UF stone/rods results

I

iMarcoU

Joined
Dec 28, 2015
Messages
212
Hello my friends,

I am really satisfied with my sharp maker, I get razor edge results.

So I want to order the UF stones, but questioning what the result is.

Sometimes I read that the UF stones can give a mirror polish, does somebody have a picture of a nice UF rod edge?

And is the difference between the fine rod edge and UF rod edge noticeable? Is it the next level of sharpness? ( because that is what I want to achieve )

A picture of an edge worked with the UF rods would be great!

Thanks in advance!
 
I've been using the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker since it was released. I got both the diamond stones and the Ultra-Fine stones as soon as they became available. I've found over the years that the Ultra-Fine stones do indeed make a huge difference but I have found that they work better on certain blade steels. For instance I've discovered that the UF stones do a really nice finish on mainline blade steels like VG-10 and S90V. Albeit I've used them on H-1 and didn't notice as good of results as I did on other types of stainless.

But I wouldn't be without my UF stones. I also very much love my Spyderco UF 302 Benchstone. I just used mine yesterday to put on a final edge on my TEMPERANCE 1 model and have had excellent results using that particular stone on my STREETBEAT model as well. If you own a 204 Sharpmaker then I highly encourage you to get a set of UF stones. Personally I don't feel that the 204 Sharpmaker is complete without the UF and diamond stones.
 
Hi Marco, my take on the UF stones is a bit different from JD's. I agree with him that the UF's can be used to bring an edge to the next level, but the difference we are talking about is minimal. I can take any steel to hair whittling on the regular fine stones, and usually can even achieve that level of sharpness on the medium stones. For my use I would rather have a very sharp edge that is finished on a slightly coarser stone. For pretty much anything other than shaving or whittling, the coarser finish will have way more bite and perform better. It only took me one time of being in the field and watching a highly refined and extremely sharp edge slide right off of some rope that I was trying to cut to realize that those types of edges were fun for doing parlor tricks but not very useful for my normal tasks.

Now I'm not telling you not to buy the UF stones. They are lots of fun and certainly have their uses. But for my money, the Diamond stones are a far better investment for the sharpmaker. I kind of feel that the diamond stones make the SM a complete system but the UF rods are an unnecessary (but fun) accessory. I was told all that before I bought them and now that I have them I agree. At any rate, I have gotten far more than my money's worth of fun out of them so I'd say go for it.
 
I agree with everything Lance said. They are not necessary but they are fun. If sharpening is a part of your knife hobby like me than get them. I still have fun with mine from time to time but for my routine sharpening I rarely use them. I too have definitely got my money's worth of fun out of them.
 
Surfingringo said:
I can take any steel to hair whittling on the regular fine stones, and usually can even achieve that level of sharpness on the medium stones. For my use I would rather have a very sharp edge that is finished on a slightly coarser stone. For pretty much anything other than shaving or whittling, the coarser finish will have way more bite and perform better.

Now I'm not telling you not to buy the UF stones. They are lots of fun and certainly have their uses.
Click to expand...

This ^^^^ :thumbup:

I'm so thankful to the frequent, in-depth contributors like Surfingringo...the guys who have massive amounts of experience and share it with the rest of us unpretentiously.

I do most of my sharpening on my EP (re-profiling anyway) but use the Sharpmaker for quick touch-ups; IMO its the best/easiest/fastest method for edge maintenance. 20-40 total passes on the medium stones plus a strop has produced satisfying results on every steel I've tried it. It's a technique I adopted from 'listening' to Lance....so, thank you!!

No disrespect to you, JD Spydo. I've found that the UF rods do have a heightened effect on particular steels, N690 for instance, but not enough in general for me to justify another step/more time.
 
like the others said, they are not a necessity, but are a nice addition to the set. the diamond ones are far more important, you just wouldn't spent hours on end resetting a bevel with the medium ones, when it takes minutes with the diamond ones.

I have the ultra fine too, but have not used them since I got a strop with bark river white compound. Like surfingringo said, and especially with supersteels, you should stick with around 400grit for the micro bevel, the ultra fine would be useful the get a shining polish on the bevel, which is nice to have, but my strop works all too well for that too!
 
One other thing, if you do a fair amount of push cutting the UF stones are great. The more polished the edge is the less friction you get. So cutting rope? Toothy edge. Slicing cardboard? I prefer a polished edge.
 
Between the two, diamond/CBN is more useful. My friend said 'diamonds are men's best friend '.

However, UF does bring to higher level. Depends on the steel and progressive grit, it may or may not bring mirror finish, but at least close.

Here's a thread where UF result is scrutinized by some of skilled sharpeners.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...wear-resistant-steels-(S30V-S90V-CTS204P-etc)

Edit to add: there're steels that I had problem and was advised not to use UF on them, such as D2. I finished it on DMT EEF.
SolosKnifeReviews on YT has sharpening ended with UF. So does jdavis.
My routine usually ended with UF too, except those that are not suitable.
 
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