Real World User Experience Sharpening CPM 15V

[hambone56rx]

@deadboxhero I have the double sided CBN stone from Spyderco and their Medium and UltraFine Bench stone. I hear a lot of people talking about using diamond or CBN stones. And I read where you feel like the edge loses its bite if the stone is softer than the carbides.

Do you think the Medium and Fine stones would do ok with 15V? Or would I need to upgrade to a diamond stone sir? So far this set up seems to do well with k390.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to playing with this steel!

Hamilton

I believe you've answered your own questions before asking them. The truth is, there's no way to beat around this bush to get two-in-the-hand. If the abrasive is not hard enough to cut the carbide, you are not properly shaping your apex for maximal performance. There's no benefit in these super steels if you can't, or won't keep up with their demands. Kind of like filling up a Ferrari with regular unleaded gasoline, you're undermining and sacrificing the performance that you've paid for.

Thank you! Will look at picking up some harder bonded diamond stones!

Hamilton

[Wandering_About]

Diamond or CBN are the way. You can put a functional edge on 15V with ceramics, but if you're wanting the real performance 15V has to offer, you need to sharpen with abrasives that will cut the carbides in the steel.

[z1r]

Thanks for asking this, it is exactly the question I came here to ask. I'll add, I have the Brown, White, and Diamond rods. Noy sure if the Diamond are electro plated or not. So, wondering if the CBN are needed? I've noted most, like 98% of these posts, are from folk that like to freehand sharpen on stones. Me, I rely on my sharpmaker. Before anyone gives me grief, I've ony had my FRN Para 3 since Saturday. Don't anticipate "NEEDING" to sharpen it for some time, so I'm prepping.

I'm one of those freehanders , though I started off with a Sharpmaker so I'm very familiar with it. Nothing wrong with it so don't feel bad. If anything the sharpmaker helped me on my journey to freehanding because it taught me to hold angles.

That said, with some rubber bands you can just attach a small diamond stone, something like a 6x1" stone from a guided sharpener for example, to the flat side of a sharpmaker rod. I'd recommend to use the diamond rod as the backer since those are made of metal. That way you have more grit options to work with rather than the Sharpmaker's sole ~40micron diamond rod (it is electroplated). Whether the ceramics are enough for 15V, I'll let more knowledgeable folks speak on that. But the way I see it, there's plenty of cheap diamond/cbn options out there which would work fine.

ETA: had to dig out my Sharpmaker from storage but here's what I'm talking about.

Cheap 320grit plate


Fancy 20/14 micron resin bonded diamond

Thanks, great hack. Need to find me some of those stones. Didn't realize that the CBN triangle rods are also electroplated.

[Guts]

Thanks, great hack. Need to find me some of those stones. Didn't realize that the CBN triangle rods are also electroplated.

I take no credit for the idea, just seen it done elsewhere and thought I'd share. Plenty of 6x1" diamond or cbn stones for sale from different manufacturers from high end to low end.

[Brock O Lee]

...with some rubber bands you can just attach a small diamond stone, something like a 6x1" stone from a guided sharpener for example, to the flat side of a sharpmaker rod.

Nice!

I did a similar thing years ago. I use it for micro bevels on high carbide steels.

I had a set of DMT Diasharp Fine diamond stones lying around that I wanted to use. I mounted them on alu angle bar, and used a set of strong paper binder clips to attach them to a set of worn-out SM med stones. The stones are a bit short at 4 inches, but they work, and I like the finish of the DMT Fine grit for relatively coarse edges.

I should really make a 6 inch version this weekend... I already have spare Edge Pro 6 inch stones. Thanks for the idea.

[Evil D]

One of the things I'm repeatedly surprised about is how well 15V responds to the Sharpmaker.

I really expected to need CBN or diamonds to get anything out of it but the factory edge on my Military 2 had developed what I thought might have been some fine chipping, you could feel it on your fingernails and even see it, but a dozen or so passes on the brown rods and the edge is sticky sharp and I can't see anything in my 10x loupe.

Maybe it was a bit of burr left from the factory? Regardless, I know ceramic is still harder than any steel but I also figured that 15% vanadium might be an issue and I half expecting ceramic to do more burnishing than cutting.

So is that actually what I'm seeing here? Am I basically steeling my edge straight?

