Community Sharpening Journal

[Soanso McMasters]

Father’s Day gift. Just finished up on the KME.

[JD Spydo]

Yep, and I wasn't particularly impressed. My A2 Landis heat treated to 61rc by Peters HT have given me similar but better performance. I really enjoy all my A2 knives and wouldn't mind seeing Spydercos take on it in a small utility fixed blade. Cruwear and A2 aren't steels I'd seek out for a folder though.

Spyderco treats their cruwear to 63rc, and that might make a big difference in performance.

Yeah we're all gonna have to learn more about how to proficiently sharpen Cruwear blades with the Sprint Run C-60 Ayoob on the verge of it's release. Actually I've sharpened several ZDP-189, S-110V, M390 and a few other blades in the Supersteel category. I pretty much just use diamond benchstones to do the hard abrasive preliminary work to eliminate dings, dents and chips. Then once I've gotten the start on a properly angled apex I just mostly use the Spyderco ceramic stones to do the final finishing. I'm finding myself using Spyderco's great ceramic stones more and more>> especially the Ultra-Fine stones.

I'm actually looking forward to the challenge of sharpening Cruwear. This will be my first Cruwear blade. And the C-60 should prove to do really well with that blade selection I'm sure.

But I'm not so sure how it will do for serrated edges. But we'll soon find out.

Consider spyderco's heat treat I think cruwear will do great in serrated edges, as it has really excellent edge stability and decent edge retention in my experience with it. It's also really a breeze to sharpen compared to the high-wear-resistance "super steels."

My reason for concern using Cruwear for a serrated blade goes back to the minor disaster they had when they tried to make serrated blades with ZDP-189. They had all kinds of chipping and other problems you encounter with extremely hard and brittle properties you find with some of those types of blade steels. They even ceased production on one model with ZDP-189 full SE.

Brother I certainly hope you're absolutely right that Cruwear will make a great serrated blade. And believe me I'll be one very happy guy if it all works out. Because some steels that I was skeptical about did turn out to be great in full SE. The older 440V (S-60V) immediately comes to mind>> and it turned out to be one of my all time favorite full SE blade steels.

[Big John]

Cruwear sharpens up incredibly beautifully and easily. When it I think of steels that are the easiest to sharpen, cruwear is one that comes to mind. Maybe not as easy as 8cr13MoV, but if you are used to sharpening s110v cruwear will seem just as easy as 8cr.

[Ramonade]

I've seen some ZDP-189 serrations do a carnage on tough materials without losing its teeth. Maybe the minor disaster only concerned part of the SE blades in ZDP ?

[Josh Crutchley]

I just picked up some Columbia Gorge Stoneworks bonded diamond stones. The Venev ocb stones I have dress easily using just sandpaper on a flat surface. The CGS stones are a lot harder to dress, I need to get powder SiC. Does the powder make that much of a difference?

[Steeltoez83]

Took my s90v shaman to my king neo stone today. The factory edge was still respectable after I cut up all the recyclables I had laying around. At the last minute I decided to apply a microbevel at roughly 17 degrees with this stone for a bit of durability. In the past I've used s90v with zero issues with rolls.chips, or other issues.

[Bemo]

I just picked up some Columbia Gorge Stoneworks bonded diamond stones. The Venev ocb stones I have dress easily using just sandpaper on a flat surface. The CGS stones are a lot harder to dress, I need to get powder SiC. Does the powder make that much of a difference?

Short answer is yes. I purchased some of these directly from the man who makes them and spoke to him on the phone. He wouldn't let me purchase the stones without SiC powder. Nice guy and it was an interesting chat. He developed these because he cuts and polishes marble and granite and he wasn't happy with the lack of durability of the polishing medium. He also is the maker of the stones for one of the guided system manufacturers; I forget which one.

[prndltech]

I’ve been using this for over a year now and I am very impressed. If anyone has been on the fence about it, buy it! this attachment for the work sharp sharpener is what it should have been all along in my opinion (I’ve never used the work sharp in any other form but this). I haven’t touched my atoma plates or other stones since I started using it

Just this and the sharpmaker get me beyond shaving sharp blades fast.

[vivi]

About a week ago I posted some 200x images of my freshly sharpened Pacific Salt.

viewtopic.php?p=1635813#p1635813





I used it some the past two days. Cut some food, broke down some cardboard etc.



200 grit edge off a diamond stone with no microbevel or further polishing of the apex.

Checked the sharpness out of curiosity today. It was able to scrape shave pretty cleanly when it was fresh.

Now it's hair popping sharp.



Maybe I broke off part of a burr, not sure how else it started feeling sharper after some use. I'll take it though. I've never had a 200 grit edge that could push cut this well. Fun to use.

Love this particular Pacific. I like Pacific 1's a lot, but after carrying them for a few days then switching back to the 2, I definitely appreciate the refined ergonomics.

[Soanso McMasters]

About a week ago I posted some 200x images of my freshly sharpened Pacific Salt.

viewtopic.php?p=1635813#p1635813





I used it some the past two days. Cut some food, broke down some cardboard etc.



