Tri-Angle™ Stones Cubic Boron Nitride or Tri-Angle™ Stones Diamond?

[Palestrina]

Hello everyone,

I want to buy more aggressive stones for my sharpmaker, but I'm not sure which stones to get.

Is there a big difference between the CBN and the diamond stones? Any advantages one has over the other?

I most likely will reprofile some kitchen knives to start, and just wanted to get some opinions, since they are roughly the same price here in Europe.

[WilliamMunny]

CBN or Diamond is not more aggressive than the brown stone included. They are made to cut harder steels like 15V or Manix that the normal brown and white rods can’t effectively sharpen.

Generally the Sharpmaker is great at maintaining an already sharp knife. If you are looking to reprofile or fix a damaged edge the Sharpmaker will take a longer time. In this case for a big 3”x6” stone to sharpen freehand or use a fixed system like KME. This would be a lot faster and with the right stone more aggressive.

CBN vs Diamond I like CBN. They both will sharpen any modern steel but in general CBN has a slightly less chance of being damaged while sharpening. Real world most people probably could not tell much of a difference.

[Wartstein]

CBN or Diamond is not more aggressive than the brown stone included. They are made to cut harder steels like 15V or Manix that the normal brown and white rods can’t effectively sharpen.
...

Not an expert, but I am not sure I understand - ?

Perhaps the term "aggressive" can be interpreted differently, but my CBN rods are definitely not only good for "cutting harder steels".
They or course remove material a lot quicker than the brown or let alone white rods, so are much better for reprofiling any steel, and create a much coarser edge.
I personally WOULD call that "more aggressive" - ?

@Palestrina : I never tried the diamond rods, but have the CBNs.
Work great, though they could be even more aggressive for reprofiling.
I like the kind of coarse edge though they can create.

[Wartstein]

Here is a post by Sal on this topic, actually a whole thread concerning your question:

viewtopic.php?p=1219379#p1219379

[WilliamMunny]

CBN or Diamond is not more aggressive than the brown stone included. They are made to cut harder steels like 15V or Manix that the normal brown and white rods can’t effectively sharpen.
...

Not an expert, but I am not sure I understand - ?

Perhaps the term "aggressive" can be interpreted differently, but my CBN rods are definitely not only good for "cutting harder steels".
They or course remove material a lot quicker than the brown or let alone white rods, so are much better for reprofiling any steel, and create a much coarser edge.
I personally WOULD call that "more aggressive" - ?

@Palestrina : I never tried the diamond rods, but have the CBNs.
Work great, though they could be even more aggressive for reprofiling.
I like the kind of coarse edge though they can create.

I agree, they do probably take steel off faster. If my goal though was to reprofile kitchen knives my first choice would not be CBN/Diamond rods on the Sharpmaker. I think a fixed system or freehand would be the way to go. Again just IMO no expert either.

[ZrowsN1s]

I have diamond and CBN, don't notice much difference. I have heard anecdotally that the CBN has a more uniform size because they are artificially made. And that makes sense. But I've never measured it or noticed a big difference. If I grabbed the wrong one, I wouldn't notice.

[Wartstein]

I agree, they do probably take steel off faster. If my goal though was to reprofile kitchen knives my first choice would not be CBN/Diamond rods on the Sharpmaker. I think a fixed system or freehand would be the way to go. Again just IMO no expert either.

I think so too.

For truly reprofiling PE I usually take a rather cheap diamond plate (but with a lot more surface than a sharpmaker rod) for most of the work and only the very last steps I do on the SM (so when I have almost created the new bevel). Or the coarse plate on my Worksharp guided field sharpener.

But for repfofiling SE the corners of my CBN rods are the best option I have.

[Wartstein]

@Palestrina :
I´d recommend getting coarse sharpmaker rods anyway, aside from reprofiling - which works of course, but might take a little time. For just that, as said, my CBNs could even be a bit coarser.

What I really like in my CBNs is the coarse edge they can create - worth trying out, see this interesting thread on that viewtopic.php?p=1368196#p1368196

/ Generally, from what I´ve read, the diamonds might be a tad coarser, but the CBNs more durable (again, I only have experience with the latter)

[Palestrina]

Thank you guys for all the suggestions and information.

I've been aware that there are some threads here and on other places on this topic, but some of them are pretty old and the longer a product is on the market and the more experienced users are out there, the better the information. It was not my intent to steal anyones time, I really appreciate your answers.

I've just ordered the CBN rods. I'm going to field-test them on my mothers kitchen knives