Polishing S110V

miso2

miso2

Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Messages
2,633
Hi all,

I am unable to polish the edge of my Manix2 LW S110V with EdgePro. The EdgePro stone series works very well for M390. They work to some extent for S110V, but I have not been satisfied with the result. I've got some silicone carbide stones from Congress, which provide stones up to #600. The edge is fine after #600. I just would like to put a polished edge on S110V to compare it with M390. Are there any ways to get nice polished edge on S110V with EdgePro?


Miso
 
Show an example of what you mean by polished. If you mean "mirror" finishes you'll need to go much higher than 600 grit on any steel, so it doesn't make sense when you say you've been able to get polished edges with a 600 grit stone.

That is, unless you mean something other than mirrored and having some kind of example would help us help you.
 
If you mean hair removing levels of sharpness off of 600 grit, then that's more understandable but then it's a non-issue because silicon carbide should he more than adequate to give the same level of sharpness to any kind of steel. Some steels just take longer.

So maybe concentrate on keeping the stone even against the edge, sharpen until you have hit the apex, then flip and do it again. If you're removing a lot of steel because of a reprofile job or something then sometimes a burr will be created without actually hitting the apex due to the amount of steel being removed.
 
For true mirror polish, which means also polishing the vanadium carbides in the steel (110V has a ton of them), an abrasive that's harder than the carbides will be needed. That means either diamond or CBN (probably as polishing tapes for the EP, in this case). SiC can cut the steel and make a 'sharp' edge at coarser & medium grits, but only by moving the carbides out of the way. At polishing-grit sizes though (below ~5µ or so), SiC isn't actually hard enough to polish or shape/abrade the vanadium carbides themselves, which are harder. Diamond/CBN are the only abrasives actually hard enough to abrade/shape or polish vanadium carbides. Less-hard abrasives like SiC or AlOx can do some limited polishing of these steels, but will leave it somewhat hazy/foggy, because the carbides won't respond to it.


David
 
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Hi all,

Thanks for the reply. Let me clarify the issue a bit.

I have EP stones up to #1000, Congress Mold Master at #400 and #600, and EP polish tapes (#2000 and #3000). EP stones and tapes worked great to put nice polished edge on M390 (not mirror I guess). But I felt they did not work well with S110V. Or at least the edge felt pretty rough even after #3000 tape as compared to that on M390 (or ZDP-189). After learning that AlO is not hard enough for Vanadium carbide on this forum, I got Congress Si carbide stones. I run Congress #400 and #600 and then EP #1000 to the tapes. Still I don't see much improvement (although the edges after #400 and #600 are pretty nice). I understand that these are all subjective.

Based on what David noted, I guess I just need to work longer with the #2000 tape until the #600 scratches disappear, and then try to polish as much as possible with #3000 tape.
Would this work? Or should I get EP's diamond plates?


Miso
 
I actually use 2 different 600 grit moldmasters to mirror. The first one I use after the 400 grit is kept flat and clean. A caveat though, never wet the 600 grit moldmasters because if you do, they'll turn to mush. My second mounted 600 grit mm is loaded and glazed. It's the final stone that I use. I can get quite satisfactory polish from the glazed 600 mm. After that, I go to the polish tapes but I old polish tapes with diamond paste. I just clean them and load with the paste.

Here's my S110V native with my treatment.

EDC8-30-13_zpsc03f8e89.jpg
 
Wow. singularity35, the knife looks great. I can get a shiny edge (not that shiny though) on M390 but have never seen it on my Manix 2 S110V. I will definitely get and try diamond paste. Do you use the same paste to load #600 stone and tape? What is the particle size? Thanks for the info!

Miso
 
miso2 said:
Wow. singularity35, the knife looks great. I can get a shiny edge (not that shiny though) on M390 but have never seen it on my Manix 2 S110V. I will definitely get and try diamond paste. Do you use the same paste to load #600 stone and tape? What is the particle size? Thanks for the info!

Miso
Click to expand...

Thanks. :)

I don't load the 600 grit stone. I just use 2 600 grit stones, one kept clean by lapping when it loads, and the other I just let it get loaded. I use DMT pastes from 3 and 1 microns. I use the 3u on the yellow tape and the 1u on the blue. My tapes are really old too and I think it's just the paste that polishes. I just clean with metal polish when they get dirty and let them dry. The metal polish seems to turn to powder when it dries, I just blow it off before applying paste.