[sal]

Hi David,

The ceramic rods on the Sharpmaker cut glass. 9.2 on the Moh's scale. I'm sure you could cut a notch in the 15V blade if you wanted to.

sal

[hambone56rx]

Hi David,

The ceramic rods on the Sharpmaker cut glass. 9.2 on the Moh's scale. I'm sure you could cut a notch in the 15V blade if you wanted to.

sal

Sal,

How hard is the medium Benchstone? I just picked one up, and wondering if it can handle 15V?

Hamilton

[sal]

Hi Hamilton,

Should be no problem. (I think we're going to be disco'ing that stone?) The brown/gray material is friable, meaning it will eventually wear, after the surface is "cracked" I find that on the triangle, I like to "crack" the surface by rubbing the corners of two against each other. It cuts faster, once the corner is "cracked" but it does wear to the point where it will eventually have to be replaced. The fine grit (white) doesn't wear enough to wear out.

sal

[WilliamMunny]

Hi Hamilton,

Should be no problem. (I think we're going to be disco'ing that stone?) The brown/gray material is friable, meaning it will eventually wear, after the surface is "cracked" I find that on the triangle, I like to "crack" the surface by rubbing the corners of two against each other. It cuts faster, once the corner is "cracked" but it does wear to the point where it will eventually have to be replaced. The fine grit (white) doesn't wear enough to wear out.

sal

If your discontinuing the brown stone is there any plans to replace it with something?

They work well to touch up edges that a strop can’t fix. I might need to get an extra pair if that’s the case.

[N. Brian Huegel]

https://www.spyderco.com/?s=302

Yes, the 2x8 Ceramic Benchstones have been discontinued by Spyderco, but are still available and on sale.

nb

[Clay H]

National Knives had a great price on them.

[hambone56rx]

National Knives had a great price on uthem.

Yes they do, that’s where I picked mine up!

Hamilton

[hambone56rx]

Hi Hamilton,

Should be no problem. (I think we're going to be disco'ing that stone?) The brown/gray material is friable, meaning it will eventually wear, after the surface is "cracked" I find that on the triangle, I like to "crack" the surface by rubbing the corners of two against each other. It cuts faster, once the corner is "cracked" but it does wear to the point where it will eventually have to be replaced. The fine grit (white) doesn't wear enough to wear out.

sal

THANK YOU SAL!!!

Hamilton

[Nemo3000]

Hello

here is my take on sharpening the Para3 LW 15V

https://nemoknivesreview.com/2025/02/12 ... ghtweight/

[sal]

Hi Shawn,

I've got 2 weeks in EDC'ing the Military 2 in 15V. Using it every day for a variety of tasks. Food prep, boxes, dinner, etc. Haven't needed to sharpen it. I guess my reaction was kinda like Erica's. Pretty amazing edge retention. Surprising.

sal

[Deadboxhero]

Hi Shawn,

I've got 2 weeks in EDC'ing the Military 2 in 15V. Using it every day for a variety of tasks. Food prep, boxes, dinner, etc. Haven't needed to sharpen it. I guess my reaction was kinda like Erica's. Pretty amazing edge retention. Surprising.

sal

Very cool.

I also enjoyed the factory edge on these.


I usually don't use the factory edge since I like my own edges but I did some testing with the factory edge and measured the sharpness.




This was from December to January so I did a lot of cutting for Christmas and my childrens birthdays.


Held up quite nicely, didn't blunt as easy as CPM S90V would have.

[ejames13]

I'm curious if the factory sharpening process on these is different than normal or if Golden has changed it across the board.

The edge looked different to me under magnification than normal Golden knives. It looked like there was a microbevel applied with a buffing wheel or something similar. No burr whatsoever, which has not always been the case for me with knives from the Golden factory.

[CDEP]

I've reprofiled my Manix 2, PM2, & Shaman to 15dps with a Sharpmaker. Diamond rods thru the brown and white, and then a 3-1-0.5 diamond paste progression on a strop bat. It took about 45 minutes for the reprofile each time, and was far easier than I expected. All three have had extensive use and I have been able to maintain them with a strop - so far no need to put them back on the rods. The edge retention is insane.

I've reprofiled the PARA 3s but haven't yet had a chance to use them.

The Military 2 came with the best factory edge I think I've ever seen from Golden, so I'm gonna run with it and reprofile only when time comes to sharpen - if it ever does...

Kudos to @sal and @Deadboxhero for a spectacular Sprint Run on these models!

[Nemo3000]

M4
Spy27
Magnacut
15V

I can get all mirror edge with 1/4 micron diamond paste.
But not on 15V. It is a tough boy !