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Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 2:35 pm
by Ruudr
Quick question; What is the best (working) edge for S90V? I have the Para3 in S90V and I use it for every day tasks. The thing is that I have a polished edge on it sharpened with the Wicked Edge (stropped up to .5 micron) but I find it not that sharp.
I’ve sharpened thousends of knives. I don’t know what it is but I find S90V is a strange steel to sharpen.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 2:37 pm
by supracor
Sharpen it with #100 Alumina water sandpaper.
For 10v it works great :)

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 2:56 pm
by Evil D
Get yourself a loupe and look at the edge. I bet that even though you've polished the bevel, the very edge is jagged from burrs fracturing off. I've had similar experience with ZDP.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:03 pm
by FK
Heavy pressure and a coarse stone does leave very ragged edges that are hard to eliminate with finer finishing stones.
Typical with S90V, S110V and ZDP-189 steels.

Rather light pressure with the coarse diamond will give you a better base to establish the bevel, then finishing will smooth out the coarse edge. Some believe this is tear out of the larger carbide structure with heavy pressure and coarse stone.

A 10x loop and direct light are you best friend when determining sharpening problems.

Regards,
FK
Member since Feb 17, 2001

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 7:34 pm
by blueblur
Along with ensuring you have a smooth/consistent edge through your stone progressions, try working up to only a 400-600 grit and then a diamond strop. That should give you a refined but toothy edge that should excel with material like cardboard.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:08 pm
by Bloke
Best edge for me filleting fish and cutting through rib bones seems to be like others have said, an edge finished to 400grit.

I use SiC and plenty of Windex, initially light strop on stiff leather and chrome oxide and thereafter maintain with medium (brown) SharpMaker rods. :)

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:23 pm
by bearfacedkiller
I usually set a bevel with a either the coarse (325) or medium (600) DMTs or the sharpmaker diamond rods (400) and then microbevel with the medium Spyderco benchstone or medium sharpmaker rods. Sometimes I microbevel with the fine (1200) DMT but usually just the Spyderco medium.

This is my protocol for most of the extremely wear resistant steels. Not so much because I think it is the optimal edge for the steel but because it is quick and easy and performs well. I geek out on grit progression on easier to refine steels but on the more wear resistant steels I just put a clean apex on it and get to cutting.

I am an edge junky but sometimes a lazy one.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:27 pm
by awa54
Ruudr wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 2:35 pm
Quick question; What is the best (working) edge for S90V? I have the Para3 in S90V and I use it for every day tasks. The thing is that I have a polished edge on it sharpened with the Wicked Edge (stropped up to .5 micron) but I find it not that sharp.
I’ve sharpened thousends of knives. I don’t know what it is but I find S90V is a strange steel to sharpen.
I had similar problems with S90V, my current results are excellent and the technique didn't really change much. Using lighter pressure during heavy stock removal (if you were using firm to heavy pressure before), being really certain that at every grit you have removed all of the burr and actually have a clean apex and finishing at 400 or 800 grit with a 20DPS micro bevel have combined to give me an edge that cuts very aggressively and lasts for a *long* time. Similar results to S110V, but S90V is just a bit fussier getting there. It refreshes very nicely with the Sharpmaker medium/brown rods at the 40 deg setting, just a few light passes turns the edge back into a mini-rip saw.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:59 am
by Ruudr
Thanks for the good information! First I’ll try the 600 grit diamond stone finished with a diamond emulsion strop. I will try it later this afternoon and show my results with a magnifying glass.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:47 am
by emanuel
I usually keep it at 400-600 grit diamond with a bit of stropping, that's the best edge for aggresive slicing that I like.
I have another 2 knives in s90v that have a high polish edge, finished on Spyderco ultra fine with a shaving sharp edge, hair splitting sharp even. S90V should get scary sharp with a polished edge, so I'm sure that you didn't properly touched the edge with your grit progression, the steel is fine.

And remember, for these high abrasion resistance stainless steels, particularly s90v and s110v, each grit progression requires more and more time in order to properly remove the scratches from the previous ones. Cheers

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:21 am
by ZMW
Great info! My first S90v blade is on the way. The consensus is light pressure, take your time on grit progressions making sure you have a clean apex. I only have a SM so I will 30 degree back bevel - CBN, Med, Fine, maybe strop it for that polished look, then micro at 40 degrees (maybe a few passes with CBN and finish on brown rods, maybe a passes on a white compound strop to clean the edge up a little). Decent plan?

