Optimal Grit for S110V PM2?

Cypress

Cypress

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As the title states, I have a PM2 in S110V, and I sharpen with the EP Apex using the EP stones.

I generally sharpen at 15º/S with no microbevel up to 400 grit. My cutting tasks are almost purely EDC, and are mostly nipping the little hard pieces of skin off of the sides of my wife and my fingernails.

I'm currently bringing it up to the 1000 EP stone in an attempt to get more push-cutting out of the blade, but should I even bother with S110V? I've done a lot of research vie forums, and it seems like S110V is a workhorse steel that doesn't like high-polish low-angle edges.

My question:

Should I bring this S110V up to a polished low-angle edge, or just leave it "rough" and get some M390 (PM2 or BM 765) instead?

I have a BM 480-1 in M390 that I reground thin and took to a polished 10º/S and it's easily the nastiest edge I've got, but I really don't care for the knife (shady lock).
 
I don't use an EP but generally for my EDC tasks, I never go above 600 grit and like that edge on my PM2 S110v.

I also thought the S110v is basically the same as the M390, just different company but since I am no knife nut I maybe wrong but that is what I heard and read somewhere!
 
My manix 2 in s110v was very chippy below 20 dps. No matter how coarse or fine it was
 
I guess I favor an EDC steel that can attain a higher level of sharpness than edge retention, and that has me second guessing S110V.

I don't mind sharpening a knife more often.
 
I believe Sal stated that S110V likes a low grit toothy edge.
And I agree seeing as I've tried for hours on a few and was less than successful getting my polished edge that I prefer.
 
I think you need diamond abrasives to polish S110V. I have never had a good success with other abrasives on S110V and am currently waiting for high grit diamond stones and polish tapes.


Miso
 
Have you tried a low grit finish( 600-800) with high grit diamond stroping compounds (1-0.5 micron)?
 
DeadboxHero said:
Have you tried a low grit finish( 600-800) with high grit diamond stroping compounds (1-0.5 micron)?
Click to expand...

I haven't... Frankly, I've been avoiding the slippery slope of diamond compounds and legitimate strops :o
 
Cypress said:
I haven't... Frankly, I've been avoiding the slippery slope of diamond compounds and legitimate strops :o
Click to expand...

ur missing out. lately ive been dabbling in the dmt pastes after various stones... ive found 1000 and 600 taken across the 6,3,1 micron on hard backed demin produces a nice looking edge that is razor sharp that really bites in...
 
I agree with Wilson, the key to s110v I feel is polished toothy edges

You don't want to Sharpen off the teeth but polish them with diamond spray or emulsion compounds on leather, balsa, basswood denim etc.

I'd just stick with 1 micron that will do everything ya need.

Then you can play with what stone to finish at before you jump to the Strop.
 
I haven't had to sharpen any of my S110 or S125 blades yet, but to get ready for the task I bought an 8X2 DMT DUO Sharp Hard Coat "stone". It is supposed to hang on to its diamond particles better than the non Hard Coat versions. One side is Extra Fine at 9 microns; the other is Fine at 25 microns. I asked the DMT engineer how they got better adhesion with the diamond abrasives on the new model. He said if he told me, he'd have to kill me (big trade secret).
If I were you, I would get a box joint, German made, curved jaw, cuticle nipper in the 1/4 jaw size. The ability to flush cut skin tags and hang nails with the proper equipment cannot be overstated.
 
DMT Coarse and balsa strop with 1 micron diamond paste. PM steels prepared in this way are hard to beat in both sharpness and edge retention.
 
I've had good luck both with leaving it at a coarse DMT and stropped with some diamond compound, and running it to a fine DMT with an EEF microbevel left a screaming sharp edge as well.
 
i have spent hours trying to get a polished edge on my PM2/s110v!but can't bring it that,best i could do is get rid of the factory grind marks!now it has a flat level bevel that's vary smooth but no where near polished,so i just keep it like that!i gave up,but man this steel holds its edge longer then other steels i have tried.
 
Finish up with a 1 micron stropping as others suggested, you won't be sorry. I've got the blurple PM2 in S110V and I always run it across the strop after working to 800 grit finish. Comes out toothy but polished & sharp as hell
 
I like thin low angle edges as well.
My S110V Military is .008" BTE with a 12 degree per side edge.
I use this knife for trimming micarta and G10 flash as well as burrs from cutting and grinding aluminum and stainless tubes.
I sharpen to a 1200 DMT and then strop on leather with 600 SiC paste.
I do the same edges on my customs and love it.
Gives a great edge to 10V, S125V, S110V, as well as low Carbide steels like CPM 154.
 
I've read that silicon carbide isn't hard enough to actually cut and abrade vanadium carbides and some of the other harder carbides in blade steel? Anyone know about this? Or has anyone compared stropping with both SiC and diamond of comparable micron size to see if they notice a difference?

I'm fairly certain I tried a SiC based compound years ago and got the same results as I did with chromium oxide and the more common locally available compounds. And that was that I took a nice shaving edge and made it dull!

I got 1 and 0.5 micron diamond spray and still consider that the best accessory I've ever bought for my knife addic, ummm....hobby. That was the only change I made and then instantly stropping made an amazing refinement to the edge I was working. My bad angles and pressure didn't seem to round the edge and dull it anymore and I almost always ended up with a (substantially) sharper edge. The only reason I say 'almost' is that there has been a few times that I remember using the 0.5 micron spray that seemed like I may have had the angle wrong and the edge was not an improvement. It may have been slightly worse but was still a sharp tree topping edge as opposed to not shaving at all like happened with other compounds. I got Hand American diamond spray if anyone is wondering. I got the 18 carat bigger bottles which is not the "concentrated" version and I would guess they are 12 or 16 oz bottles and from the little I've used in the last 8-10 years, they will probably last a life time or 2.

And the more high alloy 'super' steels I use, like my recent first with S110V, the more I appreciate my diamond loaded strops. I normally touch up my edges when they just barely shave anymore. Depending on how much I use a knife before checking it, that can be anywhere from not shaving smooth to barely scraping a few hairs off with pressure. I start by stropping on my 1 micron diamond loaded on smooth, hard leather on wood strop. If that doesn't make a noticeable difference after about 10 passes per side I pull out the Sharpmaker with the flats of the stock fine white rods. I alternate sides and check the edge after 10 passes per side and keep going until it's popping hairs easily, usually 20-40 strokes/side, and then move back to the 1 micron strop. With the high alloy steels I end up with an aggressive edge that will easily whittle hairs above the skin and make lots of little curls. If I also pull the blade and make a slicing motion while tree topping arm hair it's like a buzz saw and very aggressive. A slicing motion will fly thru most material like nothing I've experienced before. It doesn't push cut like a polished edge and won't even start to push cut TP or paper towel held in 2 spots and pulled tight. But add a slicing motion and it sails thru it very smoothly, cleanly, and without a rough edge.

I have been using knives with M390, S90V, and S110V lately (and really wanting to try Maxamet) and really love how they respond to this way of sharpening as it's fast, easy, gets crazy sharp (or what I consider sharp at least), and it also seems aggressive and will buzz saw right thru stuff with a slicing motion. It also usually seems to hold this edge for a good while. I need to experiment more thoroughly with a higher grit, more polished edge and also try some of my older, lower alloy steels just to remind myself how they behave and make sure I'm not remembering them wrong as it's been a while since I used anything 'less' than M390.

Anyways, I'm rambling as usual but I would be really interested to hear from anyone that has compared diamond to SiC on a strop.
 
S110V polishes very very nice ;) this is 15 dps
With 1000 grid micro. Edge holds forever.




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