Benchstone Dishing??

[Koot]

I'm thinking of buying a Spyderco meduim bench stone and I wonder if these ceramic stones dish or hollow from wear after repeated use? If they do can they be flattened with a diamond lapping plate?

thanks,
koot

[razorsharp]

They should not flatten, they are a solid abrasive. The steel embeds in the stone, the stone doesn't cause a steel and stone flurry

[Donut]

From what I've read, the medium stones will wear, while the fine and ultra fine... you won't notice the wear.

Maybe JD can give us an idea of how long it takes them to wear.

Personally, I have a chip or two in my fine and ultra fine sharpmaker stones from bumping the stones against things.

[phillipsted]

I have an old medium bench stone (mid-90s) and a second-generation Sharpmaker. On both of these, the medium stones are showing wear. And the benchstone has cupped a little bit in the middle. I have gotten it back into alignment with a little elbow grease and a Norton flattening stone.

TedP

[JD Spydo]

From what I've read, the medium stones will wear, while the fine and ultra fine... you won't notice the wear.

Maybe JD can give us an idea of how long it takes them to wear.

Personally, I have a chip or two in my fine and ultra fine sharpmaker stones from bumping the stones against things.

I have had 2 sets of Spyderco 302 Benchstones and I have one set since 1999 and the other since 2002 and I have never had any of the 3 stones ( i.e. medium, fine & ultra-fine) ever dish out on me yet. And I've kept a very close eye on them and have checked them closely in a machine shop.

Now I've heard that the Spyderco medium stones will eventually wear significantly but I've yet to do it and I've used the **** out of both sets.

Now I will report that the medium grit stones on one of my 204 Sharpmakers has shown some modest wear. But keep in mind I've used mine about 20 times as much as most people would.

I've never seen any wear on either the fine or ultra fine stones in either the Benchstones (302) or the Sharpmaker stones.

As far as flattening any of the 302 Benchstones??.>>> If it needed to be done I don't know how to go about it.

[Donut]

Joe, thanks, I figured you were using the **** out of them. :)

[Koot]

To all who posted, thank you for your responses . After buying a Sharpmaker a few weeks ago and seeing what a super job it did on my knives I think it's natural to want the benchstones as well.

Koot

[JD Spydo]

To all who posted, thank you for your responses . After buying a Sharpmaker a few weeks ago and seeing what a super job it did on my knives I think it's natural to want the benchstones as well.

Koot

I would recommend you get a complete set of the Spyderco 302 Benchstones Koot. You won't regret it. Now they are not the only Benchstones I own. I also have some diamond benchstones made by Norton and 3M which are great for fast stock removal on really beat up blades.

Also the containers that they come in are great to use them in. The boxes have 4 small rubber feet on them to keep them from slipping on a good work surface. Also Garrett Wade company has a "Stone Holder" you can buy that really works great with the 302 stones which really holds them in place.

But do get all 3 of them (i.e. medium, fine & ultra-fine) because they really do great with all 3 grits. I also highly recommend the Spyderco Slip Stone and 701 Profiles as well. You had better get a set of 701 Profiles while you can because they are indeed discontinued and won't be available much longer.

[Koot]

[quote="JD Spydo"]

JD, thanks for pointing out the 701 Profiles, I had not paid attention to them before your comment. At first glance I thought they were small triangles. :o The Sharpmaker really has been an eye opener for me, I didn't appreciate the capabilities of ceramic sharpening until I saw what the Sharpmaker can do. That is why I was interested in the Spyderco Benchstones.

I do some woodworking with hand tools and a little micro-machining with a Taig lathe. I think the 701's will be useful with the Taig tool bits (the EZ-Laps I've been touching them up with are just about worn out) and the 701s would suit some of the hard to sharpen fluted molding plane cutters as well.

Luckily my supplier still has 701s in stock.

I only own a couple of Spyderco knives, a Caly3 purchased 3 years ago, which I like so much it should really have been the last pocket knife I would ever need to buy, and now a Caly3.5 SB Sprint Run ...... I was weak, I couldn't resist. :D

cheers,
koot

[Spydesense]

I have a 306 ultra fine benchstone and haven't seen any wear in it. I personally think it is the best benchstone out there...as I have said before, I would probably tear up if anything ever happened to it :)

[ChapmanPreferred]

On the Sharpmaker the corners are what tend to wear. When the contact surface of the corner of the stone will no longer fit into the smallest serration on a Spyderedge, it is time to replace the stones. I have not noticed significant wear on the flats of the medium stones and I have sharpened a lot of knives on the Sharpmaker system. I have a set of the 8" Spyderco bench stones and they are all as true as the day I received them. I tend to mostly use them on Scandi ground knives and wood chisels.

[JD Spydo]

On the Sharpmaker the corners are what tend to wear. When the contact surface of the corner of the stone will no longer fit into the smallest serration on a Spyderedge, it is time to replace the stones. I have not noticed significant wear on the flats of the medium stones and I have sharpened a lot of knives on the Sharpmaker system. I have a set of the 8" Spyderco bench stones and they are all as true as the day I received them. I tend to mostly use them on Scandi ground knives and wood chisels.

I know what you're saying there Chapman but consider this>> I've kept all the stones for the 204 where the corners have worn down for 2 reasons. Most everyone of the ones that did wear down on the corners were the gray/medium stones. Up to this time I've only had one fine stone had a corner wear down on me.

Reason #1>> For deburring jobs a medium 204 stone with a worn corner does a great speedy job. Reason #2>> The worn 204 stones are great for removing serious dings and dents on a blade edge.

So don't discard any of your stones that appear to be worn out because there is always some metal working job that it will do well on.

For the spike part of most of my Spyderedged blades I'm finding that the Spyderco Slip Stone to be most ideal for that job. I find that point part on the Slip Stone fits most SE spikes almost perfectly.

[defenestrate]

The fine and ultrafine stones should not wear.
The medium will, but not quickly.