Hapstone RS - looking for user experiences

[Samwise2010]

Hi,

I am looking into a system for sharpening my knives, price is not a huge consideration over future proofing and great results. I am a buy once cry once type. I am hoping to have a systen I can sharpen my EDCs and my beloved 7 inch fillet knife. I was looking into TSPROF but I would have to order from the US. I can get Hapstone product here though, and the RS looks like it would work for me, I like that its high quality and compact, but I was wondering from people who have used this system how big of a knife I can sharpen with it. I would order the RS "black" version whch looks like it would support a fillet knife better. But open to thoughts!

Thanks so much,

Sam

 

[jeronimo]

I own and use an RS Black system. It's a great, compact little system.


About 9" or 230mm would be the max blade length you can sharpen on it.
The limiting factor with longer blades on this system is that the blade will interfere with the base, when rotating the blade.
Your shorter 7" filet knife might or might not interfere with the base...

This video review clearly shows this interference, at 4:25 minutes in, and how he gets around it.

Hapstone recently released this clamp mount for the RS, which will mitigate this interference, when mounted on the edge of a bench or table.


Here's a video review showing it in use...

Also, any of the modules that Hapstone offers will interchange between the R2 and RS systems.
The R2 rotating clamp module is the same module that the RS uses.


Let me know if you have any other questions, and I'll try to help you if I can.

 

[Samwise2010]

thats great thanks for the info... I see how it could be difficult rotating the clamp with the base, I didn't think of that.
Can I ask you about stones? If you were to start fresh, which stones would you recommend in terms of brand and grits? I am reading good things about metal plated CBN from hapstone and PDTools (I guess hapstone is just as good if you pre-condition?), and another off question, do any of the stones pose any health related issues breathing in dust from certain types of stones?
thanks Mr. Jeronimo!

I own and use an RS Black system. It's a great, compact little system.


About 9" or 230mm would be the max blade length you can sharpen on it.
The limiting factor with longer blades on this system is that the blade will interfere with the base, when rotating the blade.
Your shorter 7" filet knife might or might not interfere with the base...

This video review clearly shows this interference, at 4:25 minutes in, and how he gets around it.

Hapstone recently released this clamp mount for the RS, which will mitigate this interference, when mounted on the edge of a bench or table.


Here's a video review showing it in use...

Also, any of the modules that Hapstone offers will interchange between the R2 and RS systems.
The R2 rotating clamp module is the same module that the RS uses.


Let me know if you have any other questions, and I'll try to help you if I can.

 

[jeronimo]

Can I ask you about stones? If you were to start fresh, which stones would you recommend in terms of brand and grits? I am reading good things about metal plated CBN from hapstone and PDTools (I guess hapstone is just as good if you pre-condition?), and another off question, do any of the stones pose any health related issues breathing in dust from certain types of stones?

My current favorite stones are the PDT Metallic Bonded Premium CBN stones. They are not plated stones.
The metallic bonded stone is 3mm thick, and should far outlast plated or resin bonded stones.
This, I believe, is why they are so expensive! Remember, buy once, cry once.

Poltava (PDT) Metallic CBN Stone

CBN stone on copper-tin (Metallic) bond of Poltava Diamond Tool Factory. Monolayer bar on a blank for Hapstone sharpeners The stones are on the new M1001 binder - improved binder of 2021, in which nickel, titanium is added, which allows the stone to work longer and less greasy! 📍The grain size...

www.hapstone-usa.com

I have no experience with the Hapstone Premium CBN stones, and have nothing to say about them, other than they are also metallic bonded stones.

The only plated stones I have and use are the Atoma diamond plated stones, from Jende Ind.

I typically use the Atoma 140 grit diamond plated stone to do quick edge repairs and/or reprofiling.
***It's a real workhorse and my first stone recommendation.

***After that, the 120, 240, and 400 grit PDT Metallic Bonded Premium CBN stones will get you sticky sharp satin edges, every time.

If you use light strokes when finishing, stropping becomes optional.
I sometimes strop with wood or leather strops, with 1 or 3 micron diamond paste applied to them.

I don't usually go for polished edges, so, if that's your end goal, you'll have to go up to some of the higher grit stones.

