Which stones for soft stainless

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jcnadeau13

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I currently have a xarilk gen 3 with an atoma 140 and a full set of venev orions. I need to sharpen some cheap stainless steel and im not sure if it will gum up my stones even if I could resurface them after it seems like a waste. I was thinking about getting a few stones just for soft steel what would you recommend?
 
Just grab whatever cheap combo water stone is popular on Amazon. For your proposed purposes that would be more than enough. I heard those sharp pebble (I think they're called) brand ones are okay.

Hell, you wanna go a bit fancier get a set of Arkansas stones. People have sharpened cheap steel on stones from the Ouachita mountains for centuries.
 
Any of the basic ceramic alumina oxide stones will do what you are looking for. Or diamond if you have the set that I have seen listed as part of the Gen 3 kit.

Not too familiar with that system, but it looks like it uses 1x6 format stones. Check out Gritomatic for more options. Or if you have blanks for mounting, make your own set of stones from Congress Tools.
 
jcnadeau13 said:
I currently have a xarilk gen 3 with an atoma 140 and a full set of venev orions. I need to sharpen some cheap stainless steel and im not sure if it will gum up my stones even if I could resurface them after it seems like a waste. I was thinking about getting a few stones just for soft steel what would you recommend?
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For soft stainless, I always prioritize lubricating the stone to minimize clogging, as some 'gummy' stainless steels are capable of leaving swarf that'll cling to the plated surface in an almost galling-like effect if it's done dry. Pretty much any man-made stone type can be used for simple stainless. Any of them will work much better if they're kept lubricated.

For plated diamond hones, I use just a little bit of mineral oil for that. Doesn't have to be a lot of it - just enough to create a 'sheen' on the surface, which is enough to keep the swarf from clinging so tenaciously. Use a microfiber towel to occasionally wipe up the dirty oil and then apply some clean oil as you continue. You'll see how well the oil works in how much black swarf is easily lifted from the surface by the microfiber towel. When you're done with the diamond plate, wipe it again with the microfiber towel and then clean it with some liquid dish soap & water, using something like an old toothbrush for some light scrubbing. They clean up very easily this way.

I also like using a Norton Fine India stone for simple stainless steels. It's made to be used with oil (mineral oil).
 
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jcnadeau13 said:
I currently have a xarilk gen 3 with an atoma 140 and a full set of venev orions. I need to sharpen some cheap stainless steel and im not sure if it will gum up my stones even if I could resurface them after it seems like a waste. I was thinking about getting a few stones just for soft steel what would you recommend?
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AriesTheCam said:
Just grab whatever cheap combo water stone is popular on Amazon. For your proposed purposes that would be more than enough. I heard those sharp pebble (I think they're called) brand ones are okay.

Hell, you wanna go a bit fancier get a set of Arkansas stones. People have sharpened cheap steel on stones from the Ouachita mountains for centuries.
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For basic/cheap stainless steels, I frequently use the Sharp Pebble 400/1000 water stone, which I believe is alumina oxide. I’ve had that stone for about 5 years now and (once I got my skills to a reasonably competent point), have gotten good results with it.
 
Soft stainless seems to do best with plenty of tooth to the edge so I wouldn't go very fine.

Medium Crystolon to a fine or medium India has always been my favorite with them but I don't think that will work with a guided system.
 
Nah dudes, nah
India stones are king for basic SS
Oil or water or even dry.
Especially / mostly for deburing I go red, basic old India stone .

PS : even N690 SS alloy. I thinned and reprofiled a Spyderco Squeak (before that it wouldn't cut or stay sharp for sheeeet ) . The final super thin bur stayed on there and I couldn't get rid of it no matter what I tried . Didn't want to admit defeat and strop it off . It was from the Spyderco ceramic up to Ultra Fine .
Flipping it back and forth , back and forth even went steeper.

Finally a couple super light passes on the tiny four inch India stone then edge leading a couple strokes on the Ultra Fine again and it was hair splitting and cut well and continues to stay sharp with this new edge geometry.
 
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jcnadeau13 said:
I currently have a xarilk gen 3 with an atoma 140 and a full set of venev orions. I need to sharpen some cheap stainless steel and im not sure if it will gum up my stones even if I could resurface them after it seems like a waste. I was thinking about getting a few stones just for soft steel what would you recommend?
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Stick with the stones you have, you don't need anything else. Just use lubrication and it'll be fine.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone i switched to oil instead of soapy water and just sharpened some 14c28n that came out really good. The oil is maybe to thick and im gonna try to thin it out for next time but I prefer the oil because it doesn't corroded my tool steels. I think I'm just going to pick up some t2 boride the other stainless I have to do is only 56 hrc and the t2s are cheap and available already mounted to the 1x6 backers.

Another question I have is I bought a few different strop materials to try and one is shell cordovan it's so slick that it doesn't seem to hold on to the stroppy stuff diamond emulsion well. Is that normal?
 
jcnadeau13 said:
Thanks for the advice everyone i switched to oil instead of soapy water and just sharpened some 14c28n that came out really good. The oil is maybe to thick and im gonna try to thin it out for next time but I prefer the oil because it doesn't corroded my tool steels. I think I'm just going to pick up some t2 boride the other stainless I have to do is only 56 hrc and the t2s are cheap and available already mounted to the 1x6 backers.

Another question I have is I bought a few different strop materials to try and one is shell cordovan it's so slick that it doesn't seem to hold on to the stroppy stuff diamond emulsion well. Is that normal?
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Interested to hear back what works best on the SS 56hrc
(((((india)))))
PS: most of what I sharpen is tool steel in one form or another from A2 to M4 , K390, 15V , REX121 . . . I hate oil and never use it. Only good if you enjoy cloth fibers, paper towel shreads etc., etc. messing up the pores of your stones . I do not enjoy that .
 
