s90v.. any sharpening tips?

bodog said:
I think it may depend on the stone. I ruined a lanksy diamond hone in one trip because of an S440V Kershaw boa. I currently use my cheap stones on every kind of steel I have or have recently had, notably S440V again, S110V, PSF27, ingot D2, S30V, Elmax, and I now have Vanadis 4 Extra just waiting on me to work on it. No significant dishing or glazing noted at all. They actually do well. The only problem I see is if I'm reprofiling from something like 22 degrees plus down to about 15 degrees on thick blades with high hard carbide volumes. That takes some work. I'm thinking, though I don't know because I don't have diamond hones now, that the diamonds would work faster. I'm hesitant because of what I saw happen very quickly to the only one I've tried and the success I've seen with multiple other kinds of stones, mainly SiC and whatever the Chinese stones are.

I'm looking forward to trying some CBN and quality diamond hones like mentioned earlier by another poster.
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My 'well-worn' Lansky medium diamond hone was in that condition (had some bare spots in the nickel), in part because it was the first diamond hone I'd used with any regularity, and I used it with a heavier touch than is best for them. Their other limitation is their small size (1/2" x 4"), which means it's all the more challenging to tackle really big jobs, like taking a factory grind much more acute (this is what I'd done with the S30V blade I mentioned). It's no wonder they'll wear down more quickly than more typically-sized stones (applies to all of Lansky's hones, regardless of abrasive type). All that said, there was still enough grit left on the diamond hone to finish the S30V rebevelling job, after the standard corundum (AlOx) Lansky hones stopped cutting altogether, because they'd glazed up.

After calibrating my hands for a lighter touch with diamond hones (to maybe 1/3 the pressure, as it's literally 2X-3X the hardness of other abrasives), it became much easier to get good results out of my DMT hones without putting excessive wear on them. That'll always be the killer of a diamond hone, if it's regularly used with the same heavy pressure as is often used on bench stones in SiC or AlOx; it's not necessary for the diamond to cut efficiently, and the much-lighter touch will always work better anyway, across the board.


David
 
Exactly, bodog that's what I was thinking. Lansky stones are not of the same quality as a Norton. Especially the USA made Norton stones. Plus, diamond stone have their malady's as well. Such as you cannot use much pressure while grinding or you'll degrade the diamond hone quickly. Thus, by using light pressure it cuts slower. To the point that my diamond plates cut minimally faster than my SiC stones. With diamond their layer of material is very thin. Thus, it doesn't take much to wear it off. Whereas with the thicker material on a SiC, just level it and keep going. I have many diamond stones from X coarse to fine and don't care to purchase more. Especially looking at their cost compared to a Norton SiC. If I wanted to cut the vanadium carbides I'd take the blade to my X fine ceramic hone with diamond grit left on it. So, glad there is Room for difference of experience on this topic. DM
 
I have 4 DMT plates, an atoma, and several lesser brand diamond hones that I employ quite frequently. I was just making a point that you don't need to mortgage the camp to sharpen S90V. I can get spyderco S90V scary sharp with a two sided SiC stone and a balsa strop loaded with cheap diamond paste from China. Russ
 
David Martin said:
Exactly, bodog that's what I was thinking. Lansky stones are not of the same quality as a Norton. Especially the USA made Norton stones. Plus, diamond stone have their malady's as well. Such as you cannot use much pressure while grinding or you'll degrade the diamond hone quickly. Thus, by using light pressure it cuts slower. To the point that my diamond plates cut minimally faster than my SiC stones. With diamond their layer of material is very thin. Thus, it doesn't take much to wear it off. Whereas with the thicker material on a SiC, just level it and keep going. I have many diamond stones from X coarse to fine and don't care to purchase more. Especially looking at their cost compared to a Norton SiC. If I wanted to cut the vanadium carbides I'd take the blade to my X fine ceramic hone with diamond grit left on it. So, glad there is Room for difference of experience on this topic. DM
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Well said Sir! The old diamond slurry in a water base on ceramic is a neat approach to refining high alloy steels. I learned that trick from bluntcut (Luong) and was pretty impressed once I figured it out. Russ
 
I find S90V and the other high V steels easy to sharpen personally using Silicon Carbide.

Touch ups are trivial using either a SIC loaded stop or a ceramic rod.

Silicon Carbide is for the most part all that I use anymore, I don't bother with anything else when sharpening or reprofling.

The interesting thing is SIC is what I started with back like 40 years ago and after trying many other types of stones etc over the years I came back full circle right back to it.

I don't plan on changing again either and see no reason to.

Some might disagree and that's fine with me. ;)
 
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Ankerson said:
I find S90V and the other high V steels easy to sharpen personally using Silicon Carbide.

Touch ups are trivial using either a SIC loaded stop or a ceramic rod.

Silicon Carbide is for the most part all that I use anymore, I don't bother with anything else when sharpening or reprofling.

The interesting thing is SIC is what I started with back like 40 years ago and after trying many other types of stones etc over the years I came back full circle right back to it.

I don't plan on changing again either and see no reason to.

Some might disagree and that's fine with me. ;)
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The Big Dog has spoken, go buy a crystolon and enjoy it. Russ
 
See stuff like this makes me a bit scared of some of the super steels! I've had no issues sharpening M4, S35VN, and ZDP-189 but I'd have a hard time justifying new stones just for a new blade steel
 
I just got done reprofiling a pretty bad edge grind on Vanadis 4E. It's, according to the specs, very adhesive and abrasion wear resistant. The edge was pretty evenly 31 degrees on one side and on the other it was 23 degrees for about 2.5 inches from the heel toward the tip where the next 2 inches took a massive angle increase to about 40 degrees all the way to the tip. The blade is pretty damned thick, too. I reprofiled it to an even (and still pretty obtuse) 22 degrees on both sides, I'll take it down farther when i recoup from this long job. It now push cuts and shaves with ease. No diamonds (except to strop), no CBN. It took me a day to do it but it was pretty jacked up and it was a lot of wear resistant steel to remove. I don't blame the stones for the amount of time it took, I blame the ridiculous sharpening job from the factory, the steel, and my consistent beer breaks to keep from getting bored.
 
I'm guessing you used your cheap SiC stones to do it. A Norton coarse SiC stone would cut faster and you'd need to level the stone afterward. It's just how they are made. That sounds like some nasty hard work. Still it can be done. Glad you stuck with it. DM
 
Actually, because I didn't want to ruin my cheaper stones I used the congress ruby stones I have because, even though they cut slow, they wear VERY slow, followed by 400 grit moldmaster then 800 grit super soft. Then I transitioned to the cheap stones at 1500 and 2000 grit and finished off with stropping. Pretty much mirror polish. I'll use it for awhile with a polished edge and then resharpen it with a coarse finish to check the difference. I'm trying to figure out what I should test with a knife this thick. Not really a chopper, not really a slicer. I think I may have to find some nails and concrete to hack up :)
 
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