Bench Stone F vs UF

[ched57]

Is there a way to tell the two bench stones apart (other than using them - they feel so similar to me). One of them has what appears to be a gray number 1 on the four corners of the long edge - right now I have that as the UF.

Thank you very much.
Ched

[jdw]

I wonder as well. Pretty much any sharpening stone where I am from is called an 'Arkansas Stone' (All of mine are inherited). However some are obviously harder, have a different texture, sharpen differently, etc. I realize that you are asking about production stones but I am hoping that someone can chime in on my question as well.

[bearfacedkiller]

My UF stones came with red ink on the ends and my fine stones came with nothing on the ends.

I can tell just by dragging my nail across them. The UF is actually much much smoother.

Edit: sorry, that is my sharpmaker rods. My UF bench stone has “UF” written on the ends in sharpie.

[JD Spydo]

My UF stones came with red ink on the ends and my fine stones came with nothing on the ends.

I can tell just by dragging my nail across them. The UF is actually much much smoother.

Edit: sorry, that is my sharpmaker rods. My UF bench stone has “UF” written on the ends in sharpie.

Now I guess you are speaking of Spyderco's 302 model Benchstones? I've had two complete sets of those 302 Benchstones for a very long time. Like BKF said the Ultra-Fine stones in my 204 Sharpmaker kit had red ink on the ends of the Ultra=Fine 204 Sharpmaker stones and they came that way from the factory.

Now my Spyderco 302 Benchstones came in color-coded boxes. The Ultra-Fine stone came in a black box. The "FINE" stone came in a light-blue or turquoise colored box. The medium/gray stone came in a dark blue box. I've used all of these Spyderco stones so much over the years that I can pretty much tell the difference between the FINE & ULtra-FINE stones just by rubbing my finger across it. The Ultra-Fine stone is really slick and I can identify it pretty easily anymore.

I took both of my Ultra-Fine 302 Benchstones and painted red on both ends of the of the stones. I've found that ladie's fingernail polish works really good>> and you can get it really cheap at these "Dollar" stores.

[ched57]

Thank you all,
Yes - I got the set of 302 Benchstones in colored boxes. I will mark the ends of them once I'm sure I haven't mixed the two up. :-)
I also have the double stuff and a triangle UF (red on end of that). I think I have the Benchstones right - the gray "1" or "I" on the long edges I think is the UF one. The other white one doesn't have anything. I'll keep working on it and hopefully be able to tell the difference by feel with time and practice. Thanks again to all of you.

Ched

[sal]

Hi Ched,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[anycal]

Did you pull them out and forgot which came from which box? :D

There is no marking to indicate which is which on either of my stones. But as noted, the fingernail detection of coarseness works pretty well for me. Even on the used areas of the stone.

Good luck!

One thing I just noticed, the UF stone has sharper edges than the F stone.

[ched57]

Did you pull them out and forgot which came from which box? :D

Sort of. I had the boxes opened and lying on the bed as I was working at a TV tray table. I grabbed some paracord for a knife I was working on and caught the edge of the bedspread and it flipped them all over. Pretty sure I got them back to the right boxes, but wanted to see if those "1" markings would make it positive for me.

Anyway - thanks for the welcome - It's an honor to be part of such a great top tier group.
Ched

[JD Spydo]

What I found interesting about the boxes that the 302 Benchstones come in is that they have rubber feet on them. I owned my first set of Spyderco 302 Benchstones for about 2 to 3 years before I noticed that. And thus I discovered that those boxes make a really nice platform for the stone while using it to sharpen a tool with.

The 302 Benchstone boxes aren't quite as good as the "Stone Holder" I got from the Garrett Wade Company a few years back but they are a great way to sharpen something in the field as long as you have a flat, smooth surface to put them on.

That Stone Holder I got from Garrett Wade a few years back will hold any stone up to 12 inches long and 4 inches wide and up to an inch thick>> and those dimensions cover about 98% of all sharpening stones commercially available.