebay wich actually costs exactly the same for pretty much the same amount as the car polish but actually works a little better, not here to troll just to share what i got to try and compare have a nice day

Try Peek Polish. I use it on a lot of things.

Can i use cif?

I like autosol very well, always gives me a shaving sharp edge

Patiently waiting for toolmake15 draw.....

Ok, I watched again.

You said MDF but it is oak vaneer with open grain prob. not as good.

A woodworkers may have Rottenstone power used to polish wood finishes

Autosomal I’ve been using to razor sharpen knives, the only way to go.

Just found out an emergency supply - thanx.

Lapping compound? or am i thinking of something else?

😊😊😊😊

Me: Mum can we go see Hugh Jackman Mum: we have Hugh Jackman at home Hugh Jackman at home:

Automotive Rubbing Compound is The Best...Hands Down..!!!! :>)

You look like a Hugh Jackman in a g-force test.

Wolverine is that you ? Lol

There is no such thing as "honing" compound. There is stropping compound, but not honing compound. Honing is done with a steel or ceramic that's harder than the knife. It's used to straighten bent places on the edge. Honing uses no compound, and does not actually sharpen the knife because zero metal is removed. STROPPING compound removes metal, and does sharpen the knife. In this day and age of super fine, high quality and paper, compound is no longer needed. Just use high quality 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000 grit sandpaper. It's cheap, and does an unbelievably good job. Sandpaper cam be used to sharpen a knife hair-whittling sharp, and can also strop the knife. But no sharpener and no compound can HONE a knife.