Sharpening LC200N?

J

John_0917

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Apr 15, 2014
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My new Native Salt needs its first sharpening thanks to the cardboard feast I subjected it to yesterday (which went pretty well), what is the recommended grit to finish it?

Plan I had is to use one my Lansky:

70 grit extra course diamond (to set angle first time)
600 grit fine diamond
1000 grit alumina extra fine

Planning on running it at 40*, I want a durable long term edge, if it shaves hair I consider that to be top tier sharpness for my purposes.

Thoughts? This is a new steel to me.
 
I don't have any of that stuff but I've had a Spidiechef for well over a year now and I just hit it with the Sharpmaker for a few passes when it's not sharp and it picks up an edge fast. I'd guess your plan should work out fine.

It's not a super hard tool steel, to me it seems to get sharp fast like HAP40.
 
I sharpened my Caribbean at 17 dps and it’s was easy to sharpen. I would put the effort on par with Vg10/154CM. It’s one of those steels that out cuts the effort put into sharpening it.
 
This sounds like reprofiling rather than just sharpening. I'm not familiar with Lansky stones. 70 grit sounds very coarse. You could spend a lot of time at 600 trying to get rid of 70 grit scratches. Do you have anything between 70 and 600? Maybe just use 600 and 1K at the current edge angle?
 
I did 70, 260, 600 and 1000 with poor results, it’s not shaving sharp at all (20dps)...going to take another run at it tomorrow at 600 (diamond) and possibly 1000 (ceramic), not sure why it went so poorly, from what everyone is saying this should sharpen up well.

Hopefully next time goes better...
 
Several possible reasons. 70 to 600 seems like a big leap, as I mentioned previously. How does it look under a magnifier? Do you have a way to get pics of the edge you can post?
 
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I started at 600 grit, then my progression was at 800 and 1200. Then I stropped the blade to 2.5 micron.
 
I'm no steel expert, but it sounds to me like you might be making it more complicated than LC200N actually requires for a basic resharpening. I only use my Sharpmaker, and it's quite easy.

Jim
 
RipD said:
Several possible reasons. 70 to 600 seems like a big leap, as I mentioned previously. How does it look under a magnifier? Do you have a way to get pics of the edge you can post?
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I didn’t do that, I went 70-260-600-1000...I can’t get it clear and magnified to post but I’m going to take another run at it later, sounds like I many have over complicated this!
 
James Y said:
I'm no steel expert, but it sounds to me like you might be making it more complicated than LC200N actually requires for a basic resharpening. I only use my Sharpmaker, and it's quite easy.

Jim
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What stones, angle do you use on the SM to touch up?

John_0917 said:
I didn’t do that, I went 70-260-600-1000...I can’t get it clear and magnified to post but I’m going to take another run at it later, sounds like I many have over complicated this!
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Did you ever figure it out? I've got a Native Salt, and it's my first LC200n knife. I'd like to touch it up but don't know whether to just use the SM or break out the KME.
 
Cscotttsss said:
What stones, angle do you use on the SM to touch up?



Did you ever figure it out? I've got a Native Salt, and it's my first LC200n knife. I'd like to touch it up but don't know whether to just use the SM or break out the KME.
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I eventually got a good (hair shaving) edge using all ceramics on a Lansky turnbox, I would suggest using the SM on yours.

I have to say, the corrosion resistance is excellent with LC but the claims that it has "S30V level edge retention" are definitely NOT true. Better than H1? Yes...on par with S30V/XHP/CPM154...no.
 
I haven't had to do any heavy sharpening yet, but I've easily touched up the edge of my Caribbean with the SM's white rods. I had them at 20 degrees per side.

Jim
 
Really for a steel like LC200N you could get by easily with a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. But do buy the extra stones you can get for it. Because the diamond, Ultra-Fine and CBN stones will really enhance the performance of that sharpening kit. For most steels I've found that Spyderco's Ultra-Fine stones really put a great final edge on them.

Now for the one Brother who mentioned that nice line up of diamond benchstones I sure can't argue with that set up either. I use two diamond benchstones even before I use my 204 Sharpmaker. Because you can sure reprofile a really beat up blade with some coarse and extra-coarse diamond stones that will save you a lot of time.. Because with a really beat up and dinged up blade you need an aggressive stone for quick stock removal to save a lot of time.

I even have great results doing most of my final edges on my M390 Military with a Spyderco Ultra-Fine stone.
 
JD Spydo said:
Really for a steel like LC200N you could get by easily with a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. But do buy the extra stones you can get for it. Because the diamond, Ultra-Fine and CBN stones will really enhance the performance of that sharpening kit. For most steels I've found that Spyderco's Ultra-Fine stones really put a great final edge on them.

I even have great results doing most of my final edges on my M390 Military with a Spyderco Ultra-Fine stone.
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Did you find having both the CBN and Diamond to be useful? Right now I just have the medium (brown) and the fine (white) that came with mine but have been thinking of getting something more coarse. I usually just go to a strop after the white fine stone. Is the ultra fine worthwhile too?
 
John_0917 said:
I eventually got a good (hair shaving) edge using all ceramics on a Lansky turnbox, I would suggest using the SM on yours.

I have to say, the corrosion resistance is excellent with LC but the claims that it has "S30V level edge retention" are definitely NOT true. Better than H1? Yes...on par with S30V/XHP/CPM154...no.
Click to expand...

I'd have to politely disagree with that. I've tested both S30V and LC200N for edge retention and found the difference to be very minimal. With both edges being equal (18 DPS with a 20 DPS microbevel from my Sharpmaker) and both cutting the same medium (cardboard), there was about a 10% difference, with S30V (260 ft.) having a slight edge over LC200N (236.46 ft.). Is it a newer knife perhaps? From what I've found, it takes a good 3-6 sharpenings before you truly see the edge retention potential of a steel. With that being said, I'd take LC200N over S30V any day of the week. It's a finer grained steel that sharpens up much easier and takes a super keen edge. I have no issues with S30V, but I really enjoy LC200N that much more.
 
fwiw Cedric & Ada testing shows LC200N doing at least as well as S30V in his tests. Different knives of course, so blade geometry is a factor. It appears to have excellent edge retention based on his testing.
 
Surfingringo made a video showing how easy it is to get it really sharp on the Sharpmaker. Check it out. I love H1, but the video makes me want to get a LC200N blade as well.
 
tomhosang said:
I'd have to politely disagree with that. I've tested both S30V and LC200N for edge retention and found the difference to be very minimal. With both edges being equal (18 DPS with a 20 DPS microbevel from my Sharpmaker) and both cutting the same medium (cardboard), there was about a 10% difference, with S30V (260 ft.) having a slight edge over LC200N (236.46 ft.). Is it a newer knife perhaps? From what I've found, it takes a good 3-6 sharpenings before you truly see the edge retention potential of a steel. With that being said, I'd take LC200N over S30V any day of the week. It's a finer grained steel that sharpens up much easier and takes a super keen edge. I have no issues with S30V, but I really enjoy LC200N that much more.
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It may be that I’m just not “there” yet as far as working my way into the layers. Next time I might give it a bunch of diamond strokes just to grind some extra off.
 
What sharpening system are you using if you consider shaving sharpness to be top tier? I usually stop at 600 for a nice lasting edge.
 
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