Spyderco Ultra fine what is the approximate grit rating?

[mainaman]

As the title says, what would you rate the approximate grit equivalent of the Spyderco Ultra fine?

[DANforty]

Think its 2000 but not 100% sure

[_centurio_]

I read it's about 4000 (japanese grit) some time ago. But I can't promise.

Oliver

[razorsharp]

Its apparently impossible to measure the grit rating of ceramic, but from the pics I see it looks to be about 2000-2500 grit.

[KNaB]

GUGC says the UF are 3 micron. For reference, my 4k shapton glass stone is 3.68 micron

[jackknifeh]

Comparing grits between different type materials seems to be a bit difficult. Especially with ceramic which Spyderco doesn't even apply a grit or micron rating. Med., fine, UF are the designations they use. So a while back I used DMT, Shapton glass and Spyderco stones and compared the scratch patternes. I put them in the following progression for my use if I were to use each one.

DMT extra-fine (rated at 9 micron)
Spyderco fine (rated at 6 micron on the Unified Grit Chart)
Spyderco UF (rated at 3 micron on the Unified Grit Chart)
Shapton Glass 8k (rated at 1.84 micron)

This progression works perfectly fine for me. I also have the Shapton glass 2k, 4, 6, 8k in EP size. But skipping grits is fine I believe. You don't need every grit. Anyway, I think the 3 micron rating is pretty accurate. Maybe a bit under 3 but NOT higher IMO. The Unified Grit Chart (found on chefknivestogo.com) is put together by people who know quite a bit about many different type sharpening stones. Even so I wanted to check myself so I compared scratch patterns. The scratch patterns matched up very well with the order the chart places stones in. I think it's a good chart to go by when deciding to buy stones of different type.

The chart puts Spyderco stones at the following micron rating (FYI).
Medium = 15 micron
Fine - 6 micron
Ultra-Fine - 3 micron

On a further note, I have come to love the Spyderco fine and UF stones. I have bought and sold several stones in the past few years to try different types. I even sold the 2"x8" UF stone to fund trying another type. A year or so later I bought another Spyderco UF stone. The Spyderco stones are inexpensive compared to a lot of stone types. They are used without water or oil making them easy and clean to pull out, use and put away easily. And most important they do an outstanding job. The fine grit is all that is really needed IMO for a very nice, very sharp, slightly toothy edge. But if you want a more refined (smoother) edge there is no better choice than the UF stone. When I use the 8k Shapton glass stone after the UF stone I can feel a difference in the smoothness of the edge but only if I'm cutting something very delicate like phone book paper and only if I'm paying close attention. But for EDC knives the Spyderco stones will put an edge on a knife without needing anything else. Not even any stropping. The UF stone is capable of creating a hair whittling edge.

Jack

[mainaman]

Comparing grits between different type materials seems to be a bit difficult. Especially with ceramic which Spyderco doesn't even apply a grit or micron rating. Med., fine, UF are the designations they use. So a while back I used DMT, Shapton glass and Spyderco stones and compared the scratch patternes. I put them in the following progression for my use if I were to use each one.

DMT extra-fine (rated at 9 micron)
Spyderco fine (rated at 6 micron on the Unified Grit Chart)
Spyderco UF (rated at 3 micron on the Unified Grit Chart)
Shapton Glass 8k (rated at 1.84 micron)

This progression works perfectly fine for me. I also have the Shapton glass 2k, 4, 6, 8k in EP size. But skipping grits is fine I believe. You don't need every grit. Anyway, I think the 3 micron rating is pretty accurate. Maybe a bit under 3 but NOT higher IMO. The Unified Grit Chart (found on chefknivestogo.com) is put together by people who know quite a bit about many different type sharpening stones. Even so I wanted to check myself so I compared scratch patterns. The scratch patterns matched up very well with the order the chart places stones in. I think it's a good chart to go by when deciding to buy stones of different type.

The chart puts Spyderco stones at the following micron rating (FYI).
Medium = 15 micron
Fine - 6 micron
Ultra-Fine - 3 micron

On a further note, I have come to love the Spyderco fine and UF stones. I have bought and sold several stones in the past few years to try different types. I even sold the 2"x8" UF stone to fund trying another type. A year or so later I bought another Spyderco UF stone. The Spyderco stones are inexpensive compared to a lot of stone types. They are used without water or oil making them easy and clean to pull out, use and put away easily. And most important they do an outstanding job. The fine grit is all that is really needed IMO for a very nice, very sharp, slightly toothy edge. But if you want a more refined (smoother) edge there is no better choice than the UF stone. When I use the 8k Shapton glass stone after the UF stone I can feel a difference in the smoothness of the edge but only if I'm cutting something very delicate like phone book paper and only if I'm paying close attention. But for EDC knives the Spyderco stones will put an edge on a knife without needing anything else. Not even any stropping. The UF stone is capable of creating a hair whittling edge.

Jack

Thanks for the detailed info.
I am huge stone junkie, and have and have tried a many many different stones, so before I jumped on Spyderco I wanted to check how they rate against common synthetics.
Even though I have several synthetics in the range, and a bunch of naturals, I think I'll grab an UF to try.

[jackknifeh]

Thanks for the detailed info.
I am huge stone junkie, and have and have tried a many many different stones, so before I jumped on Spyderco I wanted to check how they rate against common synthetics.
Even though I have several synthetics in the range, and a bunch of naturals, I think I'll grab an UF to try.

I think you will like it. You can use just the weight of the blade. Even a small knife like a Manbug. The stone is aggressive enough to cut and leave a very smooth edge.

[Zenith]

I am surprised no one has shown this yet.

[Buendia518]

I am huge stone junkie.

"Times have now arrived in this nation
There's now a people with a different relation
Black and white, yellow, red and blue
All in the same bag we know it's true

They're just stone junkies
Stone, stone junkies, stone junkies, stone, stone junkies"

Sorry I couldn't help myself. That's a Curtis Mayfield song and you're not the sort of stone junkie he's referencing :)