Sharpening the Manix 2 in S110V

[Sergeua]

Perhaps a visual will help folks understand.

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/05/26/new-micrographs-of-42-knife-steels/

This is what the microstructure of s110v looks like.

The white clusters are "carbides" they are hard particle inclusions in the steel that are harder than the surrounding steel structure.

They are what make the steel very wear resistant yet reduce the raw toughness.

There are different types of Carbides with different hardnesses.

The Carbides in s110v are especially hard due to their elemental chemistry with a good volume of them being harder than ceramic abrasives.

When one is using the brown rods rather than diamond they are leaving some performance on the table.

Why?

The brown rods will cut into the surrounding steel and break the exposed carbides to shape but not CUT the carbides to shape like diamonds can.
When the Carbides are CUT they can be shaped to a smaller radius better.

It's pretty straight forward.


You'll be able to shape a better apex with diamond for a steel with a microstructure like this.

At the end of the day, skill and technique with sharpening overrides everything.

Buying diamond stones doesn't instantly make one a pro. No "Pay to Win" here.


However, if ones skill and technique is solid diamond will make a superior edge for a steel like this.

One must respect the chemistry and microstructure of an extreme steel like s110v and respond accordingly if one seeks the highest performance a steel like that can offer if sharpened correctly.

 

[fishface5]

I'll chime in with a plea - what about the burr? I get a tiny burr on my s110v military which is as persistent as a cockroach it won't die! What's the best method for removal on stones?

 

[SubMicron]

I'll chime in with a plea - what about the burr? I get a tiny burr on my s110v military which is as persistent as a cockroach it won't die! What's the best method for removal on stones?

As you move from stone to stone, the last handful of passes on each side should be very light pressure. Finish with a couple of very light edge trailing passes on each side to weaken the bur.

With S110V, I'd use grits under 600 to reprofile and set my bevels. On 600, I'd close the scratch pattern while creating a new small burr on each side. Flip and reduce the bur. Finish again with very light passes, ending with a couple of edge trailing passes.

Move to diamond strop, eliminate the bur with something between 6um and 14um, end with maybe 1um

 

[Ironbut]

I'm glad I ran across this thread. I've had a Native 5 in S110V for a couple years. Although I've carried it alot, it's never been called upon to do any heavy duty cutting, but a couple weeks ago it finally needed sharpened.

I got out the Sharpmaker & the first thing I noticed was a scraping noise when I was running the blade down the brown rods. After about ten passes the edge was so rough that instead of cutting a piece of paper, it mostly ripped it. Trying to clean it up on the fine rod didn't help, so I just put it all away & decided to figure it out later.

Yesterday afternoon I got the Sharpmaker & the Native out again. Instead of sharpening the way I usually do, which isn't heavy handed by any means, I used a very, very light pressure when passing the edge over the rods. 20 passes each on the corners & flats of the brown & white rods, and I have a sharp knife again. I've never had that problem with M390, Maxamet, CPM20CV, or any other steels before.

 

[John_0917]

Plentiful, the carbides are!

I know that S90 actually outperformed S110 in the big testing project recently, I feel like it’s misleading since they were both around 60 HRC, that’s max hardness for S90 but is low for S110