What grit-level is optimal for CPM S90V?

[DeadboxHero]

The stropping with compounds is one thing I have not experimented with. At present I have a cheapo strop. I wouldn't want to go crazy though and have a million strops all different grades. If I were to use some form of compound on a strop I would want it to be generally useful to help de-bur an edge quicker rather than specifically trying to get a super polished edge. Given that, what kind of compound micron rating would you say would suit me to literally just aid in de-burring, regardless of what grade sharpening the knife has?

Just a quick disclaimer.
No amount of geeking makes up for stone time, so just get to it and play around, we can tell you everything there is to know in the world about different techniques, gadgets and abrasives blah blah blah but it's meaningless. Just sharpen and see what you like

None of us do the same things to get what we want. We are all painting the same picture just different ways of doing it.

So I wouldn't overanalyze to the point of being paralyzed

 

[Eli Chaps]

Just a quick disclaimer.
No amount of geeking makes up for stone time, so just get to it and play around, we can tell you everything there is to know in the world about different techniques, gadgets and abrasives blah blah blah but it's meaningless. Just sharpen and see what you like

None of us do the same things to get what we want. We are all painting the same picture just different ways of doing it.

So I wouldn't overanalyze to the point of being paralyzed

Amen.

I would just add to not be afraid to fail and turn frustration into inspiration.

Not trying to sound stupidly cliche, but it's true.

 

[Morthawt]

As part of my sharpening I do get lighter and lighter to get rid of the thick bur before I move on to the strop.

 

[David Martin]

The strops I use for knives are not set up with fine grit, 5-600 grit SiC is normally what I use to remove burrs. If you can feel the
burr don't take it to a strop as it will scratch the strop. Work it more on a stone to reduce the burr. Then on to the strop. DM

 

[Sergeua]

If it's a tiny blade chances are you are going to do a bunch of push cutting into cardboard rather than sawing it. If your are using that blade for skinning an animal you will want the same blade to have more bite and be toothy. It's a cpm steel so when it starts to chip it crumbles away and creates more teeth and keeps going.
Either way it's S90v, if you find the right balance that works for your enjoyment you will still have premium edge retention. Experiment with your finishes and get rid of burr.

 

[Morthawt]

If it's a tiny blade chances are you are going to do a bunch of push cutting into cardboard rather than sawing it. If your are using that blade for skinning an animal you will want the same blade to have more bite and be toothy. It's a cpm steel so when it starts to chip it crumbles away and creates more teeth and keeps going.
Either way it's S90v, if you find the right balance that works for your enjoyment you will still have premium edge retention. Experiment with your finishes and get rid of burr.

I think 1000 grit seems to be working well. But I have had to stop a couple times. Perhaps this may be that I did not spend enough time stropping the first time to get the job done right the first time. But I just made some slices of a foil-lined bag supplements were in and some cardboard and I can still shave hair with it, even a couple areas on my face I typically use a knife for. So maybe 1k gives enough "smoothing" but enough teeth that the balance is maintained.

 

[Sergeua]

I think 1000 grit seems to be working well. But I have had to stop a couple times. Perhaps this may be that I did not spend enough time stropping the first time to get the job done right the first time. But I just made some slices of a foil-lined bag supplements were in and some cardboard and I can still shave hair with it, even a couple areas on my face I typically use a knife for. So maybe 1k gives enough "smoothing" but enough teeth that the balance is maintained.

Use this finish for a bit so you establish a baseline and later on you can try coarser and see how you like it. By that time you will have something to compare to.
Shine your flashlight on the edge like picture below and make sure you got no burr.
You can use fixed lamp later when you know what to look for. You can shave with the knife while it still has burr. Its important for the edge retention to get rid of it. Make it tiny and you can further remove it on a strop. Gl

http://i.imgur.com/9j4zNq7.jpg HD

 

[Morthawt]

Use this finish for a bit so you establish a baseline and later on you can try coarser and see how you like it. By that time you will have something to compare to.
Shine your flashlight on the edge like picture below and make sure you got no burr.
You can use fixed lamp later when you know what to look for. You can shave with the knife while it still has burr. Its important for the edge retention to get rid of it. Make it tiny and you can further remove it on a strop. Gl

http://i.imgur.com/9j4zNq7.jpg HD

Wonderful, thanks for the advice.

 

[Morthawt]

So I have another question. If I sharpen this toothy-loving S90V to 1000 grit and do a little bit of stropping to get rid of the burr, then use the knife a bit and notice the shaving sharpness is gone... (but it is still "sharp" and perfect for general cutting for a long time after) but another quick stropping brings back the shaving sharpness, does that mean there is a burr that the strop is knocking off? I'm not sure I understand the physics of what is happening on the additional later strops which simply bring back a shaving sharp edge YET there is zero issue or seemingly, from my experience, any signs of burr when I have cut paper from one angle and side of the blade and then turn over and repeat, seeing no tears or rips or knots in the paper. So I am a bit confused regarding this.

 

[Jason B.]

