Steel question

[sodak]

double tap, sorry.

 

[Cobalt]

yeah and you will need a sharp knife to shave the beard you grew while trying to sharpen that super stainless steel Honestly, these steels are not worth the trouble in my opinion

The real trick to sharpening those high alloy steels is the following:

1. Start with a low grit in the 180 - 220 range and make sure it's sharp before moving into the higher grits.
2. Once you move into the higher grits don't rush it moving to high too fast.

They really aren't any harder to reprofile and or sharpen if one is using the proper equipment to do it with. Yes, it will take longer to a point but if one is using SIC and a coarse grit it will go by pretty quickly. Once the bevel is set correctly and it's already sharp moving up through the grits is easy.

Those hair splitting edges really aren't impossible to obtain, but for an edge that will last maybe a few seconds if one cuts something.... That's up to the individual really.

I can get hair spitting edges with steels like S90V, S110V, 10V without much of a problem and with a 320-400 grit edge finish without power equipment and it doesn't take a lot of time to do it either.

 

[Ankerson]

yeah and you will need a sharp knife to shave the beard you grew while trying to sharpen that super stainless steel Honestly, these steels are not worth the trouble in my opinion

I use S90V and S110V everyday... And that means everyday as I use them in the kitchen.... The S110V is a Custom and the S90V is a Spyderco South Fork.

When I do feel the need to touch them up and it's not often it only takes literally a few seconds as in well under 1 minute.

Can't grow a beard that fast....

 

[Cobalt]

oh, I can grow a beard that fast

I have never found 3V, INFI or A2 hard to sharpen. In fact they seem to be some of the easiest steels to sharpen. I tend to really use all my knives hard, which means I got chipping or indenting or both, which means lots of metal removal. I have sat for 20 minutes trying to resharpen a 440V blade. I have sat for 2 minutes restoring a 440B blade with the same damage. Better yet, the 440B blade indented, while the 440V blade chipped.

I am not sure what the op's use needs to be, but if it is hard use, then absolutely stay away from the super stainless steels. S30V would be the most super I would go in a stainless. I would probably prefer VG10, or the 440's, and ATS34 blades, even D2 is preferable.

 

[Ankerson]

oh, I can grow a beard that fast

I have never found 3V, INFI or A2 hard to sharpen. In fact they seem to be some of the easiest steels to sharpen. I tend to really use all my knives hard, which means I got chipping or indenting or both, which means lots of metal removal. I have sat for 20 minutes trying to resharpen a 440V blade. I have sat for 2 minutes restoring a 440B blade with the same damage. Better yet, the 440B blade indented, while the 440V blade chipped.

I am not sure what the op's use needs to be, but if it is hard use, then absolutely stay away from the super stainless steels. S30V would be the most super I would go in a stainless. I would probably prefer VG10, or the 440's, and ATS34 blades, even D2 is preferable.

I know what you mean.

I use S30V more than any other steel for EDC, Spyderco Military and CRK ZAAN.

It depends on what one is using to sharpen with really, I use SIC and Ceramics so the steel really doesn't matter too much.

 

[Ankerson]

I carry one of these two in S30V more than anything else for EDC.

The strop is loaded with SIC.

 

[hardheart]

I'm looking for a steel that is easily sharpened. I'll gladly sacrifice some wear resistance for the ability to get razor sharp and quickly. I'm also looking for steel that isn't going to chip and can tolerate some lateral stress...hard use types.

12C27M

I don't know what you mean by easy to sharpen, in that I don't know anything about your equipment, technique, experience, or skill - but you aren't going to get a whole lot easier than this. It really depends on what else you have experience with. You only mentioned 14C28N, and 12C27M has less wear resistance and higher toughness. It's three times tougher than D2.

 

[matt_b89]

the steel would be for a folder and I would use the knife for skinning game, woodwork for fires, and edc. cutting lots of cardboard at work and opening packages. sometimes I use them as screwdrivers, but not so much as prybars. may do some batoning but I wouldn't use it with the lock engaged so it's more up to the steel. all my cheap fixed blades have chipped from batoning. it was a cheap Winchester and a cheap buck. for sharpening I have a lansky deluxe kit. usually I keep my edges between 40-50 inclusive. I recently started using a sharpie when I do this and it's helped me tremendously to know when I've actually done some work. I realized that I was taking off WAY too much material.

 

[matt_b89]

ive also sharpened 420hc and aus 8...nothing too crazy.

