Sharpmaker UF stones worth it?

CrimsonTideShooter

CrimsonTideShooter

Joined
Oct 23, 2010
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I'm looking to be able to get my knives sharper without taking the time to strop. Do the ultrafine stones work well? How much sharper will they get my knives compared to the regular fine stones?
 
In my opinion they are worth it. It is a noticeable difference in sharpness between the UF and the Fine. If I recall correctly, the grit size is about 3 microns. Stropping compounds are going to be around or below 1 micron. So the UF stones are about the smallest grit you can get before moving to stropping compounds.
 
Not much. Using a strop really hones your final edge compared to a hard, solid object.

I would suggest stropping, it's not more work than sliding your knife downwards on your Sharpmaker.
 
xtestifyx said:
I would suggest stropping, it's not more work than sliding your knife downwards on your Sharpmaker.
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This is true. I freehand using the UF rods, so it makes sharpening much faster/easier for me.

Stropping will get you to hair whittling results. The UF rods will only take you to hair popping and approaching hair whittling.
 
Cynic2701 said:
This is true. I freehand using the UF rods, so it makes sharpening much faster/easier for me.

Stropping will get you to hair whittling results. The UF rods will only take you to hair popping and approaching hair whittling.
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The only thing keeping me from stropping is me not having the materials needed to do it. I have no clue where to get good leather or compound.

I tried it today with some red dremel polish and an old belt. I got good results it just wasn't easy to use at all.


So the UF stones will make a difference?
 
They do for me. I've done some stropping, and while the results are spectacular (your first-time hair whittling is exciting) I just don't find it any more practical or significantly more useful to have a hair whittling edge over the edge I can get on the UF stones.

Yes, I think the jump from the Fine stones (I think ~6-8 microns) to the UF (~3 microns) is palpable and practically useful.
 
A little correction seems to be needed.

The UF ceramic will produce a edge that is nearly burr free and able to split a hair with most steels.

To move to a strop too early is no different than making to large of a stone jump and not being able to remove the previous scratches. "green compound" AKA chromium oxide is on average 0.5 microns 50,000 grit, this is even a large jump when finishing with the UF stones.

For correct use of abrasives in sharpening the following abrasive must be able to remove the previous abrasives marks. You can jump if you want but the edge will never be what it could be.
 
knifenut1013 said:
A little correction seems to be needed.

The UF ceramic will produce a edge that is nearly burr free and able to split a hair with most steels.

To move to a strop too early is no different than making to large of a stone jump and not being able to remove the previous scratches. "green compound" AKA chromium oxide is on average 0.5 microns 50,000 grit, this is even a large jump when finishing with the UF stones.

For correct use of abrasives in sharpening the following abrasive must be able to remove the previous abrasives marks. You can jump if you want but the edge will never be what it could be.
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I see. So I shouldn't even consider stropping until I have honed my edges on something really fine like the UF rods of the sharpmaker?
 
knifenut1013 said:
Exactly :)
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Ok great! Thank you for being patient with me. I'm fairly new to the technical side of knives and I'm still learning all of the nomenclature. I'm beginning to understand the level of expertise you guys have when it comes to knives. Thanks a lot for being patient enough to teach me!
 
I use the Ultra Fine stones on my sharp maker and then I strop with black then white then green compound and then sometimes a bare strop. It is easy for me and I can get an extremely sharp edge with this method.
One tip about using the UF stones, remember to use very very light pressure. Not even the weight of the blade. At least that is the method that has worked best for me. YYMV
 
I found the UF stones for the Sharpmaker unsatisfactory.

The were not planer, they had a wavy surface.

I strop instead.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
The only thing keeping me from stropping is me not having the materials needed to do it. I have no clue where to get good leather or compound.

I tried it today with some red dremel polish and an old belt. I got good results it just wasn't easy to use at all.


So the UF stones will make a difference?
Click to expand...

You can make a strop very easily with just an old leather belt or just buy some leather from a hardware shop and glue it on a piece of wood. If you dont mind shelling out around 40 bucks for a premade strop with black and green compound check out http://www.knivesshipfree.com/Bark-River-Sharpening-Kit-KSF-Double-Sided-Hone-w-Compound. Worth it if you cant be bothered to make your own strop and you do get both black and green compound with it.

The UF rods are worth it for sure. I tried to sharpen my knives going with MF rods and then straight to stropping and it is not a smooth transition. Sure the knives were razor sharp but if you want hair whittling sharp the UF rods are needed.
 
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The ultra fine stones are worth every penny. I freehand with my sharpmaker rods. My current program is course DMT if the edge is really messed up or has dings. I need to get the spyderco diamond stones. Grey spyderco, white and then the UF white. I follow that up with the DMT diapaste on leather backed strops.
 
I have a spyderco ultra fine benchstone, I mostly use it for my razor, for this its good stone.
Other then that I often go from a fairly coarse stone straight to the strop.
It won't get the best edge possible, but it will give a hair popping long lasting edge that will preform everything I need it to, other then a shave.

That being said, this is bladeforums and "need" raly comes into play here :)
 
Cynic2701 said:
They do for me. I've done some stropping, and while the results are spectacular (your first-time hair whittling is exciting) I just don't find it any more practical or significantly more useful to have a hair whittling edge over the edge I can get on the UF stones.

Yes, I think the jump from the Fine stones (I think ~6-8 microns) to the UF (~3 microns) is palpable and practically useful.
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Where are those numbers from? The only reason I ask is I saved this picture from a previous thread that shows the F stones to be 9 microns and UF to be 7:

WKne6.jpg


I have no idea where the picture's numbers come from, which is also why I ask.
 
That chart is not that accurate.

From Sal himself the ceramics are.....

Medium = 15 microns
Fine = 6 microns
Ultra Fine = 3 micron
 
we have lots of guys that get really sharp edges but when it comes to accurate technical info it's hard to beat knifenut1013 . a good point he mentioned is that trying to shortcut grit size when getting on down to 3 micron or so will make the extreme edge very sharp but some of the bevel above the edge may retain scratches from coarser mediums. in effect the final edge may be very sharp but the entire bevel or bevels will not be as polished as possible which means that the coefficient of friction will be greater for the two of = sharpness edges that has not received the max. polish on metal above the very edge. if i have interpretated knifenuts comments i'm sure he will correct me.
dennis
 
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