As far as breathing dust from certain types of stones, I always use soapy water as a lubricant, while sharpening.
It's inexpensive, readily available, easy to clean up, and mitigates any dust concerns.

 

[Samwise2010]

Thanks kind sir for taking the time to answer an internet stranger with such detailed answers! I was actually thinking of getting an atoma to start working for a reprofile (I have one of my dads knives in mind which has a chip). But that sounds like a good progression up to 400 grit... I dont want to chase super mirror edges but I have a good cutting blade that could handle a finer finish, so I was thinking of getting a 800 or 1000 and a 2000. Do you think if I picked up an 800, the 2000 would take too long to finish over it?
Do you do stropping with your R2 or do it manually? do you use any of the emusions/solutions (gunny juice etc) with stropping?

thanks again!

My current favorite stones are the PDT Metallic Bonded Premium CBN stones. They are not plated stones.
The metallic bonded stone is 3mm thick, and should far outlast plated or resin bonded stones.
This, I believe, is why they are so expensive! Remember, buy once, cry once.

Poltava (PDT) Metallic CBN Stone

CBN stone on copper-tin (Metallic) bond of Poltava Diamond Tool Factory. Monolayer bar on a blank for Hapstone sharpeners The stones are on the new M1001 binder - improved binder of 2021, in which nickel, titanium is added, which allows the stone to work longer and less greasy! 📍The grain size...

www.hapstone-usa.com

I have no experience with the Hapstone Premium CBN stones, and have nothing to say about them, other than they are also metallic bonded stones.

The only plated stones I have and use are the Atoma diamond plated stones, from Jende Ind.

I typically use the Atoma 140 grit diamond plated stone to do quick edge repairs and/or reprofiling.
***It's a real workhorse and my first stone recommendation.

***After that, the 120, 240, and 400 grit PDT Metallic Bonded Premium CBN stones will get you sticky sharp satin edges, every time.

If you use light strokes when finishing, stropping becomes optional.
I sometimes strop with wood or leather strops, with 1 or 3 micron diamond paste applied to them.

I don't usually go for polished edges, so, if that's your end goal, you'll have to go up to some of the higher grit stones.

As far as breathing dust from certain types of stones, I always use soapy water as a lubricant, while sharpening.
It's inexpensive, readily available, easy to clean up, and mitigates any dust concerns.

 

[jeronimo]

But that sounds like a good progression up to 400 grit... I dont want to chase super mirror edges but I have a good cutting blade that could handle a finer finish, so I was thinking of getting a 800 or 1000 and a 2000. Do you think if I picked up an 800, the 2000 would take too long to finish over it?
Do you do stropping with your R2 or do it manually? do you use any of the emusions/solutions (gunny juice etc) with stropping?

thanks again!

You can easily make the jump from 400 to 1000, and then on to the 2000 grit with the CBN stones.
The jump between 800 and 1000 isn't worth the money spent for the 800 grit stone.

I have the means to do both styles of stropping. Yes, I am using Gunny Juice 3, 1, and 0.5 micron emulsions on my strops.
I primarily use 3 and 1 micron strops, and rarely, 0.5 micron.
I'm a toothy-edge kinda guy...

 

[Samwise2010]

You can easily make the jump from 400 to 1000, and then on to the 2000 grit with the CBN stones.
The jump between 800 and 1000 isn't worth the money spent for the 800 grit stone.

I have the means to do both styles of stropping. Yes, I am using Gunny Juice 3, 1, and 0.5 micron emulsions on my strops.
I primarily use 3 and 1 micron strops, and rarely, 0.5 micron.
I'm a toothy-edge kinda guy...

That’s great info and will get me started! I actually went with 120/240/400/800/2000 I’m looking forward to experiment with ending on 400 and 800 grit to try out some toothier edges! If I feel the need to get a 1000 down the road I will.

Do you have a strop attached to your Hapstone or do it on a separate piece? I’m just researching what kind of strop to get.
Thanks!

 

[jeronimo]

That’s great info and will get me started! I actually went with 120/240/400/800/2000 I’m looking forward to experiment with ending on 400 and 800 grit to try out some toothier edges! If I feel the need to get a 1000 down the road I will.

Do you have a strop attached to your Hapstone or do it on a separate piece? I’m just researching what kind of strop to get.
Thanks!