I liked the feel with water i guess just because I am learning it took me so long that by the time I was finished my k390 was full of black patina which looked awful because it made dark lines around the clamps if it had a natural patina look I wouldn't mind I have to check if India stones are available in edge pro form.

Edit about how many passes do you do with the strop if you are looking for a toothy edge i think I may have over stroped I stopped at f400 and stropped with 4 micron on kangaroo and 1 micron on balsa it's sharp but def not toothy.
 
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jcnadeau13 said:
I liked the feel with water i guess just because I am learning it took me so long that by the time I was finished my k390 was full of black patina which looked awful because it made dark lines around the clamps if it had a natural patina look I wouldn't mind I have to check if India stones are available in edge pro form.

Edit about how many passes do you do with the strop if you are looking for a toothy edge i think I may have over stroped I stopped at f400 and stropped with 4 micron on kangaroo and 1 micron on balsa it's sharp but def not toothy.
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The Boride T2s are technically India stones, from what I understand. Norton trademarked India stones for their alumina oxide series. I guess that would be the equivalent of Band-Aid for adhesive bandages.

If you want to save your diamond hones, then the T2 series from Boride is a good bet. Another option would be to get backing plates and order grits you want from Congress Tools. Spray adhesive will do the job and you can customize your set.

If I am wrong, I am sure someone will correct me.

I don't have much experience in the stropping side of things, but my understanding is only a handful (maybe 5) per side with light to minimal pressure is a good starting point.
 
I have seen someone on Utube use Dawn dish soap, straight no mixer, as lube for diamond stones. Seems unnecessary to me. I have been using my diamond stones dry on my older stainless knives and it seems to be working ok, but I may not know I am causing an issue.
 
donnord said:
I have seen someone on Utube use Dawn dish soap, straight no mixer, as lube for diamond stones. Seems unnecessary to me. I have been using my diamond stones dry on my older stainless knives and it seems to be working ok, but I may not know I am causing an issue.
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Lubrication, as a general rule of thumb, is preferred in all sharpening work, as it reduces wear on the abrasive. The closer in hardness the abrasive and the abraded substrate are, the greater the wear experienced by the abrasive. This means that for diamond vs. steel you generally don't strictly need lubrication, but if you were using diamond to recondition, say, a sintered alumina ceramic you would want to use some form of lubrication.
 
FWIW, most any stone type can tolerate dry use if it's just used for occasional light touching up of edges done in just a handful of light passes per side. Even then, when I've done it that way, I ALWAYS make sure the stone gets cleaned afterward to prevent accumulation of swarf on the surface. And even then, one of the easiest ways to 'clean' it is to use a little bit of oil rubbed onto the surface to lift the swarf, after which it can be blotted off the surface with a microfiber towel. Maintenance of stones becomes essentially worry-free this way.

For complete resetting or reprofiling of edges, or any other heavy grinding work, I view some form of lubrication as essential to keep the stone cutting efficiently through the full job and over the longer run.
 
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I used food grade mineral oil and it worked very well no swarf was left deposited in the stones just wiped them during use once in a while cleaned at the end with some dawn when I had used soapy water the stones would start to load up and I had to use magic eraser and a nagura to clean I feel like the stones will last a bit longer this way plus it kept the water away from my knives for me it was less messy as well because a couple drops of oil was enough with the water I would need to reaply more often. I ordered some stroppy stuff honing oil to see if it's any better.
 
jcnadeau13 said:
lines around the clamps
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Rookie mistake using guided sharpener with clamps.
If it is taking too long use a more coarse stone or even a belt sander (to reprofile / thin the knife. Some call 120 or 220 or 350 or 400 coarse . I am talking 60 grit or even 36 .
Once one is in the ball park then the guided sharpener doesn't take too long. Especially if you get right down on the edge .
jcnadeau13 said:
I have to check if India stones are available in edge pro form.
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Yes they are . And or you can get these similar sized "die polishing stones " and use thin double backed tape to attach to aluminum blanks.
Edge Pro. Now you're talking.
In fact I use the Edge Pro to reprofile / get the decent useful geometry but it takes so little to debure with the India I often just do it hand held ala Michael Christy. Then a couple of swipes edge leading as I said on the Sharpmaker triangle but hand held there also ; couple strokes only.

[ we seem to be talking at cross purposes here . To be clear I use diamond stones through out on the Edge Pro for the Vanadium Tool Steels above 3 or 4 percent Vanadiium and debur on the Edge Pro and often do no stropping on the tools steel.
For the soft stainless I use the India stones to debur hand held and barely touch on the Ultra Fine Triangle Rod. Some times I strop especially if there is like an almost invisible bur forming again (dambed stainless ) ]

also :
On the river I found Gritomatic "Boride" stones that are Aluminum Oxide = ~ India Stones

I copied this from the description there :

Boride Sharpening Stones are used for sharpening knives on Edge Pro and Hapstone Pro knife sharpeners. Boride offers a wide range of stones with different performance values and different rates of wear. Boride stones are made of aluminum oxide. All Boride stones are 6 mm thick and are mounted on high quality aluminum blanks. Stones that are 6 mm thick offer a longer life cycle than stock Edge Pro stones that are 3 mm thick and are becoming a community standard. AS-9 series stones are made of aluminum oxide and were originally intended for the treatment of metal after electric spark machining (EDM). Due to their excellent performance and weak leading, AS-9 stones were soon in demand for sharpening knives.

They have a lot of different grits down to 100 and 150.
They are VERY inexpensive .

I also use (hand held) :

Norton NTFB14 Stone India Aluminum Oxide Oil Stone 1/4" X 1" X 4 Fine Grit​

 
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