Lansky sapphire polishing vs ceramic UF

S

sweet_hitch-hiker

Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
1,064
Hi guys. I have both the ceramic lansky kit and the diamond. I've been sharpening with the diamond kit, and then ending with the ceramic uf. i know when i get some harder steeled knives the ceramic wont work, but i was wondering which will have a finer finish- the saphire polishing stone or the ceramic uf?
 
What kind of hard steel? Ceramic will work (and give you a finer edge finish, in my opinion); it might take a little longer, but it should work.
 
I use a Lansky set to reprofile my knives (standard set, supplemented by one medium diamond hone). The ceramics (fine and ultrafine) will polish everything I've tried so far (1095, 420HC, ATS-34, VG-10, D2, and even S30V). The only variable I've noticed among them is how fast it gets there. And most of the extra time spent is in getting the burr formed initially. It helps greatly to lay the foundation for the final polish by progressively lightening pressure with each stone (from Coarse all the way thru the Fine/UF). In fact, after I've confirmed that I've formed the burr, I'll take some extra very light passes with my Medium stone to smooth out some of the rougher grind marks on the blade (inspect with a magnifier). I'll use VERY LIGHT pressure with the Fine (usually begin to see mirror finish at this point), then finish with the UF, again with very light pressure. I use water as lubrication for all. After this, I strop on leather w/green compound, then on bare leather alone.

I don't even own the Lansky Sapphire hone. Don't see much need for it.

Edited to add:
I noticed you mentioned that you go straight from the diamond hones (I'm assuming thru the Fine diamond hone) directly to the ceramic UF. You might want to try using the ceramic Fine (purple stone in blue holder) before you finish with the ceramic UF (white stone in yellow holder). The ceramic Fine will do most of the work to produce the mirror polish. After that, the ceramic UF will add just a little extra shine.
 
Last edited:
its fine for s30v, but i have a ritter mini grip in m4 that i have a feeling will take a long time for it to polish.

but what i'm mostly concerned with his which would give a better polish
 
sweet_hitch-hiker said:
its fine for s30v, but i have a ritter mini grip in m4 that i have a feeling will take a long time for it to polish.

but what i'm mostly concerned with his which would give a better polish
Click to expand...

I haven't tried M4 yet (don't have any). But, as I said earlier, it makes a big difference to allow yourself plenty of time, using progressively lighter pressure as you go. And don't skip any grits along the way.

BTW, I have noticed that frequent, careful stropping with green compound on leather has gradually enhanced the shine on my edges over time (especially so with S30V). I'd assume stropping w/diamond compound at the finer grits would accomplish the same, but I haven't tried that yet.
 
sweet_hitch-hiker said:
but i was wondering which will have a finer finish- the saphire polishing stone or the ceramic uf?
Click to expand...
I remember reading somewhere that the UF stone is ~ 1000 grit and the sapphire stone is ~ 2000 grit.

Having both I find that the UF does the job well enough that I don't use the sapphire. But I'm only using it on AUS 8, 440C and 420 HC.
 
I have no problem getting hair whittling edges off the UF, but the sapphire gives me troubles, and even destroys those edges sometimes.

I don't know what's going on, but the UF works great for me and the sapphire sucks.

If you want to go finer, just wrap abrasive loaded paper around the UF hone
 
Try reducing the amount of pressure to no more than the weight of your arm.
Click to expand...

I know all about using light pressure, but it was still giving me troubles. I did manage to get a hair whittling edge off it once, but it was much more of a pain than with the UF.

I think I'll have to go back and figure out what was going wrong.
 
IMHO the Lansky sapphire polishing stone is the perfect finishing stone for the Lansky set. (I think they even sell it as that.) It will put a mirror polished edge on your knife.
In fact if your bevel is large enough I'm sure you could use it as a mirror if you had too.
 
I just bought the lansky diamond set with a sapphire polishing hone! Glad to see others use it too!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top