Spyderco Whetstone Question....

[JR88FAN]

Does anyone know the actual Grit of Spyderco's Whetstone's (same as the one's used in the SharpMaker)

I have SEARCHED, and unless I missed something, all I can find is a lot of guesses.
I always thought Medium would be around 600 and Fine around 1000, but I have a feeling that they are both much finer then that.

Reason I would love to know is because I am looking at a water stone just to refine the edge a little more, but I am not exactly sure what grit to get after the Spyderco Fine stone.

(Not interested in the Spyderco UF stone, want the final edge to be worked on a water stone)

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[bgentry]

The answer is sort of complicated. Let me get you started with the Grand Unified Grit Chart. That chart puts the medium at around 550 grit (ANSI as opposed to JIS for waterstones) and the fine at around 1100 grit (ANSI).

There's a more technical answer about what abrasives are in the stones, etc, but I think the GUGC is probably the simplest way to look at it.

Given that, I think you could move to a 5000 grit waterstone or maybe higher right away, assuming that all the scratch pattern from the previous stones was removed by the Spyderco fine.

Maybe someone with specific experience with the Spyderco fine and waterstones will have something more precise to say.

Brian.

 

[samuraistuart]

What I hear is that ceramic material, by their very nature, are extremely difficult to pin a "grit" number on. Something about ceramics and how they are made.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

This info was posted by Sal Glesser on Spyderco's own forum ( http://www.spyderco.com/forumII/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31188#top ). The linked thread as a whole is pretty informative, but the 2 posts quoted below from Sal narrow it down (I added the bold emphasis to some of the text):

by sal » Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:18 amHi Native Justice,

I would be curious as to where you got your numbers for the ceramic stones. All of the ceramics use the same micron size (15-25). the different grits are created by different carriers, different firing techniques and diamond surface grinding.


sal

and...

Postby sal » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:26 am

We've spent a great deal of time trying to determine grits for our stones. The manufacturer has also worked with us, to no avail. A guess seems to be best.

Most abrasives are measured by the grit size used in the matrix. Our ceramic doesn 't work that way. Grit size is constant.

We've tried to compare scratch patterns as Cliff mentioned and this is probably the closest, but nothing that we can say "This is blah blah". Then the Japanese water stones jump into the equation and suddenly there is whole new set of numbers.

So where we end up is:

Our diamonds are a 400 mesh (measureable). (600 on the Duckfoot)

Our gray stone is "medium". (Same material as fine but different carriers and heat treat).

Our fine stone is fine.

Our extra fine is a surface ground fine.



sal

As mentioned, the actual 'grit' size is the same throughout Spyderco's line (medium, fine, UF all use the same 15-25µ grit stock); only the carriers (binders), heat treat and surface finishing make the difference between the three hones.


David

 

[JR88FAN]

The answer is sort of complicated. Let me get you started with the Grand Unified Grit Chart. That chart puts the medium at around 550 grit (ANSI as opposed to JIS for waterstones) and the fine at around 1100 grit (ANSI).

There's a more technical answer about what abrasives are in the stones, etc, but I think the GUGC is probably the simplest way to look at it.

Given that, I think you could move to a 5000 grit waterstone or maybe higher right away, assuming that all the scratch pattern from the previous stones was removed by the Spyderco fine.

Maybe someone with specific experience with the Spyderco fine and waterstones will have something more precise to say.

Brian.

I am going to go with this answer, and thank you for being very clear and exact on how you figured it out.

I will move to the water stone as per your suggestion, and again, thank you!