 

[james terrio]

Choose your knife with the thinnest edge/grind possible for the task, then try to get a steel that is strong enough to support that edge. It will be easy to sharpen, especially on diamonds.

I completely agree. :thumbup:

 

[dkb45]

Honestly, if they weren't hair splitting, then you wasted quite a bit of time on those higher grits and stropping. With a good belt & sander combo you can tree to hair at 100 grit. Hair splitting at 400 is not impossible with a light touch, and I've shaved my face with a 1000 grit edge off of a waterstone because I was reading about 4K Norton edges doing it, and they work with a different grading system.

By about 1200 grit your sharpening should be done and you are down to polishing an already screaming edge.

I am definitely not a master of sharpening, maybe one step above novice. I figured I should spend more time on each grit. My S90V blade does have the geometry of a brick relative to all of my smaller knives. Most of my knives have a slicer grind though. I really wish there was somebody skilled in sander sharpening that lived close to me- nothing beats learning from a master!

I have to redo my S90V knife, so I guess I will just rush it a lot less than I do. I thought that you couldn't get a really sharp edge until you went into the thousands. I'm sure a leather belt will also help.

Edit: I did go through taking my time and using very light pressure, and after working the burr off, everything off the 3k is about 3 times sharper than it was. And none of it was dull before. Thanks very much for the advice. It was very very helpful.

 

[hardheart]

Glad to hear your sharpening improved, it is a fun progression as your edges get sharper and prettier.

Matt, I would suggest a multitool/swiss army knife, since a lot of us here EDC more than one cutting implement anyway. That way you don't have to worry about turning screws with your blade and can have a saw to help with woodwork.

I would also drop to the 17 degree setting on the clamp and see how it does. I personally see zero reason for a 25 per side edge on a folder, and 20 should be plenty. I have repeated and accurate test results on a CATRA, and the amount of performance you lose at the large of an angle is just tremendous. Removing a lot of material isn't always bad, it is about finding out how much steel you actually need behind the edge for durability without leaving too much extra. Too much just requires more effort to complete the cut and reduces the amount of cutting you can do before you need to sharpen it up again. Thinner edges are not as strong as thik, but then they don't need to be. They require less effort to complete the cut, so you apply less force in the cut, meaning you don't have to exceed the strength of the edge if sharpness, technique, and geometry are right.

Of course, you need a good steel to survive hard use, along with sensible edge geometry. You are looking for a bit of a unicorn though, in something relatively easy to sharpen but also a 'super' steel. Super generally refers to wear resistance, and that does not equal easier sharpening. With experience sharpening AUS8, 420HC, and 14C28N, you really haven't touched high wear steels. I don't know if you'll find much that is comparably easy compared to what you have sharpened up to this point. VG-10 would be a good start, imo. Very available and pretty easy to sharpen. CPM154 is good for that as well, but not common in production knives. You can certainly sharpen S30V and others, but it will be a little surprising the first time you try it on your Lansky, I guess. 3V is good, only 8% carbide volume, wears similar to D2, but not stainless and not common.

12C27M is still a good choice for a tough stainless, but it won't do anything over what you are already familiar with.

 

[matt_b89]

that's a very helpful answer. thank you. are there any helpful tips for reprofiling an edge? I do prefer thinner edges, but found it was much easier for me to sharpen when it was closer to the original profile. just be patient and not switch stones so quickly? it helped a lot when I understood the concept that low grit stones can get an edge very sharp, just not quite as refined as the higher grits.

 

[hardheart]

Sticking with the coarser stones is generally the key. As you move up in grit, you reduce the amount of steel removed. This is a pretty obvious point, but it is important to not ignore it when progressing through stones. If your blade isn't sharp 'yet' at whatever stone you are using, it doesn't help to slow your progress by moving to a finer stone. Depends on what sharpness level you need, but I have found that 36 grit SiC, a double cut bastard file, and 60 grit Alox were all able to give me an edge that could shave arm hair. So there is no reason to drop down to 600 or 1000 grit before your edges can do that or slice paper. Makes it much easier to get to hair whittling, TP slicing, etc when you spend your angle setting effort on coarse stones and can move through fine stones just a little quicker.

Polishing is great too, I finish on a 13,000 grit Sigma Power (0.75 micron) or 0.5 micron diamond on leather.

 

[msass74]

Blur with cpm 154 can be had cheap right now and very nice steel

 

[bcknives]

AUS-8 is a really good steel, I also like H1 on my Spyderco Salt 1. easy to sharpen and is very wear resistant.