Edge Pro stones

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HoytFlinger

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Mar 28, 2018
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I will be sharpening 154CM, VG10, S30V, S35VN, D2, and A2. I am looking at CKTG Shapton Glass stones and the Chosera stones. Should I stick with one of these two stones or would diamond be better?
 
HoytFlinger said:
I will be sharpening 154CM, VG10, S30V, S35VN, D2, and A2. I am looking at CKTG Shapton Glass stones and the Chosera stones. Should I stick with one of these two stones or would diamond be better?
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I don't have all those steels (I don't even have the Chosera stones) but from reading here . . . and . . . I have spent a bunch of time with some of those and my Edge Pro with the Shapton Glass stones (as well as diamond) and I would say you would be pleased with the Shapton Glass. Partly it depends on what kind of edge you like. I like polished and whittling. If you like toothy you may want to opt for diamond stones especially for the vanadium blades (30V and 35VN) and maybe for the D2. The Choseras (meaning good quality Japanese water stones in general) would work wonders on the VG10 and A2.

I have a bunch of bench stones from hard arks to many water stones, Shapton Pro and Shapton Glass and a lot of diamond stones.

The Shapton Glass is where I started with the Edge Pro and I would recommend it. I add in a diamond plate here and there when I need it (reprofiling or for the final debur on a high vanadium alloy).
 
More than 4% Vanadium is said to be a good idea to get diamonds. Generally anything over 1000 grit give or take with high Vanadium to reduce carbide tear out.

The steel you have listed are all at or below 4% Vanadium.

As said in the previous post above, a coarse diamond plate can help make re profiling faster. With the steel you have listed diamond is not a must have but is certainly helpful.

I like to use diamond paste strops whether I use sic, ceramic or diamonds to sharpen.
 
I don't want any steels above 4% hence my little collection. I don't even really want my S30V so may be trying to trade those off for the other steels I listed. I don't like sharpening to be a chore.
 
S30V or S35VN isn't that difficult to polish. I have the shapton glass 500, 2k, 6k and 16k for the edge pro. I find the stock EP stones (220 to 1k) with the 2300 and 4000 polish stones give a better mirror than the four shapton's I have. I'll either add more shapton's or stick with the stock stones. I've worked with the full chosera set, 400 to 10k on S30V and S35VN, they give a great polish.
 
HoytFlinger said:
I don't even really want my S30V so may be trying to trade those off for the other steels I listed. I don't like sharpening to be a chore.
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With the right selection of stones for the particular steel even, say S110V etc, takes about the same length of time as a lesser steel like A2.
The wrong abrasive or too fine an abrasive on a blade that is very dull, say S110V etc., can be just hopeless.

I finally, finally, learned to go very coarse first and think about refining later.
 
I already have the 4 piece Richmond strop set with diamond paste from CKTG. It has balsa and leather. I ordered the Edge Pro Shapton Glass kit from CKTG about an hour ago. Pretty stoked about that.
 
HoytFlinger said:
I ordered the Edge Pro Shapton Glass kit from CKTG about an hour ago. Pretty stoked about that.
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Something to look at until the big day. Given the choice of buying this 120 Glass stone again or a diamond stone in a similar grit I would go for the diamond. This 120 is way too soft.
The 220 stone shown is totally great and I would strongly recommend getting one.

One thing to keep in the back of your wallet is money to eventually get a good diamond plate to flatten and condition the Shapton Glass stones. I use another brand because I already have it but I believe the one to get is the Atoma 140. Probably worth searching the forum / sharpening stickies above to verify I got the name right. The Glass stones are so hard they will, eventually, need to be deglazed and made properly aggressive with the Atoma.
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It comes with the 320, 500, 1,000, 4,000, and 6,000 stones. I just sold an Atoma 140. Going to have to get another one.
 
I just recently got the Shapton 4K and 8K and I think they're awesome for polishing. That being said it probably wouldn't hurt to augment with a few low grit diamond stones for your initial re-profiling on harder steels. I've had good luck with CKTG's house branded diamond Edge Pro stones. They're really affordable at like $20 each. They also have a kit that comes with a 180diamond, 400 diamond, 120 Edge Pro, and 400 Edge Pro all for like $35.

Another option that I'm having good luck with are the Gritomatic Silicon Carbide stones. I'll start with those which go up to 2500, then switch to the Shapton 4K.

Good luck.
 
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