Sharpening time for different steel hardness

[MtnHawk1]

Why don't use diamond stone for all applications? (this is what I am currently use). Is there any limitation or disadvantage of it?

I like diamonds but the limitation/disadvantage for me is they don't hog off metal fast enough, even at very low grits. I prefer SiC because I can use more pressure.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Why don't use diamond stone for all applications? (this is what I am currently use). Is there any limitation or disadvantage of it?

Although diamond is capable of cutting literally anything in cutlery, incluuding ceramic blades, and can be used for any situation, you'll find over time and with experience that other abrasives might add a certain character to the edge finish that you'll favor more on certain steels. For example, many favor simpler stones for simple steels, such as using natural (Arkansas) stones or simple aluminum oxide oil stones (India, for example) on steels like 1095, CV and low-alloy stainless like 420HC. One tends to compliment the other, in pairings like that. For other high-wear steels like S30V, diamond adds a great finish in it's own right, and sometimes just one diamond hone can be used for both edge repair and for the finish on these steels. In that example, a high-vanadium steel might become one of the simplest to take care of, with the right hone. I like a Coarse OR Fine diamond hone for my blades in S30V and S90V, for example. Steels like 440C and D2 grind beautifully on a SiC stone - so that's a good pairing too.

Diamond is more aggressive on simpler steels, cutting more deeply for a given grit size. But the key there is, when using diamond on such steels, dial back the diamond grit size a notch or two, as compared to whatever grit you might use in a simpler stone. A 'Fine' diamond hone at 600-grit can be used to do the same work as something like a Fine India (360-400) or a Fine SiC stone (~320 or so). For very small traditional knife blades in simple steel, I'd never use anything more coarse than a Fine diamond (600), even for setting bevels on these blades. Anything coarser on these blades is overkill and will leave the edge on a small blade very ragged.

 

[000Robert]

In my experience, yes. Diamonds make all the difference.

Other than his dog, diamonds are a man's best friend.

 

[000Robert]

When using my Wicked Edge 130, I hold the diamond stones with just enough pressure to keep the stone even on the blade edge. A light touch is all that I have needed. I can take the edges to a mirrored polish with diamonds if I want to. But I prefer a toothy 600 - 800 grit on user blades.
Here is a photo of my Boker Plus Kalashnikov 74 Auto Damascus 7084 192 layers that I polished down to 2 microns using only diamonds. So far diamonds have worked great for me on any steel I have tried. On some blades I don't even know what the steel in the blade is.

 

[David Martin]

Part of my dissenting experience with diamonds is with mtnHawk's post 21 above. Then the shearing. DM