which finishing stone after mold master 400? shapton glass?spyderco UF?

R

ribeyemediumrare

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Oct 5, 2018
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Wondering if someone could help me pick the right stone and grit progression following Congress moldmaster 150, 320, 400. I would like a quality single stone or stone set to bridge between the moldmaster 400 and a 1 micron diamond strop. I will be sharpening steels from aus8 to m4 and I want a progression that will leave an edge that is polished and refined but still has some bite to it. Should I go straight to shapton glass 1000 then 4000 or spyderco UF, or should I do a finer progression set like Shapton glass 500,1000,4000? Keep in mind I want to use the least amount of stones possible.
 
I would probably go to Shapton 1000 and then diamond strop. You could also try Shapton 500. Despite the low grit number the 500 is a pretty refined edge. Shapton 4000 is almost polished and really doesn't have much bite left in my experience.
 
RipD said:
I would probably go to Shapton 1000 and then diamond strop. You could also try Shapton 500. Despite the low grit number the 500 is a pretty refined edge. Shapton 4000 is almost polished and really doesn't have much bite left in my experience.
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The moldmaster 400 stone is supposed to be leave a pretty nice general sharp edge, I was thinking if I go straight to a high grit polishing stone like the shapton 4000 I would leave the teeth intact by skipping some grits but still polish up the bevel and slightly clean up the teeth, then if I decide I want a true mirror edge I could get the grit in between. Do you think I could achieve the same thing going to the Shapton 1000, then 1 micron strop? What does the edge after a shapton 1000 look and feel like?
 
Ahhhh... got it. I could try to get a pic. Shapton 1000 looks smooth but not polished. If you want a polished look go to the 4K and maybe finish with an 8K. 4K + diamond strop is close to polished for me. 8K Shapton + stop is 95% there.

I am not a sharpening or polishing expert so hopefully somebody more experience will chime in. Just sharing my experience.
 
If you want a polished toothy edge consider the 16k. It's typically progression is the 500-2000-16,000 but I like using the 16k after the 500. Not something I do often as I prefer the 500 and 2000 for most sharpening but it does make for a very sharp and toothy edge with no need for stropping.
 
Jason B. said:
If you want a polished toothy edge consider the 16k. It's typically progression is the 500-2000-16,000 but I like using the 16k after the 500. Not something I do often as I prefer the 500 and 2000 for most sharpening but it does make for a very sharp and toothy edge with no need for stropping.
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Thanks for the tips, I think ill try either a 1000 or 2000 grit shapton glass then diamond strop first and then buy the higher grits if I feel I need it. Would a 1k or 2k shapton glass cut enough to remove the pattern from the #400 moldmaster stone (about 40 micron based on the unified grit chart) or would you recommend I bridge the progression with a shapton glass 500? My reasoning is that the cheap 150-400 moldmasters can be used to reprofile and set a corse edge on any steel and would be coarse enough to not worry about shaping hard carbides on super steels, then I would move onto more expensive finer stones which would be capable of sharpening carbides at higher grits without just polishing the steel around them. I'm hoping I could just move to a 1k or 2k shapton
 
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