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Thread: Why don't you use ceramic stones?

  1. #166
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    Carlsbad, CA
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    Revival of this thread is very timely for me – I'm looking for some help to get the best performance out of my Spyderco Ultra Fine stone and a little advice on related sharpening questions. I'll confess that like Chris Grigg's said "I'm all for excessive sharpening"– I don't mind spending a little extra time to get the best edge I can.

    First a bit of background: I went through a set of the 3 Sigma power stones (f/ Stu) which I liked very much. My only complaint was that the finest grit stone was really easy to gouge, particularly when freehand sharpening narrow chisels.

    Now I have three Shapton Pro's : 1,000, 4,000 and 8,000 (I'm not 100% sure but I think those are the grits).I finish stropping on a piece of hardwood with green rouge. Using this system I get an outstanding edge, although I'm not a 100% consistent when free hand sharpening. I think I may be occasionally dubbing the edge when stropping?

    1) How much pressure should I apply when stropping and how many passes on each side of the blade? I'm never sure if I should use moderate pressure or just lightly glide the blade down this strop?

    2) Is the Spyderco UF a finer grit than the Shapton 8,000 – in other words does it make sense to use that as my final finishing stone or is the difference in particle size/finished edge so small as to not be worth the time?

    3) I really like the hardness of the Spyderco UF, it seems almost impossible to gouge. I spent about 30 minutes with an Atoma plate flattening the Spyderco UF. I'm still not 100% sure it's flat. The Atoma plate is several years old – it flattens the Shapton's fine, but doesn't work nearly as well on the Spyderco. I've also been using 1,000 grit sandpaper with sanding block to try and get a uniform flat surface in between uses.

    My problem with the Spyderco is it seems like every time I remove the burr on the flat side of the blade, steel particles lodge in the surface of the stone and they need to be scrubbed off with a scouring pad before the stone is smooth again. If I skip this step, it feels like the metal particles lodged in the surface of the stone leave a rough surface.

    Does anyone else have this problem? I just use water as a lubricant, maybe adding some detergent would help?

    Any and all thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated!

    All the best, Mike

  2. #167
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
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    12,402
    I ,somehow,have never had the problem of steel particles breaking off and lodging in my Spyderco. But,I am not using your blades,or your techniques. Could they possibly be the problem?

    I do recommend a few drops of detergent in a cup size squirt bottle of water. A few drops of water based cutting fluid would be good,to. I used Aquacut,but haven't any on hand right now. The detergent seems to work fine,and might well keep steel particles from sticking to your Spyderco.

    Actually,I get my tools sharp without raising a burr. This seems to be a waste of the blade to me.
    Last edited by george wilson; 07-28-2016 at 2:17 PM.

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