Sharpmaker ultrafine rods or cardboard?

J

Juramentado

Joined
Aug 23, 2003
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185
Lately I've discovered that I can get a get a good buffed finish on the edges of my knives by stropping them on plain cardboard, without any buffing or polishing compound. The result is a sharpness I couldn't achieve with the fine rods. Maybe not the "toothy" edge that works best for some things that need to be cut, but I amazed the ordinary cardboard can polish blade steel. I've been considering getting an ultrafine rod for my sharpmaker but how does the that compare to the cardboard stropping?
 
In my experience the Ultra Fine Spyderco ceramics leave a very sharp, polished edge that is far superior to stropping on cardboard. Then again, I don't strop my knives on cardboard at all anymore, so I haven't had a good comparison between the two in a longtime, but I find it easy to get edges that whittle hair readily off of the UF.

Mike
 
gunmike1 said:
In my experience the Ultra Fine Spyderco ceramics leave a very sharp, polished edge that is far superior to stropping on cardboard. Then again, I don't strop my knives on cardboard at all anymore, so I haven't had a good comparison between the two in a longtime, but I find it easy to get edges that whittle hair readily off of the UF.

Mike
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Same for me. Except I finish on a leather strop loaded with cerium oxide for that extra umph.
 
I'm thinking of using cardboard and some polisher. What would be a good polishing compound?
 
I use 1/4 micron cerium oxide. It's cheap and works well. I am currently experimenting with stropping on loaded hardwood. The first results seem good.
 
gunmike1 said:
In my experience the Ultra Fine Spyderco ceramics leave a very sharp, polished edge that is far superior to stropping on cardboard. Then again, I don't strop my knives on cardboard at all anymore, so I haven't had a good comparison between the two in a longtime, but I find it easy to get edges that whittle hair readily off of the UF.

Mike
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So, when buying a Sharpmaker, you'd say it's worth it to drop the extra ~$30 on UF rods?
 
Ilikesharpstuff said:
So, when buying a Sharpmaker, you'd say it's worth it to drop the extra ~$30 on UF rods?
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The high price is a bit of an impediment. I'd consider them a lot more seriously for my arsenal if I could find 'em at a compelling price.
 
Ilikesharpstuff said:
So, when buying a Sharpmaker, you'd say it's worth it to drop the extra ~$30 on UF rods?
Click to expand...

I get a very noticeable increase in sharpness with them, well worth the money IMO. Research stones that leave a similarly sharp finish and the UF stones start looking like a bargain, unless you are good on the cardboard with cheap compound or a cheap leather strop. Hell, some of the stones I have wanted to buy in the past run into the hundreds of dollar per stone range, so $30 for a very fine finish will always seem like a bargain to me, but maybe not to others. I personally use the benchstone version, and only use my SM on hawkbills and SE these days, except a little while ago when Ihad back surgery and I used the SM on everything again. With a fine touch I noticed a very large difference in sharpness going to UF, as you could shave WAY above the skin and whittle hair with ease on the UF. It is worth it to me to get that big of a leap in sharpness. Putting 3M lapping film on the rods (1 micron then .3 micron) to finish put an extremely good edge on the knives. Not quite as good as I'm used to with my benchstones, but it is nice to be able to get my Superhawk whittling hair in a couple minutes on the SM.

Mike
 
I also have the UF bench stone which I've had for many years. (Which is why I'm probably reluctant to lay out the funds for the rods. The UF bench stone only cost me about $20 back then (as did the medium and fine bench stones as well).

Still, I might consider them for those lazy days when I want to put the final finish on via the Sharpmaker.
 
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