I have been sharpening freehand for maybe a month now and I feel as if I have progressed very fast. I have a set of dmt coarse fine and extra fine then I proceed to my spyderco uf. Just got it last week but I am unable to produce a mirror finish with that. Although I can tell an awesome difference with the uf stone it doesn't seem as if my scratch pattern defines all that much. I can easily push cut paper and shave np. Just curious as to why I can't produce a mirror edge.
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Spyderco UF! Awesome stone
- Thread starter Gradyw
- Start date
Wowbagger
Gold Member
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- Sep 20, 2015
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- 8,087
I really like my UF triangle stones.
You are talking about the larger stone right ?
Expect the stone to smooth out some and not cut as fast so best for touch ups going form barely shave sharp to shave sharp etc.
As far as polishing you are better off using a progression of water stones. Or diamond grit on a power strop or some such. Maybe a progression of different diamond grit hand strops for the hard stuff.
What steel are you wanting to polish ?
My knife edges look like this but I can't seem to photograph them with my little iPod camera and the bevels are really much less wide anyway. That's the kitchen cabinet reflected back.
This is A-2 steel off Shapton Pro stones up to 8000 or 12,000 but many grits leading up to that. No stropping.
You are talking about the larger stone right ?
Expect the stone to smooth out some and not cut as fast so best for touch ups going form barely shave sharp to shave sharp etc.
As far as polishing you are better off using a progression of water stones. Or diamond grit on a power strop or some such. Maybe a progression of different diamond grit hand strops for the hard stuff.
What steel are you wanting to polish ?
My knife edges look like this but I can't seem to photograph them with my little iPod camera and the bevels are really much less wide anyway. That's the kitchen cabinet reflected back.
This is A-2 steel off Shapton Pro stones up to 8000 or 12,000 but many grits leading up to that. No stropping.
Well as of right now I have a vg10 centofante, srk san mai with the vg1 edge( have not hit this knife with the ceramic yet) and I just bought a buck 110 with 440hc I think it is... I am having great results with the buck and pretty good with the centofante... they def are getting very close to a mirror polish but I don't know why I can't get the full moireor like u do in your picture.. more for show then anything I'm very happy with how sharp I am getting these having just started sharpening.
Almost looked like with the centofante3 I put a micro bevel on it with the uf... I have a pocket microscope soand the very end of the edge looked a lot more refined then the majority.. I use quarters for now just to keep my angle consistent switching strokes and stones so I don't have a clue how that happened unless just a few degrees can have that big of an impact
Wowbagger
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2015
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- 8,087
Oh be careful. It's addicting.
Maybe the very end had fewer scratches from the diamond stones. Diamond stones cut well but tend to leave a scratchier finish than other stones. It takes a careful consistent progressing to remove all the scratches from the more coarse stones. Other abrasives tend to get pulverized or have other things in the binder and or roll around on the surface of the stone (these guys are teaching me there is a lot going on including self sharpening of the grit) and so these other abrasives can make a less scratchy finish and do it faster than diamond.
As far as why the micro bevel worked better. Here's one reason why : The smaller surface area in that little strip was subject to higher pressure per square inch and so was not only abraded faster than the larger bevel (and yes this can make a huge difference) and the higher forces on the less hard blades can even be burnished into a smoother surface. Kind of like pushing the metal around like frosting a cake and that fills in super fine scratches and produces a mirror like quality. They use this in jewelry work with soft metal like silver and gold but on a very, very small area it can happen with these blades to some small extent. Maybe just enough to make the difference in your case.