Sharpening S30V blade

Ben,

I have tried my hunting knives with a very high polished edge, up to 6,000 grit tapes on the Edge Pro, and also with a "toothier" edge, which is up to 400 grit on the Edge Pro, followed by stropping on a soft leather belt. My experience has been that the "toothier" edges provide longer service before needing touchups. In my experience, the "toothier" edge is far from "rip and tear." Phil's knives with a toothy edge cut hides and flesh like a razor.

I always cut from underneath and avoid cutting hair. For deer, I do not cut any bone. For feral pigs I do cut bone and use a Busse Battle Mistress for that, which is much quicker with a cleaner cut than a saw. Its edge is finished at 320 followed by the leather belt and it will cut paper easily.

I do my own sharpening of my knives. I use an Edge Pro with Congress Tool Moldmaster Stones up to 600 grit followed by a soft leather belt, which works fine on S30V, S110V, K294, 10V, Infi, O1, and 154CM. For higher grits, I use the Edge Pro stones and tapes.

fwiw - Here is review I did on the hunting knives I've been using for the last few years including Dozier and Phil's.

[url]http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1129280-Hunting-Knives-Phil-Wilson-Dozier-and-Ingram?p=12887111#post12887111[/URL]
 
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Dear David and Ben, Thank you so much. It really helps me, it gives me ideas to listen to you guys. I'm sure it'll be most useful for a whole lot of other people as well. Thanks guys.
 
Jeff, I see we both appreciate quality knives.:)

Our sharpening methods differ. I, too, have tried different levels of refinement, and found the one that works best for me. Obviously, your methods, after experimentation works well for you. And in the final analysis, that is what matters!:thumbup:
 
Jeff, My experiences echo your findings. Still, toward the original post. It's been my experience that the fine side of Norton's JUM-3 stone does sharpen S30V. Which is similar to your findings. Now, the why and how this could happen is much of what this discussion has been about. DM
 
I think if we want to sum it up, a Quality ALumOx stone like a Norton India will work s30v well, maybe not s90v or s110v?
A silicon carbide stone will grind these steels with relative ease up their effective grit rating (approx 600-800 grit). If a finer finish is needed, the sandpaper works well on s30v, I don't have anything with a higher carbide content to make that call. I would imagine a diamond plate if shooting for a finer finish is a safer bet, and if you don't have any grinding media and some $ to purchase - buy the diamond plate(s).
 
I think that's a sound bet. I know Norton's IB-8 fine India can sharpen S60V and when I took it to the diamond stone I didn't notice it took less time for sharpening. It did step up the edge a notch in sharpness. DM
 
Hi Ben, appreciate the kind words. I took a look at my Tool Steels handbook 4th edition and on page 200 is a table of comparative hardness values. It is showing VC to be 2530 Knoop hardness and Al oxide in a grinding wheel to be 2440 Knoop. I remember a value of 3500 or so quoted from a Crucible metallurgists some years ago for Silicon Carbide. Al oxide would be equivalent to the India side of the Norton stone. I use a Al oxide wheel on my surface grinder and it cuts ok on the high VC steels but tends to load pretty quickly and so needs frequent dressing to keep it cutting. I think this is mostly cutting by impact since the hardness comparisons don't show enough of a difference. Even though SC is somewhat harder than VC, at least that is what I have believed for a few years it is still somewhat of a mystery to me why it cuts the VC steels cleanly. It must be due to erosion around the carbides as has been suggested here. To me it is like whittling pine with an oak knife.

I am 70 now as well and like you hope for more years in the field. Love the smell of sagebrush in the morning. Phil
 
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Phil Wilson said:
Hi Ben, appreciate the kind words. I took a look at my Tool Steels handbook 4th edition and on page 200 is a table of comparative hardness values. It is showing VC to be 2530 Knoop hardness and Al oxide in a grinding wheel to be 2440 Knoop. I remember a value of 3500 or so quoted from a Crucible metallurgists some years ago for Silicon Carbide. Al oxide would be equivalent to the India side of the Norton stone. I use a Al oxide wheel on my surface grinder and it cuts ok on the high VC steels but tends to load pretty quickly and so needs frequent dressing to keep it cutting. I think this is mostly cutting by impact since the hardness comparisons don't show enough of a difference. Even though SC is somewhat harder than VC, at least that is what I have believed for a few years it is still somewhat of a mystery to me why it cuts the VC steels cleanly. It must be due to erosion around the carbides as has been suggested here. To me it is like whittling pine with an oak knife.

I am 70 now as well and like you hope for more years in the field. Love the smell of sagebrush in the morning. Phil
Click to expand...

I am an unapologetic steel junkie, but the more I learn the less I know!:confused: (Sometimes I long for the days of my misspent youth when I thought that a Buck 110 was truly the ultimate knife. :numbness:)

I remember 40 years ago, there was an older man in our hunting camp every year that could no longer hunt. He would help the younger fellows with little "tips" that he had learned over a life time of hunting. Sometimes he would help cook, sharpen knives, and help with other little chores. After lunch, he'd have about three fingers of good Scotch, and take a nap for a couple of hours.

I sincerely hope that when I can no longer hunt, I can become "that old man.":D
 
Dear Phil and every one else, God bless you guys for sharing your years of knowledge and so graceful and unpretentious about anything. Unlike a lot of young men nowadays who seems to know anything and everything under the sun. God bless you guys and grant you your every wish. I'm 40 now, I wish I grow up to be old and wise like you guys one day.
 
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Phil, When you get away from Crucibles hardness figure of vanadium carbides you'll see different hardness stated. There is variances stated for this carbide in other places. Which is why we are seeing SiC cut it. I just don't think it is as hard as some state. DM
 
Vijay,
Very nice photos.

They will display if you go to the toolbar above, click on the third icon from the right, which is "insert image." Past the photo link into the box, and then enter.
Then your very nice photos will display.
 
I was searching around on the web yesterday, looking for Knoop hardness specs from mfrs of SiC abrasives, and also for Knoop hardness values for vanadium carbides, specifically. Most or all sites I looked at were in the business of making tool steels, or providers of abrasives to industry. On sites where I found info for either/both materials, the SiC values ranged from 2400 thru 2800 in hardness. Fewer sites listed values for vanadium carbides, but the 4 references I did find, they had it at 2500 thru 2800.

Interestingly, on sites that provided values for both SiC and VC on the same page or chart, the vanadium carbides were always listed a bit higher in Knoop hardness. Diamond is always listed at 7000, from what I can see, and AlOx/Alumina seems to be down around the 2100-2200 range.


David
 
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I don't know the knoop number for cubic boron nitride, but its very hard. Perhaps a half step below diamond. For a highly polished edge, (i.e. shaped and polished carbides, CBN spray on water stones works well. Finishing off, of course, with CBN or poly diamond on leather or nanocloth.

I doubt there would be very much gained by using CBN on a 320 grit 21 DPS edge. There will not be enough of the matrix removed to cause much carbide "tear out" in normal usage.
 
Thank you Jeff. I'm using my mobile now and I don't see the options. Will try on my PC at the office later. Thanks again.

Vijay.
 
I was in Monterey, near the Naval Postgraduate school where my dear wife was attending a 3 month training program, I used to fish at the bay near the fishermens wharf and near the drive in into the naval dock yard. There was a guy there that used to sell/trade jade that he'd collected from BigSur and polished, he had a few very nice looking custom Bowie's that had a peened cutting edge. It was awesome looking now that I recall, should have traded it for my Shimano Stella Reel when I had the chance. Anyone does that kind of work anymore ?
 
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