Spyderco: Ceramic Benchstone Warranty 306UF

Thin-Slice

Thin-Slice

Joined
Jul 4, 2016
Messages
1,165
Had a question for those who own or have had warranty experience with the spyderco ceramic benchstone 306UF 3"x8"

I bought a brand new one and when i placed it on a known flat surface and pressed alternating the opposite corners there was movement. Also when i looked at it length wise on the thickness side it was a little bowed. I sent it to Spyderco warranty department and their QA department stated it was within specifications.

Is that true?
 
All my ceramics stones and rods from Spyderco are quite off in terms of flatness, not a good choice for doing the flat side of chisels and when the rods are in the sharpmaker the bowing makes the angles off and when changing from med to fine you have a new set of angles to deal with.
 
Yeah thats not gonna work for me. Gonna ship back to Spyderco. If i knew would not have purchased it.
 
Well maybe I must have got the majority of my Spyderco sharpening stones before all of these problems arose??? Because I have 2 sets of model 302 Benchstones in Medium, Fine & Ultra-Fine and I've had nothing but great luck with both sets>> I've had both sets since about 2002 and 2004. Now I did come across a set of medium stones on my 204 Sharpmaker that I had to replace but the replacement stones fixed the problem.

Also back in 2002 when the diamond rods first came out for the 204 Sharpmaker the very first set I bought didn't even last a month before virtually all the diamonds fell out>> but I took them to another knife Show where Spyderco had a booth and they immediately replaced them at no costs and the new set I still have and still use.

It does seem like in the past 2 to 3 years I've been hearing complaints of a few of Spyderco's sharpening stones and it does bother me because I truly love all of their sharpening equipment. As quality minded as Spyderco is as a company I'm sure that they will remedy the problem in due time.
 
The 302 stones are smaller i believe 2"x6" and the uneveness is less prominent because of the size. I was considering them but wanted as big as i can get for my larger kitchen knives on top of my tools.
 
Thin-Slice said:
The 302 stones are smaller i believe 2"x6" and the uneveness is less prominent because of the size. I was considering them but wanted as big as i can get for my larger kitchen knives on top of my tools.
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Point well taken "Thin Slice" and to a large degree I agree with you. But believe me as much sharpening as I've done with both my sets of Spyderco 302 Benchstones and as much of a perfectionist as I can be when using tools of any type I can assure you that none of my 302 stones have any warpage or defects.

Now the 2 FINE stones I have do seem to have a somewhat different grit pattern to them when doing finish work other than that I've not found any discrepancies. It's kind of strange in a way because I've wanted one of those big Ultra-Fine stones but I've just never found a good deal on one>> also it's one of the very few Spyderco sharpening tools that I don't own.

Again I'll say that I'm 99% confident that Spyderco will bend over backwards to see that your problem is resolved. From what I'm gathering the production of ceramic sharpening tools is rather difficult in many respects. The design of the GOLDENSTONE was made back in 1978 but it wasn't until about 2009 that they had the technology to make it to Spyderco's specifications.
 
Well i contacted them and even sent them the stone for inspection. They told me that the warpage was within their acceptable standarts/margin of error. While it may have been acceptable by their standards unfortunatelly it was not by mine.

I also wonder why it was acceptable by Spyderco to begin with. Dont know if its the time or resources required to make them as perfect as it can be.
 
Thin-Slice said:
Well i contacted them and even sent them the stone for inspection. They told me that the warpage was within their acceptable standarts/margin of error. While it may have been acceptable by their standards unfortunatelly it was not by mine.

I also wonder why it was acceptable by Spyderco to begin with. Dont know if its the time or resources required to make them as perfect as it can be.
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Truly I'm shocked and deeply disappointed to hear that. It's not the type of assistance that I've been used to over the years. Today I checked out my Spyderco GOLDENSTONE which I know is a different sharpening tool all together but still it was perfectly flat and all of the contours.

I will admit that I know very little about the actual manufacturing process of ceramic sharpening stones and other ceramic tools as well.
But I did hear on several occasions that the manufacture of the GOLDENSTONE for instance was very difficult. But with the flat benchstones I would think that there would be some type of machining process that could get those stones perfectly flat. I'm going to take a really close look at all my 302 Benchstones. But to this date I've always had great results every time I've used them.
 
I tried my 2X8" Spyderco stones for woodworking chisels and gave up quickly. The Spyderco ceramic stones are fine for knives, perhaps small carving tools, but not chisels and plane irons. I use oil stones (some with water) for chisels and other woodworking tools.
 
arty said:
I tried my 2X8" Spyderco stones for woodworking chisels and gave up quickly. The Spyderco ceramic stones are fine for knives, perhaps small carving tools, but not chisels and plane irons. I use oil stones (some with water) for chisels and other woodworking tools.
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At the risk of sounding redundant I've used both sets of my 302 Spyderco Benchstones and I've yet to notice any noticeable defects or manufacturing problems and I've had all six of these stones for a long time.

Hey I'm not at all trying to dispute what you guys are saying because maybe I guess I've just been lucky. Now one problem with my old Duckfoot ( Spyderco's diamond version of the GOLDENSTONE) seems to have a better abrasion on one side than the other. But I've had that DUCKFOOT since 2012 and it's possible I might have just used it that much over the years. But it is the first time I've noticed it.

I'm kind of glad now that I never got that bigger Ultra-Fine stone because I would have been very disappointed if I had the same problems you all are having with them.
 
Just an update:
Spyderco mailed me a check for what I paid for it. Unfortunately I lost the shipping from dealer and shipping sent to Spyderco. Other than that the costumer service was good. TYVM Spyderco
 
Hi Thin-Slice,

Thanx for the update and glad that we took care of you. Sorry for your disappointment. I'm sure can also get your shipping costs covered as well.

Our 2 X 8 stones are "as fired". They have a tolerance that's larger. The 2 X 8 UF and 3 X 8 UF stones are ground flat using diamond surface grinders, the same that's used on your flat stones. We have had no complaints regarding the UF stones for not being flat enough. I'm travelling right now so I won't be able to get some on a flat surface, but I've not experienced the "bow" as you describe. I'll check yours when I get home.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Thin-Slice,

Thanx for the update and glad that we took care of you. Sorry for your disappointment. I'm sure can also get your shipping costs covered as well.

Our 2 X 8 stones are "as fired". They have a tolerance that's larger. The 2 X 8 UF and 3 X 8 UF stones are ground flat using diamond surface grinders, the same that's used on your flat stones. We have had no complaints regarding the UF stones for not being flat enough. I'm travelling right now so I won't be able to get some on a flat surface, but I've not experienced the "bow" as you describe. I'll check yours when I get home.

sal
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PM me if you like to get the case info. TYVM for the reply
 
Email works better for me. (sglesser@spyderco.com). I'll be able to tell quite a bit by studying the stone.

sal
 
Hi Thin-Slice,

Got your email, thanx. I'll know more when I get to inspect the stone next week when I return. I've instructed Customer Service to save the stone for me and to refund your shipping costs. I really just need to know for my own knowledge. If it's an anomoly or if your standards are just higher than our abilities.

sal
 
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