What grits do you use on your different steels?

[vivi]

What different steels do you routinely use?

What grits do you use for their edges?

What about PE vs SE? Given the same knife in the same steel, one PE and one SE, do you give them different edge finishes?

How did you determine which grit to use for different applications?




I'll post my answers later on :)

[Brock O Lee]

In general:
- SM Med 15 dps micro bevels on S30V and higher class steels.
- SM Fine 15 dps micro bevels on steels like Superblue, 52100, Victorinox.

EDC folder bevels are usually flat convexes @ about 8 dps, with the odd v-edge @ about 13 dps. All this based on trial and error, forum wisdom, and personal experience about what I like and what I normally cut. Light to med use PE slicers. :)

[J D Wijbenga]

The last few months I have mostly carried and used Elmax (Squeak), RWL34 (Lil'Nilakka) and 3Cr13MoV (Bug on keyring).

Usually I finish and maintain my edges on the diamond side of the Fallkniven DC4. A good balance between slice and push cutting performance.

[attila]

I don't own a Sharpmaker, and I'm no expert in sharpening. Nevertheless, all my sharpening is done free hand and has yielded pleasing results.

I usually carry a split Double Stuff with me as well as a finer ceramic rod (started as a pump shaft that I flattened from 5/16" round to a bit over half-round, and it works great as a final stone).

When my Double Stuff split into its two constituent 303 stones, I flattened the medium stone, leaving a coarser finish (~100grit loose grit SiC) on one side and a "finer" finish (~220 SiC) on the other. The coarse side is great for initial sharpening and light reprofiling, and the finer side of the medium stone is great for a final edge or just before a microbevel on S110V. It shaves with ease off this, indicating that, despite the low grit of the loose SiC, it's actually quite fine on one side, about like the one medium Sharpmaker rod I bought a while ago.

If I'm sharpening a carbon or high speed steel, I will refine the edge with a fine stone. I usually don't apply microbevels to non-stainless due to the generally higher toughness (edge stability). Finding a burr may inspire more sharpening or microbeveling just for burr removal.

I use the above for the regular maintenance of all of my higher alloy/carbide blades and VG10/154CM/etc.

For cheap/soft steels, I'll sometimes use Arkansas stones as well, but that's less common due to the mess inherent to oil stones and that I don't use cheap steels outside of the kitchen.

If I need to reprofile any of my blades, I'll use a set of Sigma Power waterstones. I would use diamond, but I don't have any continuous-diamond sharpeners yet. I was looking at maybe a few DMT Diafolds and/or a Fallkniven DC4, but with the Double Stuff 2 coming out "soon", I haven't been able to decide.

[vivi]

Interesting answers so far!

What inspired this thread is I'm having difficulty deciding what grit to finish my plain edged Ark with.

Normally for such a small blade I'd go with a polished edge, since slicing ability is limited with such a short cutting edge.

However with PE H1, and lower end steels on the edge holding spectrum, I've gotten good results using a toothier edge to help extend edge holding.

I've tried both on the Ark and I'm still undecided.

Taken up to an Ultra Fine polish, then stropped, it'll whittle hair with ease and acts like a pocket scalpel, but it loses slicing aggression fairly quick.

Stopping at a lower grit, say sharpmaker mediums, I can get it to where it will catch hair above the skin, but it loses its high level push cutting ability pretty fast, though it maintains working slicing sharpness longer than the polished edge.

Leaning towards the lower grit edge.

Anyways, in general here is what I do:

Kitchen Knives - High polish, always. Spyderco ultrafine followed by strop.

Serrated Pocket Knives - High polish, always. The edge type already lends itself to incredible slicing performance so I look to optimize its push cutting ability with by grit selection. Spyderco ultrafine followed by strop.

Woods knives - Whether a small fixed blade, large fixed blade or axe, I go with a high polish. Polished edges chop better, carve wood better, and I prefer them for food prep. Spyderco ultrafine followed by strop.

Plain Edge Pocket Knives - Smaller knives typically get taken to the ultrafine + strop combo, stuff like my Spin. Larger knives, like my Police, Manix XL and Szabo, I take to the sharpmaker whites (fine). Certain knives that either see very frequent use, or come in a steel that I feel works better with a toothier edge, I use the sharpmaker browns (medium) and one pass on the strop per side. H1 PE folders get the browns, as do CTSBD1 and 8Cr knives. I find a toothier edge retains working sharpness longer, so on steels that lose their slicing aggression quickly I like to run them at lower grits.

