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What steels are hard to sharpen but keep sharp?
- Thread starter MTHall720
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CPM-M4, ZDP, S90V, 20CP, etc.
That's just production knives.
That's just production knives.
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I think S110V gave me a slight touch of trouble when I was trying to sharpen a chip out of the blade. Aside from that, I'm eager to take a shot at S125V. If that goes well, I might give carbon steels another try and go for CPM-15V or another equivalent.
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CPM Rex 121. 
the manly man's steel.
the manly man's steel.
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By definition, average means the edge holding ability of all the most common steels added together and then divided by their number. 
I think the steels mentioned earlier will indeed be above average, but you'd have to know which one was exactly average to be sure.
Personally I can guarantee that D2 (and CPM-D2) is hard to sharpen, but does hold an edge for a very long time.
I think the steels mentioned earlier will indeed be above average, but you'd have to know which one was exactly average to be sure.
Personally I can guarantee that D2 (and CPM-D2) is hard to sharpen, but does hold an edge for a very long time.
Ankerson
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This is a subjective question. Steels which may prove difficult to sharpen with crock sticks, may not be with bench stones. For some reason, a lot of people refuse to use coarse(100, 240, etc.) stones, which are often needed.
Ankerson
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Yeah, The Norton SIC Med or Fine stones will cut anything I have seen yet without much problem, same with my 320 Grit Congress SIC Stone I use on my EP (Cuts faster than the 120 EP Stone).
Silicon carbide combination bench stones(JUM3 and JUM4) are all I use. Water works just as well as oil on 'em.
Ankerson
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They work well, the India stones work great also on the more normal steels up to around S30V wear resistance or so, higher than that one will want to start with SIC then move to the India for finishing if they want.
All that depends on the steel, how dull it is ect.
The Sharpmaker is great fo touch up work and the low alloy steels, but once the steels get into that high wear resistant range then something else would be a better choice.
Just have to match the steel and the sharpening materials for the best results unless one wants to spend a very long time sharpening.
Good ceramics will touch up any steel just fine, Sharpmaker rods ect.
using diamond hones i dont have much problem with any, but for arguments sake all the tougher steels to sharpen seem to hold an edge corrisponding to there difficulty to sharpen. some sharpen with more difficulty than there wear resistance would indicate though. zdp bout what you would expect, hard to sharpen, wears forever. s30v, imo sharpens kinda hard for what it is, and id compare it to cpm m4 steel in difficulty to sharpen though the m4 holds a fine edge much much longer for the same effort. those are my hardest folder steels. i use A2 in my bark river and its comparable to many other carbon steels in ease of sharpening but holds an edge to the extent that i have no other knives that hold a comparable edge as long except the zdp, and zdp cant do what the a2 can without chipping or breaking.
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Yeah, ditto on that. S110V is noticeably easier compared to s125V, but with proper sharpening tools it's all good. Main problem is initial bevel, past 1000grit(granted you get to that grit level with proper sharpening steps) it's hard to tell any difference.I am waiting to hear about that S125V blade once you get it.
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Au contraire. I found M4 to be the easiest steel in any folder to get to a hair popping edge on my sharpmaker.
Ankerson
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Yeah, true.
Once that bevel is there and set most of them are about the same from what I have seen, it's just getting that bevel set or raising a bur that can be a bear, those carbides just don't want to let go.
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S60V seems harder to sharpen than ZDP to me. And holds its edge just about as well. D2 is also very hard to get hair popen edge on, but for me doesn't hold it well at all.
I've never let my S110V Shallot get dull so......keep it touched up and no problems. Guess that can be said for about any knife.
I've never let my S110V Shallot get dull so......keep it touched up and no problems. Guess that can be said for about any knife.
Ankerson
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S60V seems harder to sharpen than ZDP to me. And holds its edge just about as well. D2 is also very hard to get hair popen edge on, but for me doesn't hold it well at all.
I've never let my S110V Shallot get dull so......keep it touched up and no problems. Guess that can be said for about any knife.
It's the Vanadium that is making the difference there, S60V has 5.5% Vanadium, the higher the Vanadium content the harder the steels will be to sharpen.
Then start thinking about steels with 10% Vanadium AND are 64 HRC and harder and then we are in the range I talk about.
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Just got it in today:
It came shaving sharp, but being OCD I wanted a little more and took it to my Worksharp. I started off on the 150MX belt, then 240MX, 400MX, 600MX, 12000, and finished on my Mother's Mag Polish loaded belt. The resulting edge was able to cut my hair clean through without splitting it, though I normally have to cut close to where I'm holding it in order for it to bite. Though that edge quickly dulled after cutting some paper, it still pops my leg hairs off. Seems to like long slicing cuts rather than push cuts, which made me wish I had asked for a longer blade(about 3.75" now).
Sheath is a little thick at 5/8" at the thinnest part, and a little over 3/4" at the top with the belt loop. On the bright side, I won't have to worry about the edge cutting through the leather accidentally:thumbup:.
I'll go buy some apples to test how it slices and dice up some postal cardboard to test the edge retention.
It came shaving sharp, but being OCD I wanted a little more and took it to my Worksharp
. I started off on the 150MX belt, then 240MX, 400MX, 600MX, 12000, and finished on my Mother's Mag Polish loaded belt. The resulting edge was able to cut my hair clean through without splitting it, though I normally have to cut close to where I'm holding it in order for it to bite. Though that edge quickly dulled after cutting some paper, it still pops my leg hairs off. Seems to like long slicing cuts rather than push cuts, which made me wish I had asked for a longer blade(about 3.75" now).
Sheath is a little thick at 5/8" at the thinnest part, and a little over 3/4" at the top with the belt loop. On the bright side, I won't have to worry about the edge cutting through the leather accidentally:thumbup:.
I'll go buy some apples to test how it slices and dice up some postal cardboard to test the edge retention.
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Have you tried getting it hair popping on the SM from really dull?
I'd venture to say that the ease of sharpening you experienced is due to geometry and the existing factory bevel. If you ever try to rebevel CPM-M4, you'll find that it almost seems to slide on the stones, like the other steels I listed.
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