Will Sharpmaker ceramic rods work on S90V?

V

Vorpal Blade

Joined
May 26, 2005
Messages
567
I posted this in the 'Maintenance, Tinkering and Embellishment forum but may be someone here on the Spyderco forum knows:

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 on the Spyderco forum who has actually tried S90V on the Sharpmaker and knows for sure?
 
diamond rods for the sharpmaker will work

"It turns out that Vanadium Carbides which CPM S90V has a lot (3 times then S30V) are harder then Aluminium Oxide, as a result CPM S90V damage Sharpmaker Ceramics and Ceramics damage blade - wearing out steel so vanadium Carbides falling out of edge.'
Vassili
 
The aluminum oxide used in the SharpMaker rods is harder than any steel, including ZDP-189. It is NOT harder than vanadium carbide. I expect to read a lot of chipping stories on S90V that has been sharpened on the SharpMaker. If you stick to diamond or silicon carbide stones, S90V is not all that bad to sharpen, but I don't recommend trying it on the SharpMaker, especially on the brown rods. The white rods MIGHT be okay, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

ZDP-189 is tempered quite hard, but it is still on the Rockwell C scale. The hardnesses I read elsewhere on this forum were on the Vickers scale, 2600 for aluminum oxide and 2800 for vanadium carbide. When you rub those two together, guess which one will be abraded ;).
 
I do all my PE sharpening on DMT diamond hones. If you go to the Fine or Extra-Fine, you can get a pretty good finish without removing a lot of material, assuming that you don't need to. If you just don't know how to sharpen freehand, now might be a good time to start learning. :D
 
yablanowitz said:
I do all my PE sharpening on DMT diamond hones. If you go to the Fine or Extra-Fine, you can get a pretty good finish without removing a lot of material, assuming that you don't need to. If you just don't know how to sharpen freehand, now might be a good time to start learning. :D
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I want boron carbide Spyde rods!
 
Vorpal Blade said:
Is there anyone on the Spyderco forum who has actually tried S90V on the Sharpmaker and knows for sure?
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I have had blades in s90V that touched up and were sharpened just fine on Spyderco ceramic rods (sharpmaker). I would not want to sharpen a s90v blade that is quite dull on anything other than a diamond stone, but that goes for S30v or even carbon steel. Just takes too long.
 
Geode said:
I have had blades in s90V that touched up and were sharpened just fine on Spyderco ceramic rods (sharpmaker).
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Useful info Geode.

I would not want to sharpen a s90v blade that is quite dull on anything other than a diamond stone, but that goes for S30v or even carbon steel. Just takes too long.
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For small to medium size knives, I use the diamond Spyderco rods as a first step on dull, chipped or dented edges.
 
"It turns out that Vanadium Carbides which CPM S90V has a lot (3 times then S30V) are harder then Aluminium Oxide, as a result CPM S90V damage Sharpmaker Ceramics and Ceramics damage blade - wearing out steel so vanadium Carbides falling out of edge.'
Vassili
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Vassili figured it out faster than I did. I had it happen on my Socom elite. I just touched it up lightly and this is exactly what happened. It slightly dulled the blade. After I dried the blade off and was checking the edge I actually felt the carbides between my fingers , but too tiny to see without a scope. I put it down to a bad heat treat.

This was the extra fine stone BTW. Joe
 
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