New Rod Grits?

[paladin]

Am I the only one which could use a "coarser" ceramic TriAngle rod offering?

Is it possible / practical for the Spydercrew to even make one?

Just thinking of this since JD's latest thread & remembering how the corners of my diamond hones have been rendered virtually impotent ( that's not a term I use lightly ) .

A ceramic hone would be more durable than current diamond hones on the corners, I believe.

Sintered Ruby might even be an interesting material for an easy maintenance, durable TriAngle hone, maybe?

Thoughts? Comments? Advice? Set me straight on the subject :o ? All feedback is welcome :)

[SpydyLover1234]

I would love a courser ceramic rod. I have seen this brought up before but it is usually shot down because they already have diamond rods but as you said they usually will ware out in the corners.

[awa54]

the ruby stones I have seen, wear fast enough that the corners wouldn't hold up much better than plated diamond does...

But there's always Congress tool if you want to give it a try.

[SpeedHoles]

I've looked into some of those Ruby triangles quite some time ago, and not only are they quite expensive, but all reports I saw mentioned the triangle is smaller and more inconsistent in fitting the Sharpmaker, which means your bevel angles are off from the rest of the tirangles...


So far my CBN triangles are holding up well. But I am delicate on my swipes on the corners. Not much pressure needed to remove material though.

[Surfingringo]

Yes please, I've been begging for this for the last couple of years. Given all the high carbide steel that Spyderco is moving towards, I would love to have a set of 600 and 1200 grit diamond rods for the SM! For now, I have a set of DMT diafold paddles attached to my UF rods with rubber bands. Guess I'll keep using that util Spyderco puts some more diamond rods on the market.

[bearfacedkiller]

I want a full set of diamond rods myself. I want a 200 grit extra course most of all. Reprofiling is still my biggest struggle with the sharpmaker. I would love to see 200, 400, 800 and 1200 offered and although they would be pricey I would buy them all.

I am happy that Spyderco is offering as much S110V as they are but I expect to see many, many threads on how to sharpen it or more specifically from people who are struggling to sharpen it. I have been playing with it since the 2013 Native and S110V MT18 came out. It is not impossible to sharpen but it certainly doesn't respond to the ceramic rods like VG10. That is for sure. However, it seems as though diamonds level the playing field a bit and they don't seem to differentiate between steels as much. CQI for the sharpmaker if you ask me. As these steels evolve so should the sharpening tools.

[awa54]

I've looked into some of those Ruby triangles quite some time ago, and not only are they quite expensive, but all reports I saw mentioned the triangle is smaller and more inconsistent in fitting the Sharpmaker, which means your bevel angles are off from the rest of the tirangles...


So far my CBN triangles are holding up well. But I am delicate on my swipes on the corners. Not much pressure needed to remove material though.

I haven't used any of the Congress triangle rods, but the threads I have read regarding them did mention that sizing is a bit inconsistent, with some rods being too snug and others requiring a shim to fit well. At about $12 a pair I'd hardly call the congress ruby stones costly, but if they wear out quickly then they're not much of a deal.

I decided right from the beginning that my CBN rods would only get used on the flats, why tempt the plating to fail when the rods are aggressive enough that they cut well on the flat? If I need to remove more stock than the CBN rods can do in a reasonable time frame, there are always my coarse bench stones.

[Ankerson]

The problem with coarse ceramic is that it's difficult to make them and have them last.

Like most things to get one thing you have to give up something else.

I have some coarse ceramic rods here, like 400 grit, but they do wear pretty fast comparing to the normal Spyderco Med.

Still believe very hard SIC is the answer, the only real downside is keeping the stones clean.

[Surfingringo]

The problem with coarse ceramic is that it's difficult to make them and have them last.

Like most things to get one thing you have to give up something else.

I have some coarse ceramic rods here, like 400 grit, but they do wear pretty fast comparing to the normal Spyderco Med.

Still believe very hard SIC is the answer, the only real downside is keeping the stones clean.

What is SIC Jim?

[bearfacedkiller]

Silicon carbide

[BTG]

[quote="bearfacedkiller"]I want a full set of diamond rods myself. I want a 200 grit extra course most of all. Reprofiling is still my biggest struggle with the sharpmaker. I would love to see 200, 400, 800 and 1200 offered and although they would be pricey I would buy them all.

yeah, I have the sharpmaker, but generally just do touch ups with it now..with all these super steels being replofiling nightmares I broke down and got a wickededge and a few extra grits...l got a 50,80 on the low end of diamond..800/1000 on the high end...and a 1200/1600 ceramic...it comes with a 100/200 and 400/600 diamond, I really like it a lot , but useless with serrated knives...so I'll still be wearing out the corners of the triangles.

[Ankerson]

The problem with coarse ceramic is that it's difficult to make them and have them last.

Like most things to get one thing you have to give up something else.

I have some coarse ceramic rods here, like 400 grit, but they do wear pretty fast comparing to the normal Spyderco Med.

Still believe very hard SIC is the answer, the only real downside is keeping the stones clean.

What is SIC Jim?

Silicon Carbide.

I would recommend the Shapton Glass stones, but they don't make them to fit the Sharpmaker.

Excellent Stones though IMO, have a couple that I use with the Edge Pro.

[SpeedHoles]

I've looked into some of those Ruby triangles quite some time ago, and not only are they quite expensive, but all reports I saw mentioned the triangle is smaller and more inconsistent in fitting the Sharpmaker, which means your bevel angles are off from the rest of the tirangles...


