A friend, fellow sharpener sent me link this morning Vadim Kraichuk of Knifegrinders passed away.

When I first started sharpenening "Super" steels I read alot of Vadim's postings regarding sharpening these steels, techniques, stones.... Picked up his book on sharpening and deburring, studied his sharpening chart... The simple use of the Rizla paper as a test media has taken my edges to a another level with a better understanding how to get there. RIP Vadim Kraichuk

http://knifegrinders.com.au/Ma.../Sharpness_Chart.pdf

Man, I'm loving this thread! I've spent the last 5 years mastering everything straight razor related I could get my hands on. As a compulsive sharpener I always sharpen my coworkers knives, anything they come up with.

As a straight razor user and sharpener (cheap also) I learned, and took pride in a natural stone progression. As a primarily knife sharpener, I got handed my ass trying to get a great edge on AUS8, which is not a particularly, snotty steel. Had to relap my hones before using them on razors again.

I upgraded to a progression of Shapton Pro's, !.5k, 5k, 8k, 12k. OMG! Fast repeatable edges on razors!(on razors, I actually progress to a Trans or Black Arkansas) Worked fine on the AUS8. I've never run across any true super steels yet.

As an old toolmaker, I would most likely tackle the edge by a progression of diamond compound on ground and hardened tool steel.

Has anyone ever tried a DeGessuit ruby hone?

I absolutely refuse to use a rig and only free hand sharpen, YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:

Took the M4 to the best polish I could do. Used all the CBN stones followed by 1, .5, .25 strops. Edge is very fine and very polished. M4 polishes very nicely compared to the V's. I'll carry this knife, see how well the edge last.

The reason is that the M4 steel is pure carbon steel whereas your S30V, 35V are stainless. They make very different edges.


The large, coarse chromium, nickel and other alloys carbide’s will make for a less smooth edge than plain steel.

I prefer plain hc steel, hence EDC is M4 steel, along with a D2 and SV30 folders.