61-62 Rockwell. Special Stones Needed?

redsquid2

redsquid2

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I ordered some Frosts blades, and then made custom handles for them.

Then tonight I was browsing the web page where I had ordered them, and noticed they were [correction from sub line] 60-61 Rockwell. I was surprised at the hardness. I don't think I have ever had a knife that hard.

Would an ordinary oil stone sharpen these? Would a honing steel hone them?
 
Yes and yes, although you might see faster results with a diamond stone.
 
Steels don't actually hone. They merely straighten damaged edges.

Oilstones are obsolete in the environment of modern steels.

60-61 HRC is not really very hard for today's quality steels.
 
If the 'oilstone' happens to be a decent quality synthetic, like silicon carbide or aluminum oxide, it should be OK. Some cheaply-produced synthetic stones might not be as aggressive or effective. If it's a natural (Arkansas), it might be very slow-going at that hardness.

My first choices would be diamond or silicon carbide (stones or wet/dry sandpaper), especially for re-bevelling or other heavy work. Ceramics work well for finer finishing & polishing, but won't be as aggressive for heavy metal removal. And stropping with compound (diamond, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, chromium oxide) on leather is always a plus, especially for touching up.

Some so-called 'honing steels' are diamond-coated. Those WILL hone your blades (remove metal). A bare honing steel, on the other hand, won't. It simply serves to straighten/realign the edge, if it's been rolled a bit.
 
Most honing steels are hardened to between 62 and 64 RC, and even the "smooth" ones have small ridges that can be easily felt with a fingernail. They are very fine files, and as such will absolutely remove metal from a blade. Simply run one across the sharp corner on the spine of a kitchen knife and see if it doesn't round that corner down in short order. I imagine if the knife in question had a higher RC then it might simply align the edge. Most (non Japanese) kitchen knives are no higher than RC 57-58.
 
Hmm, mine (all three) definitely have a bit of texture - not like a heavily ribbed butcher-type steel, but not smooth. Will yours shine up the spine / round the corner on a kitchen knife?

I could take some before and after micrographs from one of my steels, but it won't mean anything if its not apples to apples.

Hmmm
 
Lots of variability in honing steels. The one I thought of, when I replied earlier, is an old 'Chicago Cutlery' steel included in a set that my mother's been using for 30+ years, at least. They do remove a little metal, but actually trying to sharpen a dull knife on it would be an exercise in frustration. I've made the effort, more than once, to touch up some of her knives (from the same set) with that thing. It's largely ineffective, even on those knives. I always end up falling back on one of my diamond or ceramic hones to do that job.
 
I've been maintaining my kitchen knives for years using just a heavy ribbed steel and a smooth one (with a few exceptions when I sharpened them up on my machete blocks). Used regularly the smooth one will maintain the softer steels on my Cheap Chicago cutlery knives. I am 100% certain its pulling metal off. Used on a clean edge that was prepped on a stone and stropped burr free etc, a handful of passes on a steel will raise a burr (one that's very tough to remove without moving to a larger angle). For my kitchen knives I generally don't care if I'm cutting with a burr/wire edge. They don't get treated with much respect, so too much TLC would be wasted. Years ago I made a block to hold my steel horizontal on my bench and did lots of experimenting with a few different specimens on a couple of different knife steels. At 30x before and after I could easily make out a difference in the grind pattern at the apex, and this was with 440c and 154cm. As you say, honing steels come in a lot of flavors, YMMV.
 
IIRC the frosts blades are a high quality but low alloy stainless steel. Because they aren't a super wear resistant alloy like CPM420v you should be able to sharpen then just fine on even an arkansas stone, albeit slow going. Any aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, diamond, or ceramic stone of good quality will work faster, but isn't really necessary (this includes oil and waterstones, which usually use some combination of those abrasives).
 
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