Building a palette of Edgepro stones from scratch

[Shmackey]

Whelp I moved a couple of times and can't find my Edgepro kit anywhere. I'll decide between a real Edgepro and a Hapstone replacement, but that's not a big deal. What I'd like to do is figure out which stone collection to put together--most likely from Gritomatic since they have such a good selection.

I have plenty of knives with magic steels like M4, S110V, S90V, and Elmax. And I also plan to sharpen all my basic kitchen knives.

I hate lapping stones, so if there's a way around that, I'd be happy. Apparently the Venev diamond stones need lapping right out of the box, whereas the Gritomatic CBN stones (resin bonded and metallic bonded) do not. But what's the difference between resin bonded and metallic bonded? The latter are twice the price. Cost aside, is there any reason to go with the Venevs over either CBN?

Presumably if you want crazy mirror edges, you'd need to move to waterstones, lapping films, or charged strops after the diamond or CBN stones. Are Shapton Pro still the go-to waterstones? It's been well over 10 years since I bought the Edgepro that I lost....

 

[dpav02]

All of these high priced stones will need maintenance. But they will last you a long time.


Resin-bonded

• Rather than the single layer of abrasive (CBN or diamonds) found on many diamond abrasive plates, there are layers of abrasives impregnated into the resin. This allows the stone to shed worn or loaded layers to expose a fresh cutting surface.

Metallic-bonded

• Same idea as the resin-bonded. Just instead of resin, a metal combination is used.
• Typically made by sintering powdered metals along with filler materials and adding an abrasive such as CBN or diamonds. These bonds are very strong, providing a flat stone that holds its shape well. The durability of metal bonds also means that these stones will require dressing less frequently.

Resin-bonded stones are easier to resurface and refresh. Metallic-bonded stones are a little tricker, but, should be more durable, last longer (in theory), and need attention far less. You have to actually apply some sort of chemical to break down the metal to expose fresh abrasives.

I would suggest doing a few searches and reading for yourself, but, in general:

People love all of the stones you have mentioned. People also like the Edge Pro Diamond Matrix stones.

Here's an example of how to dress the Diamond Matrix Stones. I would imagine the process would be very similar for the resin CBN stone, but I do not know for sure.

It also depends on what you're sharpening. With some of today's "super steels", only CBN or Diamond stones will work. But if you have softer or cheaper steel, using a diamond or CBN stone might actually remove too much material or make the scratches too deep. It might be "overkill". All depends on the task at hand.

If you don't want to do any stone maintenance at all, then you'd have to either use films (which don't last long at all) or diamond plates.

Diamond plates have disadvantages as well. Once the cutting performance is degraded or a lot of diamonds fall out, there's no way to renew or refresh that plate. You will have to purchase a new plate. Although, if you buy a good one and don't use a lot of pressure, they should last you a very long time.

There are pros and cons to everything. I hope this helped.

 

[brando555]

I like the metallic bonded CBN stone. The 400 grit is really versatile, it can remove material pretty quickly. S30v, s110v, rex 45, it doesn't care it chews right through anything and it doesn't dish out like regular EP stones. Also leaves a nice toothy edge if you want to stop there. It does require some maintenance with something like ferric chloride once it starts to lose its bite though. The other downside is that its kind of heavy so it takes getting used to, and the price.

If you like diamond stones the EP matrix stones are hard to beat. A lot of times I'll use my 400 grit cbn stone, and then put on a microbevel with the 1100 grit EP matrix.

If you don't want to spend a ton and just want stones that will work on most steels the Gritomatic silicon carbide stones are good too. Not as good for working up a mirror polish as the alum oxide stones, but if you don't care about that they are a good choice.

 

[wade7575]

I have been using the Metallic Bond CBN stones for a good while and I have been really happy with them,the ones I would get would be as follows F50 F120 and F400.

The F50 is great for resetting a factory bevel on a new knife if you want to change the angle or use it to repair a damaged edge,the F120 is a great stone and the one a grab the most it seem's,I use the F120 for removing metal fast as well on blades that I have touched up a few times and they can't be touched up anymore and you need to apex the bevel.

The F400 is a good stone for cleaning up the scratch's of the F120 before moving onto finer grit's stones or stones that aren't aggressive.

I would then get the Venev 400 800 and 1200 OCB stones and I use them right out of the box the way the ship and they cut just fine for me,also get a King Nagura stone and every 3 to 4 use's give the stone 5 to 8 strokes with it to deglaze the stones and peel back a bit of the resin,you can also go longer if the stone is still cutting,if I see mine glazing I don't worry about it at all.

The last thing I'll say about the Metallic Bond CBN is get them you won't regret it,I have S30V S35VN S90V S110V Maxamet M390 M4 ZDP-189 and more steels that I forgotten about.
I have tried many stones over my years of sharpening and the best stones for cutting speed and how long they last are the Metallic CBN stones they are at the top of the mountain period.

As far as water stones go stay away from Shapton they suck for sure,they are Aluminum Oxide and they are extremely hard if your talking about the glass stones witch means they don't release a lot of abrasive witch means they will cut slower and they are costly for slow cutting stones.

Look at the Cerax stones by Suehiro and also the Suehiro G8 8K stone it is Silicon Carbide and is a great finishing stone,I have also been using the Sigma Power Select 2 6 10 and 13K stones I use a fine grit KME diamond stones to make a slurry then sharpen away.

I have the Chosera's as well but they are a pain they tend to glaze a lot after you use them and for the price of them the Suehiro's are the way to go.

With steels like S90V M390 and M4 I would use the Metallic stones then the Venev OCB stones then drop back down to a 1K water stone to remove the scratch's from the diamond stones,if you try using a 5K water stone to start with they don't release enough abrasive and don't cut fast enough to undo the scratch's form the diamonds,you can stop at the 800 OCB before jumping to the water stone but I know people who go up to the 1200 OCB to refine the scratch's more to make it easier with the water stones.

Whelp I moved a couple of times and can't find my Edgepro kit anywhere. I'll decide between a real Edgepro and a Hapstone replacement, but that's not a big deal. What I'd like to do is figure out which stone collection to put together--most likely from Gritomatic since they have such a good selection.

I have plenty of knives with magic steels like M4, S110V, S90V, and Elmax. And I also plan to sharpen all my basic kitchen knives.

I hate lapping stones, so if there's a way around that, I'd be happy. Apparently the Venev diamond stones need lapping right out of the box, whereas the Gritomatic CBN stones (resin bonded and metallic bonded) do not. But what's the difference between resin bonded and metallic bonded? The latter are twice the price. Cost aside, is there any reason to go with the Venevs over either CBN?

Presumably if you want crazy mirror edges, you'd need to move to waterstones, lapping films, or charged strops after the diamond or CBN stones. Are Shapton Pro still the go-to waterstones? It's been well over 10 years since I bought the Edgepro that I lost....