A little practice does go a long way with edge pro technique. You'll soon get the hang of it. One thing to keep in mind is to make the last 20 or so strokes with each stone as light as possible.
 
Update. Since I cannot find a vendor which supplies DMT pastes, I tried to polish S110V edge with Edge Pro polishing tapes (#2,000 and #3,000) as much as possible in the mean time. I had to use them much longer on S110V and with more pressure than when using them on other steels like M390 and ZDP-189 to get a satisfiable result. But at least the edge is shiny and pretty sharp.

IMG_0329.JPG



I will try diamond pastes at some point.
Thank you all for the suggestions!


Miso
 
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miso2 said:
Update. Since I cannot find a vendor which supplies DMT pastes, I tried to polish S110V edge with Edge Pro polishing tapes (#2,000 and #3,000) as much as possible in the mean time. I had to use them much longer on S110V and with more pressure than when using them on other steels like M390 and ZDP-189 to get a satisfiable result. But at least the edge is shiny and pretty sharp.

I will try diamond pastes at some point.
Thank you all for the suggestions!


Miso
Click to expand...

Try lapidary supply stores. They're basically stores which supply jewelers and whatnot. They don't market to knife people though, kind of like how Congress was making stones for industrial purposes without thinking about knife people. You can find good deals because they're not used to hyping things to people who are ignorant. They're used to dealing with people who know exactly what they want and why, but in the jewelry world. They can tell you all about their products on a professional level as it relates to the field they're concerned with. Start asking them about polishing carbides in the steel matrix and they won't know, ask them about the size of the diamond flakes in their paste and they won't know. But that's where you go to find good deals. I bought some really good diamond paste from these guys. It was something like 10 bucks per 5 gram tube. I should have gotten the 2 gram tubes because as it looks right now these tubes will last me another 5 or 10 years. I haven't used even a quarter of any one tube and I've had them for at least 18 months. I get really good results.


http://www.arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/catalog/index.php?catunid=65


rKKpPX4.jpg
 
miso2 said:
Update. Since I cannot find a vendor which supplies DMT pastes, I tried to polish S110V edge with Edge Pro polishing tapes (#2,000 and #3,000) as much as possible in the mean time. I had to use them much longer on S110V and with more pressure than when using them on other steels like M390 and ZDP-189 to get a satisfiable result. But at least the edge is shiny and pretty sharp.

I will try diamond pastes at some point.
Thank you all for the suggestions!


Miso
Click to expand...


3M makes diamond lapping films that are pretty inexpensive as long as you don't need large sizes. You could trim them to fit your EP blanks and are capable of making a real nice finish. They come down to sub micron sizes, can be had in many sizes at outfits selling supplies for fiber optic industry.
 
miso2 said:
Update. Since I cannot find a vendor which supplies DMT pastes, I tried to polish S110V edge with Edge Pro polishing tapes (#2,000 and #3,000) as much as possible in the mean time. I had to use them much longer on S110V and with more pressure than when using them on other steels like M390 and ZDP-189 to get a satisfiable result. But at least the edge is shiny and pretty sharp.

I will try diamond pastes at some point.
Thank you all for the suggestions!


Miso
Click to expand...

Knifecenter (a BF member dealer) is where I got my DMT Dia-Paste (6/3/1µ). Might be worth checking to see if they'll ship to you (I see your location is in Japan); they say they ship worldwide, in a partnership with 'iGlobal Stores'. A couple links below for Knifecenter; one for their international shipping policies, and the other is a link to their DMT Dia-Paste listings:

http://www2.knifecenter.com/info/international-shipping

http://www2.knifecenter.com/kc_new/...te&waDESCRIPTIONdatarq=Dia-Paste&series=1621&


David
 
Wow. More suggestions! Thank you, guys! I love this forum:)

I added a picture of the edge after using the polishing tapes in my previous post. But the one Bodog showed looks much better......

I was able to get a knife from Knifecenter in the past, so should be able to get some DMT paste from them.
But 3M lapping films, which HeavyHanded suggested, sounds very attractive, as they can easily be put on Edge Pro.
Or 5 to 10 year worth of DMT pastes. Hmmm....



Miso
 
TravisH,

Thanks for the info. The 3pk looks fantastic, and they seem to take international orders without a hassle.


Miso
 
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