Ease of Sharpening S35VN and MagnaCut

[Valkyr]

Long time lurker and first time poster. I have a EdgePro Apex with full set of the stock Alox stones and films as well as a fair number of accessories like an angle finder and various guides (mostly purchased with the guidance of this community). I am currently using those to sharpen knives in AUS 8 / 8Cr, D2 and basic western kitchen knives. I have decent success with this set up. I am still building up my freehand sharpening skills to something resembling decent (aka I suck on cheap stuff so far), so I would prefer to stick with a guided system for the higher end stuff for consistency sake.

I have read various opinions about the use of diamond vs other abrasives, and I am just not able to put the kind of cash into a diamond set at this time, which is why I am looking for guidance. I do not want to buy a set of relatively inexpensive plated diamond or the like (unless someone can convince me) as I will be doing a more long term investment when finances allow.

I will also be either buying or making strops in the near future so that I have more options as well.

I am strongly considering and actively shopping for some knives in MagnaCut and S35VN.

While I know that diamond deals with these steels and the carbides in them, I currently do not have the budget for a set of DieMaker's EdgePro stones, but I am working on that.

What I do have the budget for is a set of stones in SiC like the Boride CS-HD, mounted for the EdgePro, like the 5 stone set at Gritomatic.

Will the SiC stones work for well enough (time is not a huge concern) to deal with maintenance and minor reprofile work / edge repair with S35VN and MagnaCut as well as other higher Vanadium content steels?

What compounds would you recommend for a starter set up for strops?

What grit of SiC powder would you suggest for lapping / maintaining both the Alox stones I have and the SiC stones I have above?

I am a knife user so I would not go above 1000 grit for my knives, more often 600 or there about, I am not looking for mirror polish either. Just good working edges that are relatively easy to maintain. My wife is harder on the kitchen knives than I would like (she goes to the diamond honing rod and wonks out the kitchen knives from time to time), I have gotten her to at least not do that to the folders that she carries and for her to set aside the folders that need attention and grab one of the others she has instead.

I have learned quite a bit from this community already and I expect that will continue.

Thanks in advance.

Val

 

[Kryme]

You'll be fine with those stones, you can sharpen these steels on a fine grit brick. For stropping compound I'd go diamond/CBN just because they work faster and they're not that more expensive than their alox counterparts, but alox will do the trick just as good. These aren't crazy wear resistant steels, they're designed to be easily maintained by most people.

 

[Valkyr]

Thanks for the input Kryme. I appreciate it. Makes me feel a bit better about where I am going with this.

Has anyone gotten the CS-HD from gritomatic? Do they need much dressing to get them ready?

I will start looking at strop compounds and go from there.

 

[Fastleo151]

I don’t know why people say MagnaCut is hard to sharpen. It’s not, actually in some cases it’s easier because of high enough hrc the burr shears off much easier and cleaner than cheaper steel. I sharpen my magnacut and s35 on Norton sic bench stones no problem. I’m not familiar with the edge pro stones but I’m sure you will be fine.