You'll be pleasantly surprised by the edge the 400 grit stone leaves. I have the 800 and 1000, but rarely use them.

If you look at the first picture of my post on Friday, that's a beechwood strop mounted in the stone holder of the RS.
Also, you may notice the upside-down "3" on the edge of the strop. That's my 3 micron Gunny Juice strop.

 

[Samwise2010]

You'll be pleasantly surprised by the edge the 400 grit stone leaves. I have the 800 and 1000, but rarely use them.

If you look at the first picture of my post on Friday, that's a beechwood strop mounted in the stone holder of the RS.
Also, you may notice the upside-down "3" on the edge of the strop. That's my 3 micron Gunny Juice strop.

I’ll check that out thanks! It’s interested that finishing on 400 is what you find works well. Do you think the quality of finish would a a bit finer on these premium CBNs than it would be on a diamond plate? Meaning the CBNs may finish a bit finer for the grit number? I’m not sure how universal the numbers are.

 

[jeronimo]

They do finish finer than diamonds.
I may pick up a couple of the metallic bonded diamond stones from PDT to try out, in the future,
but I'm pretty happy with the stones I have now.

The PDT stones use the "FEPA F" classification (F400, etc.) when looking at the grit chart.

Grit Chart

A logarithmic scale has the property of equidistant spacing for any geometric progression, meaning that a ideal stone series will be uniformly spaced.

www.gritomatic.com

 

[Samwise2010]

They do finish finer than diamonds.
I may pick up a couple of the metallic bonded diamond stones from PDT to try out, in the future,
but I'm pretty happy with the stones I have now.

The PDT stones use the "FEPA F" classification (F400, etc.) when looking at the grit chart.

Grit Chart

A logarithmic scale has the property of equidistant spacing for any geometric progression, meaning that a ideal stone series will be uniformly spaced.

www.gritomatic.com

Do you recommend a honing stone to condition the metal CBNs? Or do you use silica powder?

 

[Bdtry]

Do you recommend a honing stone to condition the metal CBNs? Or do you use silica powder?

For lapping to even the stone you will need a lapping plate and silicon carbide (SiC) powder, for cleaning and freshening up the stone you can use a nagura stone.

 

[jeronimo]

Do you recommend a honing stone to condition the metal CBNs? Or do you use silica powder?

I lapped mine with SiC powder, which I've only had to do once (last month) in the two years I've owned them.

Here's a thread on the subject, with a lot of good information.

Lapping/Truing Poltava Metallic Bonded Stones with Silicon Carbide

I recently picked up some Poltava Diamond Tools metallic-bond diamond and metallic-bond CBN stones, in addition to some resin-bond CBN stones. They were purchased with ease and great customer service from Practical Sharpening. They're all fantastic, but I truly love the metallic-bonded CBN...

www.bladeforums.com

Pay particular attention to the posts made by DeadboxHero in the thread. Very good information.

 

[Hapstone Official]

They do finish finer than diamonds.
I may pick up a couple of the metallic bonded diamond stones from PDT to try out, in the future,
but I'm pretty happy with the stones I have now.

The PDT stones use the "FEPA F" classification (F400, etc.) when looking at the grit chart.

Grit Chart

A logarithmic scale has the property of equidistant spacing for any geometric progression, meaning that a ideal stone series will be uniformly spaced.

www.gritomatic.com

If you allow me to correct you a little, PDT stones are currently using the JIS classification but are also moving to their light classification, from coarse to ultra fine, this is what will be waiting for customers after September-November, and it is best to consider this abrasive in terms of microns, it will be more accurate.

Thank you for the explanation!

Dear Mr S Samwise2010
0, if you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us by private message or you can write to us by e-mail.
Ifno@hapstone.pro I will be able to provide you with enough information to make your decision more convenient.

Mario
Hapstone !

 

[jeronimo]

If you allow me to correct you a little, PDT stones are currently using the JIS classification but are also moving to their light classification, from coarse to ultra fine, this is what will be waiting for customers after September-November, and it is best to consider this abrasive in terms of microns, it will be more accurate.

Mario
Hapstone !

Thanks for the clarification, Mario!

 

[Hapstone Official]

Thanks for the clarification, Mario!

It was a pleasure to help you!