So far my CBN triangles are holding up well. But I am delicate on my swipes on the corners. Not much pressure needed to remove material though.

I haven't used any of the Congress triangle rods, but the threads I have read regarding them did mention that sizing is a bit inconsistent, with some rods being too snug and others requiring a shim to fit well. At about $12 a pair I'd hardly call the congress ruby stones costly, but if they wear out quickly then they're not much of a deal.

I decided right from the beginning that my CBN rods would only get used on the flats, why tempt the plating to fail when the rods are aggressive enough that they cut well on the flat? If I need to remove more stock than the CBN rods can do in a reasonable time frame, there are always my coarse bench stones.

Oh I don't remember them only being $12, wow. The ones I saw were not branded and I think like $40 a piece!

[Donut]

The Congress Ruby stones are pretty nice.

Back in the day when I screwed up the bevel on my S90V Mule, I went out looking for a coarse Ceramic bench stone. Google searching lead me to the Beston 500. http://www.chefknivestogo.com/beston500.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It feels coarse, but it doesn't cut like I wanted it to. The grit is low enough to go deep, but the ceramic doesn't dig in as deep as the grit would allow. I ended up having to go to the DMT Coarse stone to get what I was looking for.

I've used my 400 grit Congress Tools Silicone Carbide stone, also, but it doesn't cut that great either. It cuts like ceramic. =\


What exactly would a coarser grit ceramic stone offer you that the 600 grit doesn't? 600 grit might be close to as coarse as you can go for ceramic to cut into steel.

[paladin]

What exactly would a coarser grit ceramic stone offer you that the 600 grit doesn't? 600 grit might be close to as coarse as you can go for ceramic to cut into steel.

As for what a coarser ceramic would bring to the table, I'd hope it would be able to reprofile quicker than the Med. hones, yet have more durability than the diamond rods....kinda a step above the Med. rods and a bit below the diamonds in grinding, but with more grit integrity.

In addition to that-- they also don't readily dish, aren't as messy as friable stones, and therefore, would be easier to clean & maintain.

Had an inkling of an idea that you couldn't reasonably go coarser grit than the Med. rods ( or else Spyderco would have went that route before now ), but just wanted more experienced viewpoints.

I've got my 1x30 belt sander for wholesale stock removal, but I'm a little snakebit to employ it anymore on my favorite Spyders (distal tapers & pointy tips) after blunting the tip on a PM1

Thanks to everyone already posting up! :)

[Donut]

Maybe someone will post that I'm doing it wrong.

When I searched for 500 grit ceramic on amazon, it gave me the result of the Shapton glass stone. I wonder if that would perform better.

Hey, did you ever see that thread from Cliff that was titled something like "want to make a medium stone for $5?" It talked about buying a pretty coarse Silicone Carbide bench stone for cheap.

[JD Spydo]

Am I the only one which could use a "coarser" ceramic TriAngle rod offering?

Is it possible / practical for the Spydercrew to even make one?

Just thinking of this since JD's latest thread & remembering how the corners of my diamond hones have been rendered virtually impotent ( that's not a term I use lightly ) .

A ceramic hone would be more durable than current diamond hones on the corners, I believe.

Sintered Ruby might even be an interesting material for an easy maintenance, durable TriAngle hone, maybe?

I've been requesting a coarser rod for the 204 Sharpmaker for at least 3 years now and I still think that's one of the drawbacks of the 204 Sharpmaker IMO. And you're talking to a guy who is a big fan of the Sharpmaker who owns two of them. Yeah the diamond rod is handy at times but it isn't even coarse enough for a more rapid stock removal for a really dinged up and battered blade which need desperate reprofiling which would take a very long time with the present set of stones available.

Something like a really aggressive/coarse aluminum oxide stone or maybe even a sintered ruby stone like you're suggesting. To some degree that can also be said of the 302 Spyderco benchstones as well. And again I like both sharpening tools a lot but there is certainly room for improvement in my opinion.

[paladin]

Hey, did you ever see that thread from Cliff that was titled something like "want to make a medium stone for $5?" It talked about buying a pretty coarse Silicone Carbide bench stone for cheap.

Yup, I saw the vid where he took the el cheapo hard corborundum stone and put the slurry from a coarse stone on it's face and commenced to grinding...interesting, and seems to be a sound technique. I just don't wanna venture into the freehand stone areana just now.

[Belasarius Jnr]

Sort of on the topic, I've been curious to know what grit (or appropriate measure) each of the Sharpmaker rods are? Diamond, Medium, Fine and Ultra-Fine. Could someone enlighten me? Thanks.

I'd like to get an idea of where they fit in between the courser bench stones and polishing compounds.

[Surfingringo]

Sort of on the topic, I've been curious to know what grit (or appropriate measure) each of the Sharpmaker rods are? Diamond, Medium, Fine and Ultra-Fine. Could someone enlighten me? Thanks.

I'd like to get an idea of where they fit in between the courser bench stones and polishing compounds.

Hi Belasarius, there is no exact grit equivalent but I can give you an idea of what kind of edge they leave relative to DMT diamonds. The brown rods leave a slightly more refined finish than 1200 grit DMT diamond stones. The fine stones I would rate at well over 2000 in equivalency. The UF? I dunno, 6k or so?