S30V Sharpening Stone Advice

FortyTwoBlades said:
The ceramic will result in sub-par performance on S30V. It'll get it sharp, but the edge will degrade faster than if diamond is used, and will prematurely wear down the sharpness of the ceramic abrasive grains, resulting in glazing and burnishing. Will it get the knife sharp enough for use? Yes. Is it an optimum solution? Definitely not.
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I know. But I am only using the ceramic to deburr rather than refine.
It does no favors for the ceramic, but I feel that getting rid of the burr is more important for the edge.
 
Greggy said:
Thanks for the replies. I am considering a DMT Dia-Sharp at 600 grit for starters. Seems a good place to begin. Looking forward to receiving my knife.
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Start with the DMT 325. It is a good all around stone choice for most tasks.
 
jeffbird said:
Start with the DMT 325. It is a good all around stone choice for most tasks.
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I ordered the 325/600 combo stone. I expect to get a really good finish on the 600. Similar to how I use my 1000 JIS stone. Lighten the pressure as the blade refines until I am barely touching the stone. This works better for me than going on to the 6000 stone.
 
I revisited my 20+ year old DMT coarse hone and after the hard scrubbing I did on it it is still good at putting a good edge on a knife even though it has shiny spots along the edges.This morning I took an old kitchen knife to the newer Worksharp trihone and scrubbed a lot of the grit protrusions off and I can see improvement.After that I reverted to normal pressure and it gave me hope.I went to the Wicked Edge site and they said it can take 20-30 knives to break in.I do like having another tool in my sharpening arsenal.
 
The DMT stone arrived today. I began by lightly rubbing my hand across both course and fine surfaces. Noticed the surface textures, which were rough to the touch. I then took two Victorinox paring knives and worked on the edges using the fine side. Afterwards, I noticed that the fine side of the stone had smoothened considerably. I used a very light touch with the knives, so I assume the smoothening of the stone's surface is normal. Both knives took a keen edge and are good to go. Looking forward to further sharpening sessions with the DMT.
 
Yes, it's normal for some loose diamond to be on the surface of the stones, which breaks off after a few uses. Just avoid using high pressure on them and they'll keep working well for years.
 
Thanks for the advice!

I own 35 or so knives. Almost all fall into the mid-range of the spectrum from crap to super steels. So aluminum oxide has worked for the most part. The one exception is my Civivi Brazen Tanto in D2. I could not get a good edge using what I had. So last night I reworked the edge using the course DMT then finished with the fine side and it worked well. Diamonds are a man's best friend, apparently.
 
Greggy said:
The one exception is my Civivi Brazen Tanto in D2. I could not get a good edge using what I had.
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Tool steels are resistant to wear. Some feel that this makes it good for knives, but I think it take a disproportionate amount of work for the edge you get.
 
Ourorboros said:
Tool steels are resistant to wear. Some feel that this makes it good for knives, but I think it take a disproportionate amount of work for the edge you get.
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I understand. I am a fan of the softer steels that sharpen well using aluminum oxide stones. Almost all my knives meet that description. I like to sharpen knives, plain and simple. But now that I have S30V and a few D2 blades, the DMT diamond plate is a welcome addition to my toolbox.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The ceramic will result in sub-par performance on S30V. It'll get it sharp, but the edge will degrade faster than if diamond is used, and will prematurely wear down the sharpness of the ceramic abrasive grains, resulting in glazing and burnishing. Will it get the knife sharp enough for use? Yes. Is it an optimum solution? Definitely not.
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:eek: I have been using both Spyderco Sharpmaker and recently the Spyderco ceramic bench-stones for my knives with include S30v blades. I have ruined all of my sharpening equipment! 😫
 
Greggy said:
I understand. I am a fan of the softer steels that sharpen well using aluminum oxide stones. Almost all my knives meet that description. I like to sharpen knives, plain and simple. But now that I have S30V and a few D2 blades, the DMT diamond plate is a welcome addition to my toolbox.
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Oh, I'm fine with high vanadium steels. Sharpening takes diamonds, but at least it holds a good edge for a while.
 
DavidABQ said:
:eek: I have been using both Spyderco Sharpmaker and recently the Spyderco ceramic bench-stones for my knives with include S30v blades. I have ruined all of my sharpening equipment! 😫
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It's not going to ruin them. You'll likely just need to recondition their surfaces sooner than you otherwise would have. All sintered ceramic stones eventually require it.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
It's not going to ruin them. You'll likely just need to recondition their surfaces sooner than you otherwise would have. All sintered ceramic stones eventually require it.
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That makes me feel better. So far the stones seem to sharpen everything just fine. How does a person know when it is necessary to resurface their stones?
 
DavidABQ said:
That makes me feel better. So far the stones seem to sharpen everything just fine. How does a person know when it is necessary to resurface their stones?
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Generally they'll begin to burnish more than they cut. The stones will still provide a "steeling" effect but will cease to actually cut the steel so much as smear it around. If you start to notice the stone no longer getting so much of a streak of metal on it in use and/or you're having to fight a persistent burr that's usually a sign.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Generally they'll begin to burnish more than they cut. The stones will still provide a "steeling" effect but will cease to actually cut the steel so much as smear it around. If you start to notice the stone no longer getting so much of a streak of metal on it in use and/or you're having to fight a persistent burr that's usually a sign.
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That description seems to fit the effect that made me realize the limitations of ceramic hones used on steels with significant vanadium content, like S30V. I started noticing that effect about 10 years ago or so, when I was still learning a lot of things about sharpening. The 'persistent burr' described is what I perceived at the time as a very weak edge on S30V after too much attempted honing on the ceramics alone. The edge would seem sharp initially, in cutting paper or whatever, but would then rapidly fail after a few cuts in paper or anything else. I noticed a similar effect using inadequate stropping compounds for the steel as well, like green compound I attempted to use to refine & polish S30V. Always disappointing results, tried that way, with what I now assume was basically a flimsy wire edge on the S30V steel.

The possible upside to that burnishing or steeling effect is that it can still be used for things like deburring on S30V. Done very, very minimally, it can work pretty well to clean up the edge of weak burr remants, so long as it isn't taken too far. I sometimes deburr steels like this with maybe 2 passes per side on a medium or fine ceramic rod, at the absolute lightest touch I can manage. I don't take it any further than that on the ceramic, for the sake of not degrading the bite or durability of the edge on these steels, and also for the sake of keeping the hone from becoming prematurely worn or glazed by the vanadium carbides in these steels.
 
Wanted to thank everyone again for participating in this discussion. I have learned a lot and hope you have too. Later...
 
Eze lap diamond plates.
I prefer the 3x8 size, but 2x6 works well to.
I mostly use 600g, and often enough, the 320g.
Us made tools, last I aknew.
 
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