Particle metallurgy steels especially those with large amounts of Vanadium don't tend to hold their initial sharpness for too long, more noticable with stainless variants too. If you can go a day or two before noticing any reduction in sharpness I would say you are doing well. I get about that from my S110v Native, every few days I take it back to the 1200 mesh DMT stone to refresh the edge then some light stropping on a 1 micron strop. If it becomes too damaged for the Extra Fine I use the Coarse to reset the edge.

 

[Morthawt]

Particle metallurgy steels especially those with large amounts of Vanadium don't tend to hold their initial sharpness for too long, more noticable with stainless variants too. If you can go a day or two before noticing any reduction in sharpness I would say you are doing well. I get about that from my S110v Native, every few days I take it back to the 1200 mesh DMT stone to refresh the edge then some light stropping on a 1 micron strop. If it becomes too damaged for the Extra Fine I use the Coarse to reset the edge.

I used to do that with my non-supersteels. If you are full-on sharpening that soon (not just stropping) isn't that defeating the purpose of having supersteels?

 

[Jason B.]

Stropping is a final step, not an edge maintenance tool. Opinions may vary...

 

[Wowbagger]

No amount of geeking makes up for stone time, so just get to it and play around, we can tell you everything there is to know in the world about different techniques, gadgets and abrasives blah blah blah but it's meaningless. Just sharpen and see what you like

Totally this ^
It is a big part of the fun of knives / edge tools.
I get all unbalanced here and lean toward polished edges. Many / most of the people here have been there and have gone beyond all that to toothy edges and prefer them. I come from a woodworking back ground and when I carry and use a toothy edge it just does not feel right to me in use and just doesn't have that silly sharp feel that I have come to be addicted to.

So . . . I listen to the logic of a toothy edge being more practical . . . I see the rope cutting tests and carpet cutting demonstrations and agree with the facts and logic of it. I sharpen my edge to 400 and take a 600 diamond strop to it, on the smooth side, put the knife in my pocket. Cut some stuff.

Then danged if the next time I sharpen the knife I go back to polished because the edge just feels better to me while cutting what I cut and with M4 I go weeks using my work knife (used on some challenging / abrasive materials) without resharpening and only, maybe, an occasional touch up on an ultra fine ceramic triangle rod.
So there you go, for me that works (and feels right). FOR ME.

Hah, I don't cut much rope but I had to cut a kind of nasty old synthetic rope for a customer and I pulled out my polished blade and while I was thinking how much this was going to suck and how I didn't have the "correct" edge for this and all . . .
well while that was going through my mind my knife slipped through the rope so easily I almost thought I hadn't actually cut it and the blade had some how just slipped off. It was practically effortless. The edge wasn't damaged and I carried the knife another week or two doing precision trimming with it before I needed to touch it up.

I'm not saying a person can cut more rope, or even any where as much rope with a polished edge. All I'm saying is for me Polished is "adequate" for my needs.
And ooh la la it feels so much more "______" (fill in the blank) than toothy.
Yes even for my S90V (top knife; a 940-1)

 

[RipD]

Stropping is a final step, not an edge maintenance tool. Opinions may vary...

I may need to start another thread, but wanted to comment and ask a question based on recent experience. First have to acknowledge that I know practically nothing about sharpening. Been reading about people stropping an edge back to sharp. My assumption was that it would get it temporarily sharper, but not really sharp.

I tried with a few soft steels (8Cr13MoV and similar) with a balsa strop and 6 micron diamond past. So long as the edge is still in tact they will stop back to paper cutting sharp quickly. What surprised me is that the edge retention was no different than sharpening on a stone. I need to test on some harder steels and will try VG-10 or 154CM next to see what happens. Obviously if the edge gets too dull a strop won't help much. Is this limited to soft steels? Would you not recommend stropping to get an edge bad to sharp?

Totally this ^
I'm not saying a person can cut more rope, or even any where as much rope with a polished edge. All I'm saying is for me Polished is "adequate" for my needs.
And ooh la la it feels so much more "______" (fill in the blank) than toothy.

Looking at tests like Cedric and Ada the results seem to be mixed depending on the steel. And even when toothy seems to be more durable it's not by a lot. I'm with you that it comes down to preference. Toothy edge also feels unpleasant to me.

 

[DeadboxHero]

Stropping is a final step, not an edge maintenance tool. Opinions may vary...

Couldn't agree more, stones "create" strops "enhance"

 

[Wowbagger]

Looking at tests like Cedric and Ada the results seem to be mixed depending on the steel. And even when toothy seems to be more durable it's not by a lot. I'm with you that it comes down to preference. Toothy edge also feels unpleasant to me.

Be sure to study the results in this chart / testing.
>>>>>Link

Page down until you see :
Same method as above, but with a coarse edge, 400 grit congress Silicone carbide, more optimal edge finish for max edge retention to highlight the differences in the steels.

It is hard to argue with these results. Polished edge is certainly less durable for this kind of cutting.
But like I said I'm a push cutter and like shinny looking edges so . . .