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 12:23 pm
by Ruudr
When I looked through the magnifying glass I could see that on the polished edge was a micro bevel. Probably due to the stropping. So I went ahead and started with the 400 grit until I had a burr forming on both sides. Then I sharpened with the 600 grit diamond stones and stropped with 4 micron up to .5 micron. Result: A really sharp edge with a lot of bite! You really can feel it bite in the finger when touching the edge. That’s what I was looking for. Thanks for the great advice. Here are some pictures taken through a magnifying glass. First pictures are the polished edge.
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Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:13 pm
by Evil D
My money is still on a burr, and I bet it's still there. Take the edge and drag it along a fingernail away from the edge, and do it on both sides. If either side scratches your fingernail, you've got a burr. If you find that the edge loses bite very quickly with little use, that's the burr breaking off.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:21 pm
by Ruudr
Evil D wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:13 pm
My money is still on a burr, and I bet it's still there. Take the edge and drag it along a fingernail away from the edge, and do it on both sides. If either side scratches your fingernail, you've got a burr. If you find that the edge loses bite very quickly with little use, that's the burr breaking off.
Well I stropped the little burr with diamond emulsion and it is gone. No burr! Did the nail test and it is totally smooth. It has a nice toothy edge now.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:31 pm
by Deadboxhero
Ruudr wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:21 pm
Evil D wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:13 pm
My money is still on a burr, and I bet it's still there. Take the edge and drag it along a fingernail away from the edge, and do it on both sides. If either side scratches your fingernail, you've got a burr. If you find that the edge loses bite very quickly with little use, that's the burr breaking off.
Well I stropped the little burr with diamond emulsion and it is gone. No burr! Did the nail test and it is totally smooth. It has a nice toothy edge now.
Nice looking edge man

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:36 pm
by awa54
ZMW wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:21 am
Great info! My first S90v blade is on the way. The consensus is light pressure, take your time on grit progressions making sure you have a clean apex. I only have a SM so I will 30 degree back bevel - CBN, Med, Fine, maybe strop it for that polished look, then micro at 40 degrees (maybe a few passes with CBN and finish on brown rods, maybe a passes on a white compound strop to clean the edge up a little). Decent plan?
When you apply the 40 deg micro bevel, start with the flats of the brown rods, you don't need to go past them if you're looking for an aggressive working edge. For a bit more refinement the fine rods can make it shave smoother and push cut paper better, but for coarser cutting tasks that doesn't really add utility. I usually strop lightly at the end, but more to see if there's any burr left on the edge (leaves scrape marks on the strop), like EvilD uses his fingernail.

After putting in the time to get S90V and S110V to polished edges I have to say that it isn't worth the extra effort IMO... these steels strength is their aggressive working edge that lasts through lots of heavy cutting chores, if you want a high wear steel that excells at a polished edge then go for one of the many non-stainless tool steels or M390/204P/20CV (ZDP 189 does polished edge very well too, but is a bit fussier to get great results with, compared M390 and its analogs).

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:50 pm
by ZMW
awa54 wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:36 pm
ZMW wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:21 am
Great info! My first S90v blade is on the way. The consensus is light pressure, take your time on grit progressions making sure you have a clean apex. I only have a SM so I will 30 degree back bevel - CBN, Med, Fine, maybe strop it for that polished look, then micro at 40 degrees (maybe a few passes with CBN and finish on brown rods, maybe a passes on a white compound strop to clean the edge up a little). Decent plan?
When you apply the 40 deg micro bevel, start with the flats of the brown rods, you don't need to go past them if you're looking for an aggressive working edge. For a bit more refinement the fine rods can make it shave smoother and push cut paper better, but for coarser cutting tasks that doesn't really add utility. I usually strop lightly at the end, but more to see if there's any burr left on the edge (leaves scrape marks on the strop), like EvilD uses his fingernail.

After putting in the time to get S90V and S110V to polished edges I have to say that it isn't worth the extra effort IMO... these steels strength is their aggressive working edge that lasts through lots of heavy cutting chores, if you want a high wear steel that excells at a polished edge then go for one of the many non-stainless tool steels or M390/204P/20CV (ZDP 189 does polished edge very well too, but is a bit fussier to get great results with, compared M390 and its analogs).
Thanks! I will take that advice

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:04 pm
by awa54
ZMW wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:50 pm
Thanks! I will take that advice

Of course YMMV, but I feel like S90V is so good at that type of edge it's almost a crime not to set it up that way :D My CS Manix 2 LW got this edge months ago and has had lots of lawn and garden use since then with no discernable drop in cutting performance.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:25 pm
by Evil D
Ruudr wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:21 pm
Evil D wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:13 pm
My money is still on a burr, and I bet it's still there. Take the edge and drag it along a fingernail away from the edge, and do it on both sides. If either side scratches your fingernail, you've got a burr. If you find that the edge loses bite very quickly with little use, that's the burr breaking off.
Well I stropped the little burr with diamond emulsion and it is gone. No burr! Did the nail test and it is totally smooth. It has a nice toothy edge now.


The issue I had was that stropping broke the burr off. Maybe I just suck at stropping but I now prefer to cut burrs off at higher angles and avoid making them at all costs. I seem to get better results with micro bevels than I ever did with strops.

Re: Best edge for S90V?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:15 pm
by ZrowsN1s
I find a pasted strop is great for 'finding' a burr. You can see it scratch the paste rather than smoothing the paste when there's no burr. For removing a burr I've taken to lightly using the ultrafine stone free hand. I do a few edge trailing strokes as lightly as I can. You can feel it when the burr is either removed or straightenes. Then I strop.