New Stones for the Edge Pro

[doriandk]

My new stones from Jende just arrived (pretty excited). Got the Shapton Pro 120, 220, and 320...and the Chosera 600, 1k, 3k and 10k.

I was just interested in hearing from those who use the Chosera stones. What, if anything do you do beyond the 10k (if anything)? I'm not interested in a debate over the quality of the cutting edge beyond 1 micron. I just wanted to hear what you've tried and how happy you were with the results.

I still have a bunch of all three of the edge pro polishing tapes and glass blanks, so I will play around with them. Do you guys typically get any improvements from the tapes beyond the 10k stone?

 

[giant1]

Wow.....

10K stone!!!

I don't bother going beyond the 2000 tape. I get a great using edge that lasts a long time with stropping in between. Interested to know why you go for such a polished edge? Also interested to see what others do

 

[doriandk]

Interested to know why you go for such a polished edge?

Well, I don't always. I understand the trade-offs for going beyond a certain grit. But sometimes you just try to get as close to the perfect edge as possible. A mirror edge is a beautiful thing.

 

[doriandk]

Wow.....10K stone!!!

If that impresses you, they have a 30k stone. For a mere $199 According to the "Grand Unified Grit Chart" The 10k is about 1.47 micron and the 30k about .49 micron. The edge pro tapes go approximately 1.0, .5. and .25...2k, 3k, and 6k respectively. But I thought I heard some say they had better luck working with the 10k stone than taking it further with the tapes.

 

[grybsh7]

I usually go through the EP stones up to 1000, then 3k 5k 10k Chosera. I do like to finish with a EP 6k tape. Seems to me that it really refines the edge, especially if I slow down and only use an edge trailing stroke with the tape.

 

[doriandk]

I stand corrected. I didn't see the updated grit chart where the actual EP tape grits were posted. Turns out the 6k tape is the only thing that goes beyond the Chosera 10k stone.

 

[Pete84]

I typically go to a strop mounted on an EP blank with a nice coating of "smurf crap" blue compound. For whatever reason, it seems to really take the edge "over the top." Strop on tight grained plain leather strop after that. Then check that all burrs/wire edges are gone, then go to the plain leather strop again. That's more or less my finishing for most knives. Sometimes I go to sub-micron diamond sprays, but rarely.

 

[Ben Dover]

I have Shapton and Chocera stones up to 30K. I also used tapes in the past with good results.

Where to stop depends on the way the knife will be used, the quality of the steel, and other factors.

My "bragging rights" EDC folders, Spyderco Militaries and BM 710s in CPM M-4, M390 and S90V are honed to 30K and then stropped on balsa to .1 micron for mirror polish. Knives of less expensive steels, are seldom honed past the 10K Chocera, or even the 5 K Shapton.

For the low abrasion resistance steels typically used by knives like Buck, Gerber, K-Bar, Case etc, I seldom sharpen past the 2K Shapton.