200 grit edge off a diamond stone with no microbevel or further polishing of the apex.

Checked the sharpness out of curiosity today. It was able to scrape shave pretty cleanly when it was fresh.

Now it's hair popping sharp.



Maybe I broke off part of a burr, not sure how else it started feeling sharper after some use. I'll take it though. I've never had a 200 grit edge that could push cut this well. Fun to use.

Love this particular Pacific. I like Pacific 1's a lot, but after carrying them for a few days then switching back to the 2, I definitely appreciate the refined ergonomics.

Is there any reason you don’t prefer LC200N over H1? My wife has an H1 and my son and I have LC200N, but I haven’t played around with them enough to speak knowledgeably on the topic.

[Steeltoez83]

Sharpened up both my Chris Reeves the other day. I really enjoy the heat treat on my Christmas tree Para 3, so I wanted another s45vn blade. I used the cbn sharpmaker rod on my s35vn inkosi to set a microbevel at about 16 degrees on the s35vn inkosi. I much prefer the heat treat spyderco uses on their s35 from what I've used personally.

[RustyIron]

About a week ago I posted some 200x images of my freshly sharpened Pacific Salt.

Can you refresh our memories regarding your microscope? Your images are FAR better than I can get with the USB contraption I have plugged into my desktop.

[vivi]

About a week ago I posted some 200x images of my freshly sharpened Pacific Salt.

Can you refresh our memories regarding your microscope? Your images are FAR better than I can get with the USB contraption I have plugged into my desktop.

It's a much higher end microscope than the usb one I have on my personal PC.

https://www.keyence.com/landing/microsc ... hx6000.jsp

It's in a testing lab I have access to at work.

[vivi]

About a week ago I posted some 200x images of my freshly sharpened Pacific Salt.

viewtopic.php?p=1635813#p1635813





I used it some the past two days. Cut some food, broke down some cardboard etc.



200 grit edge off a diamond stone with no microbevel or further polishing of the apex.

Checked the sharpness out of curiosity today. It was able to scrape shave pretty cleanly when it was fresh.

Now it's hair popping sharp.



Maybe I broke off part of a burr, not sure how else it started feeling sharper after some use. I'll take it though. I've never had a 200 grit edge that could push cut this well. Fun to use.

Love this particular Pacific. I like Pacific 1's a lot, but after carrying them for a few days then switching back to the 2, I definitely appreciate the refined ergonomics.

Is there any reason you don’t prefer LC200N over H1? My wife has an H1 and my son and I have LC200N, but I haven’t played around with them enough to speak knowledgeably on the topic.

They are both really good steels, nothing wrong with LC200N.

I find the edge holding difference between them isn't as dramatic as I thought it would be.

The LC Pacific is nice for how light it is and the full flat grind.

My H1 Pacifics have less play and the heavier blade feels better when opening and closing the knife. H1 also sharpens a bit faster and is a bit more resistant to damage.

Honestly the action is a bigger deciding factor for me than which steel it is. My H1 Pacific I dyed green is very smooth and has no side to side play. My LC Pacific is stiff to open with how much I tightened the pivot, but still has side to side play.

In terms of geometry and edge holding the LC version definitely has the edge, but I'm ok with how the H1's cut and retain their edge when sharpened to 200-400 grit at 10-12 degrees per side.

[RustyIron]

Double Tap

[RustyIron]

It's a much higher end microscope than the usb one I have on my personal PC.

Thank you. I checked eBay, and now I don't feel inadequate because of the shoddy quality of my images. Of the Keyence items for sale, the only one that fits my budget is a lens adapter ring.

Nevertheless, I can still be entertained by my USB 'scope that doubles as a coffee cup holder. You know the most fun I have with mine? It's not examining a freshly sharpened blade to see why it's sharp. I get a kick out of examining a slightly used blade to see why it's no longer as sharp as it was.

[Ramonade]

Working on the bad boy that might or might not stay here... If i send it back, the least I can do is make it cut for the seller (since he gave up, searching for something that he'd be able to sharpen with his equipment, like CTS-BD1N or S30V).
I told him that he could still make it cut very well with ceramics and all, but I know how very hard steel can discourage people.

These new (to me) Venev stones are excellent, it cuts way better than their dog series. I'm gonna buy big ones next.

[Steeltoez83]

I did a full regrind on several of my pm2s the other day. Here's the show side of the s110v batch I did that day.

[ncrockclimb]

Finally re-profiled and sharpened my Manix 2 Maxamet. I took the edge to 12 DPS finished with f240 Venev plates. At the end I was VERY careful to remove the burr with multiple edge-leading passes on each side. I started with 12 per side, then 11, then 10, etc. Despite stopping with a relatively coarse stone, the edge is shaving sharp but toothy. Maxamet took a little while longer to sharpen than M4, but was not overly difficult to work with.

BTW, the Venev Scorpion plates are just amazing. I cannot say enough good things about how well they work and the quality of the product.

[Wandering_About]

Nice work. Maxamet is not the easiest steel to sharpen, but it is far from impossible and rewarding when you get it right.