[ZrowsN1s]

Routinely use? I'm always rotating, so they get used for a week or two before being swapped out for different a combo. H1 is about the only one that ALWAYS gets carried 8 out of 10 times. What can I say I like variety. The rotation includes ZDP-189, Hap-40, H-1, S30V, S35VN, LC200N, Super Blue, S110V, Maxamet, CPM M4, VG-10, 154cm, and the latest two are S90V and Cruwear (thanks Spyderco).
I usually shoot for between 13-15 dps (On some of my knives I use the kme system to form a continually decreasing angle from heel to tip, so its closer to 11-12 dps at the tip, and 15-16 dps at the heel) I use a KME "sharp" system with a rounded diamond stick tri hone that is 600 800 1200 if I'm not mistaken. I have stones for the kme as low as 150 grit diamond but I don't use them unless I'm reprofiling. Then on pasted leather strops I have 5M, 3.5M, 2M, 1.5M, 1M, .5M, and .25M diamond paste. I keep a plain and a 600 grit paste strop for quick touch ups.

[vivi]

Routinely use? I'm always rotating, so they get used for a week or two before being swapped out for different a combo.

I used to be the same way but over time I've consolidated my collection down to 3 steels: H1, S30V and VG10, with one knife in CTS204P that's on the trade block.

I spent years trying out different Spydercos but after 12 years I've learned what does and doesn't work for me.

[Canazes9]

I've got piles of sharpening stones in a dizzying array of grits, multiple strops with different grits. Seems like I've gotten lazy, but all I ever really use anymore is a super fine diamond stone and either the 400 or 600 grit water stones on my Edge Pro. That combination will get anything I own from 420HC to ZDP189 scary sharp very quickly with a minimum effort. I can free hand sharpen and am fairly profeccient at it, just don't see the point when I can achieve the edge I want with such minimal effort from the Edge Pro.

David

[Evil D]

I like a lower grit toothy edge, 400-600ish grit, but micro beveled on the Sharpmaker ultra fine rods. The UF rods don't cut steel aggressively enough to significantly change the grit but they help to refine the toothy edge. For SE I just go through the Sharpmaker rod grits and then Dremel strop.

[chuck_roxas45]

Except for a few fine grained steels, I finish at around 600 grit. I hit it a few times with an extra extra fine DMT. For the fine grained steels like superblue or XHP, I finish with a golden stone.

[tonijedi]

I usually do Sharpmaker + strop. Depending on how bad the edge is I start on the brown or diamond and go down from there.
I've been reading the other threads about sharpening that are going on and as I'm abroad with my "abroad in Hungary knife", that is a Byrd Meadowlark, I've used a sharpening technique that I've never used before: bottom of a mug and cardboard. It worked! I know this steel is easy to sharpen but I never thought I could restore an edge to shaving sharp (I tested on my arm hair) with these hobo tactics. The edge was visibly roled and the stropping on the cardboard (toilet paper tube) worked really well.

[qazy]

Unless its a very ****** steel, I will stop at around 4K (JIS) does not matter the purpose much. It definitely varies mostly based on how I feel, but 4K is in the middle ground. I have multiple stones for a reason.

For soft stainless I will stop at 1K (JIS).

There are few exceptions, but the above is my guideline.

[ZrowsN1s]

Routinely use? I'm always rotating, so they get used for a week or two before being swapped out for different a combo.

I used to be the same way but over time I've consolidated my collection down to 3 steels: H1, S30V and VG10, with one knife in CTS204P that's on the trade block.

I spent years trying out different Spydercos but after 12 years I've learned what does and doesn't work for me.

H1 seems to be on everyone's must have list (myself included).

[Evil D]

H1 seems to be on everyone's must have list (myself included).

For SE absolutely, for PE not so much. These days I could probably make it work, but since I really only need very good corrosion resistance and not totally rust proof, it just doesn't make sense to cheat myself out of a steel that holds an edge better. With my S110V Military it's so thin that sharpening is super easy and it's among the best at resisting rust. I wouldn't mind a tougher steel but for the most part it's tough enough for what I use it for. Honestly it's not even a matter of H1 not being enough, I know it would suit me just fine, I just simply like knowing the edge retention is there if I need it.

[ZrowsN1s]

H1 seems to be on everyone's must have list (myself included).

For SE absolutely, for PE not so much....

Lulz yeah, I should have specified SE H1. I think PE LC200N will start to make peoples list eventually.