DMT EEF, Shapton 8K, or other?

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Hi,

Still playing with my new DMT stones and having a ball. I am planning on getting the UF Sharpmaker rods as recommended, but am wondering if there is a point to something in the 8K range, or if they overlap with the UF rod.

I am not planning on sharpening S30V all day, but I would like to have the option, as I did do my Deja'vu today. I did notice that when doing a Kershaw Leek in 13c26 that was badly blunted, my edge lost its flatness/crispness, and was more convex. That one I spent almost an hour on stones, however. I mention these things only in case it would help with a recommendation.

Right now I 'seem' to be getting good results going from the EF stone to a strop loaded with white rouge (all I had), though it is still not tree topping sharp. More of a 'sticky' sharp, that you can feel with your fingertips, and that will pushcut yellow pages easily if you are cutting toward your hand.

So, UF Sharpmaker rod, or other, for the next jump in sharpness? (Not counting improvements in my technique.:D)
 
What types of steel do you sharpen most?

A spyderco UF and DMT EEF once broke-in leave a very similar finish. The DMT hone will yield a constant finish on most all steels with improving results on higher wear resistant steels. The ceramic will yield a slightly higher polish and smoother edge with best results on most stainless steels.

In truth to have the best finish throughout a wide range of steels you need several different finishing stones. CPM, tool, and other high wear resistant alloys seem to do best on diamond hones. Stainless steels like AUS8, 154cm, and VG10 show excellent results with the ceramic. Carbon and carbon alloy seem to show best results on natural stones, water stones, and sandpaper. ZDP-189 is a odd steel of the bunch, you would thing because it is so hard and wear resistant diamond hones would be the best choice but for some reason it seem like this steel was almost designed around the idea of using water stones to sharpen it.

Finishing with the diamonds now you can't really jump too high with other types of stones if your going for the mirrored bevel. Diamonds cut deep making it hard for a higher grit stone of a different abrasive to remove. if you wanted to go with water stones for example after the EF stone you would at least need a 3k or 4k stone before the 8k water stone. This is also all going to depend on the steel being sharpened too.

The options are endless but overall I choose diamonds because they offer the least amount of drawbacks in use. That's not to say I don't have water stones, sandpaper, and some ceramics to cover the rest of the bases.

Buy what you want now, you'll eventually have it all anyways ;)
 
Thanks a million for the well written post. That answers all the questions I didn't know enough to ask yet. Now I just have to spend another dozen or two hours deciding whether to go ceramic, diamond, or waterstone.
 
If typical BF fashion....... get'em all :)
 
The DMT 8K is in mesh, the Shapton is their own version of JIS. The DMT is a 4000 grit in JIS.

And there are ceramic & diamond waterstones, just to add confusion :D
 
Well, I just ordered the ceramic UF rod last night, and bought the most expensive green oxide compound I could find, hoping that it would be better than the $1.34 stuff at Lowes.

On a somewhat related note, is there a rough grit size for the white rouge? That is what I have been using for the last couple days after the EF Diamond stone.

I need to know where it fits in to the grand scheme of things once I get the UF rod and the green rouge.
 
The green lowes compound is around 3-5 microns and white compound from what I have gathered is around 4-8 microns.

The difference in effectiveness is night and day, the lowes compound is highly inferior to a quality compound.

White compound like others comes in several forms and quality levels. White diamond is the typical name for quality white compound, a little misleading in its name it actually has small amounts of ceramic mixed in thus the reason its used most. It makes it more effective for knives because most compounds are designed for softer metals.

You also might want to look into getting a piece of balsa wood and the DMT compound. Its a 3 step process designed to be used after the EF stone and will produce perfect mirror bevels.
 
Thanks,

I keep looking at the DMT compounds, but... well crap! I've got to stop buying stuff at some point.:D ETA: searching for 'white diamond rouge' now.

So, um... how long will the 2g tubes of the DMT kit last? Do you really need all 3?

My white rouge is from a Ryobi buffing kit, and seems to work fairly well. I am using it on a piece of veg tanned leather. So far, after the EF diamond, is the white rouge on leather, then the rough side of the leather. It makes the very edge gleam and makes a noticeable difference in sharpness, though it is still not tree topping. Right now the edges grab at the ridges in my fingerprints with the lightest touch, and that is as sharp as I have been able to get them.

Today I did a D2 EnZo Trapper, a 440C BM Griptillian, an AUS8 CS AK47, and stropped 5 knives that I sharpened over the last couple days. I think I am improving, as the edges seem to get there quicker, but there is still a lot to be learned.

I also have a hard arkansas translucent slip, but don't really know where to use it or what to use it on.
 
Yeah, its best to have all three. The tubes last me anywhere from 6 months to a year but then again I strop a LOT! :)

Call it compound and not rouge, rouge describes the iron oxide that is only found in red rouge. So by calling all compounds rouge we imply that they contain iron oxide when in truth only one type of compound contains it.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Yeah, its best to have all three. The tubes last me anywhere from 6 months to a year but then again I strop a LOT! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, that might be worth the trouble. So basically it would be the 3 DMT compounds, then the green, and you don't get much finer than that? I guess that is like 6 or so grits for knives in decent shape to start with.

ETA, if it gets finer don't tell me. I don't think there are enough hours in the day. :D BTW, where does the clay coated paper in the phonebook covers fall? :D
 
Trust me, after 1 micron you won't want any sharper.

.5 and lower give you a sharper feel with some steels but is really only practical for shaving.

And yes it gets much finer, theres .25 micron 100,000 mesh/grit and 1/10 micron 200,000 mesh/grit. Once you get that fine though the edge looses almost all bite and becomes VERY smooth, shaves good though ;)
 
I've never tried the clay paper, I've always used compound.

Where does it fit in? when you don't have a strop....
 
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