Ever notice this when sharpening?

Cpl Punishment

Cpl Punishment

Joined
Jan 28, 2006
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I had gotten one of those round puck-shaped Norton India stones for sharpening my axes. I decided to give it a try on a BAD I had been using a lot lately.

Much to my surprise, the stone sharpened the knife a lot faster than my diamond hone did. Is this normal for INFI? I had figured that, like most "super-steels", the diamond hone would be the weapon of choice. After maybe 5 minutes with the fine India stone and maybe another 5 with my razor strop to polish the edge, this thing is scary sharp (and yes, I kept the factory angle).
 
Yes, infi sharpens remarkably easily without resorting to diamond, it's one of its excellent qualities.

I find it gums up the stone or SiC paper quite quickly as well.

I've reprofiled most of my Busses (convex or flat as my mood takes me), most by hand with silicon carbide paper and a couple with a power file (like a 1/2" slow belt grinder). It literally takes just a minute on the powerfile!

Once that's done, I've not yet had to touch a stone again. Just steel it for any minor misalignment if it's been used hard, or a very few strokes on a ceramic rod, but mostly just a minute or two on a loaded strop. It's then back to hair popping again.

I love how easy it is!

I think it's probably due to the malleability of it, better than other steels at its hardness. It can be pushed into alignment without having to cut metal away, which the diamond does very well but too well/isn't wanted for infi.
 
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I never like diamonds for sharpening. I use them only for reprofiling jobs. They cut too fast for my purposes. I use a loaded strop for most of my maintenance work.
 
I've found that diamond abrasives work well on steels such as CPM-S30V and ZDP-189. For our beloved INFI a good stone or water stone or ceramic works very well.
 
I think you just have a wear and tear issue on the diamond stone. I got an extra coarse Lansky Diamond stone for re-profiling some "very" hard Japanese steels like Cowry X and because of use this is now quite smooth compared to the medium diamond stone which has not seen use.

I have a similar Puck stone to you as well....mine is the Gransfors stone....comes in a useful rubber cover which really anchors the stone for field use...very sticky stuff. I like it a lot and the coarse side of the stone could do a great job if needed.

The idea that Diamond stones never erode is not true...they have built in obsolecense or degrading ability like anything else these days....just so you or your kids buy another....

Ofcourse I am assuming that you have scrubbed the diamond stone...I thought mine was just loaded up and would come back after cleaning....not so...they do "wear".
 
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Yep, I keep it cleaned, and it still works wonders on some stainless and S30V knives I have.

Maybe it's like one of my co-workers says: "It's just a thang."
 
Yeah, Infi though is amazing in how easy it is to sharpen. After re-profiling I just use a strop and compound on convex edges....light strokes on a sharpmaker for V Grinds...it takes hardly any time to restore the edge. One of the great things about the steel IMO...Cowry X might last a weeks hard use at Rc 64...but it would take a good evening's work to bring back an edge....Infi...you could sort the edge whilst waiting for some copper remover to cure off in a rifle barrel....brilliant stuff!

My only gripe is that there is a real "dirth" of good Infi knives in the 5 inch to 4 inch range. The SAR5 is ugly to me and a BATAC is a lot larger than I like in depth and around the choil....a Ratmandu in Infi would be superb....but until then I like using the RMD or some Cowry X blades or R2 Damascus better than what is available to me from Busse. I would love a Tanker A but they are as rare as hen's teeth and so are BAIII's or Basic 5's. A smaller Jackhammer or SJTAC would be brilliant.....a bit off topic but it accounts for why I am still sharpening other steels.
 
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