Will Sharpmaker ceramic rods work on S90V?

V

Vorpal Blade

Joined
May 26, 2005
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I just ordered a Spyderco Military with S90V steel. I have read casual mention, elsewhere on these forums that the Sharpmaker rods are not adequate to sharpen S90V with its large percentage of vanadium carbide. I have also heard that the Sharpmaker rods can't handle the high hardness of ZDP189 either.

I do most of my sharpening with the Sharpmaker and wonder if I will have to switch to something else to sharpen this new S90V blade. Is there anyone who has actually tried S90V on the Sharpmaker and knows for sure?
 
The Sharpmaker should be adequate for sharpening S90V. Don't even think about reprofiling it, though. I have not done S90V on my sharpmaker, but have done ZDP and it works fine. It takes a bit longer, but will sharpen it just as well as any other steel. I have recently moved to the fine grit benchstone, and get great results from that.
 
Those ceramics are harder than ANY steel.....SHARPEN AWAY!!!! :thumbup:
 
I'd really like to hear what you find out when you try this, VB. With 9% vanadium I'd also be a little concerned ... info I've collected indicates vanadium carbide is a little harder than silicon carbide, which of course is harder than aluminum oxide. So while I'm sure the Spyderco ceramincs will handle the steel matrix itself and everything else, with that much vanadium maybe it could be a problem.
 
On another thread in the Spyderco forum it has been said that the Sharpmaker would be a bad choice for S90V, it does have enough vanadium carbides to damage the stones. I think I would heed their advice sooner than mine. Did not know that the vanadium was harder than the ceramic used in the sharpmaker stones. You learn something new...
 
rocketbomb said:
On another thread in the Spyderco forum it has been said that the Sharpmaker would be a bad choice for S90V, it does have enough vanadium carbides to damage the stones. I think I would heed their advice sooner than mine. Did not know that the vanadium was harder than the ceramic used in the sharpmaker stones. You learn something new...
Click to expand...

Yeah...I've been reading similar things. Seems like the time has arrived to upgrade the Spyde rods to something like boron carbide or boron nitride, the hardest of the ceramics. Whether that is feasable in terms of manufacture and price, is hard to say.
 
There's always diamond !! I do almost all my sharpening with diamond so I never worry about it !!
 
you will hate it if you use the sharpmaker alone. i would suggest useing a dmt course, then finishing on the sharpmaker.
 
I sharpen my S30V Spyderco on the Sharpmaker and it has worked just fine. In the video that comes with the Sharpmaker, the founder of Spyderco (can't remember his name at the moment) says the ceramic rods are harder than any steel and I believe he demonstrates the sharpener with an S30V blade.
 
Sal Glesser is his name, and he does indeed say that. He is right as far as the Rockwell hardness of the steel itself goes, but some of the carbides in that steel may be harder than the rods. Vanadium carbide happens to be one of those. In small concentrations, it isn't a problem, but S90V has three times as much vanadium as S30V. At that vanadium carbide volume, it can be a real problem. I know that I can tell a major difference between the two steels when sharpening on diamond hones.
 
yablanowitz & Dog of War are both correct.

Here is a table that shows hardness of different carbides on the knoop scale.
It shows that Vanadium Carbide is slightly harder than Silicon Carbide and a fair amount harder than Aluminum Carbide, from which the Sharpmaker rods are made. Looks to me like using the sharpmaker to sharpen S90V would be deleterious to the sharpmaker.

Go with mete's advice and go diamond.
Carbidehardnesses.jpg


Source:
http://www.ctemag.com/pdf/2000/0012-burnawareness.pdf
See page 3.
 
Dawkind said:
Those ceramics are harder than ANY steel.....
Click to expand...


That's the bottom line, the only variable is how long it will take.

That's why it's good to learn free hand on bench hones/stones, once you can accomplish that, (with the right stones) you can sharpen anything, it just takes practice.
 
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