Honing stone question

[Grapevine]

I'm curious about the honing stones that are available in the hardware stores. It has coarse on one side and fine on the other. The pakaging says silicone carbide. My question is how well silicone carbide cuts. For rebevelling a blade, is this stone sufficient to do a fairly quick job on ATS-34, or S30V, or INFI? How does it compare to a ceramic stone, or an Arkansas soft stone?

I know a diamond one would be the ultimate, but the silicone carbide costs around $12. I don't know if the low price is going to be offset by tons of time spent trying to grind a hard metal though.

I currently have a Spyderco white ceramic stone, around 8" x 3" I think. It's fine for touch ups but I want to try my hand at actually grinding a different angle bevel.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Silicon carbide is actually harder than what most hones are made out of and thus will grind the blades faster.

-Cliff

 

[Jeff Clark]

The silicon carbide should cut faster than either ceramics or a soft Arkansas stone. The silicon carbide feels rougher and harder when you use it than other cones. Here is a link to a comparison chart.

http://www.ameritech.net/users/knives/norton.htm

 

[Grapevine]

Thanks guys. That chart is really helpful. I'm amazed to see how fast waterstones cut.

 

[The Tourist]

Extremely interesting, in fact, I made a copy to carry in my Edgepro packing kit.

Speaking of Edgepro, Ben Dale just sent me a FINE diamond to help me straighten out the bevel of a knife made from CPM-S30V. While he is not very enthusiastic about diamonds, he thought that it might cut better while making this knife's bevel more uniform. He also warned me about the diamond's shorter life span.

The good news is that based on this chart, a waterstone of 180 grit should cut about as well as some diamonds. I would not have guessed that.