Considering the Spyderco 3 x 8 ceramic stone, need advice.

[SC_Dave]

I have 4 DMT Diasharp 3 x 8 bench stones. C, F, EF, EEF. Considering the DMT EEF is 8000 would I benefit by adding the UF ceramic stone by Spyderco or is it moot?
David

 

[BluntCut MetalWorks]

DMT EE effective grit is about the same (almost inter-changeable) as Spyderco Ceramic Fine. My UF306 yields a 1.5um - near mirror - finish. I like my UF306 (3x8 stone) after it got flattened. I also lapped the spyderco ceramic 2x8 Fine, turned it into a UF as well. Recommend a 2x8 UF - hopefully it's flat from factory or at least it won't be a bear to flatten (just kidding, actually it will be PITA to flatten).

 

[CSG]

I don't know about mute but it's possibly moot. I am a big fan of these Spyderco stones but the lack of solid info having to do with comparable grit to other media has me scratching my head.

I've got the coarse and fine stones in the Sharpmaker and the little pocket stones and have wondered about the 8x3 EF SPyderco stone too as the ultimate (for me, anyway) finishing stone.

 

[SC_Dave]

I don't know about mute but it's possibly moot. I am a big fan of these Spyderco stones but the lack of solid info having to do with comparable grit to other media has me scratching my head.

I've got the coarse and fine stones in the Sharpmaker and the little pocket stones and have wondered about the 8x3 EF SPyderco stone too as the ultimate (for me, anyway) finishing stone.

Thanks for the info and grammar lesson.

 

[phillipsted]

One of the little known facts about the Spyderco stones is that the Fine and UltraFine use exactly the same abrasive particles. The bonding material is different between the two - which accounts for their different abilities to polish steel. I like the fact that they don't have to be flattened though (unlike the Spyderco medium grey stones, which will cup over time).

TedP

 

[yoda4561]

I thought they were the same stone, only the UF was lapped to a finer surface finish that reduces its cutting ability.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Actually, all three of Spyderco's ceramics (medium, fine, uf) use the same abrasive grit. The medium uses a different binder material (hence it's different color). The rest of their effective 'grit rating' is solely dependent on the surface finish created during manufacturing (firing and surface grinding).

A couple of quoted comments from Sal Glesser, in Spyderco's own forum ( http://www.spyderco.com/forums/show...ompared-to-DMT-extra-fine&p=395257#post395257 ):

(from post #6 in the above-linked thread)

(...) All of the ceramics use the same micron size (15-25). the different grits are created by different carriers, different firing techniques and diamond surface grinding.

sal

(from post #10 in the same thread as above):

We've spent a great deal of time trying to determine grits for our stones. The manufacturer has also worked with us, to no avail. A guess seems to be best.

Most abrasives are measured by the grit size used in the matrix. Our ceramic doesn 't work that way. Grit size is constant.

We've tried to compare scratch patterns as Cliff mentioned and this is probably the closest, but nothing that we can say "This is blah blah". Then the Japanese water stones jump into the equation and suddenly there is whole new set of numbers.

So where we end up is:

Our diamonds are a 400 mesh (measureable). (600 on the Duckfoot)

Our gray stone is "medium". (Same material as fine but different carriers and heat treat).

Our fine stone is fine.

Our extra fine is a surface ground fine.

sal

David