Quotejasonstone20 Ryan, Interesting choice of stones, it will be good to see the results. I really would like to see how a 3step with correct 3step style stones would work on an Edge Pro Apex style sharpener. Yeah I figured that initially I’d just get what they recommended and see how it goes, just experiment. But eventually I’ll definitely get a SuperStone/King 1K type stone for the middle sby Ryan Nafe - General Sharpening
QuotecKc (Kyley Harris) … i would reccomend even if you leave the edge coarse to clean up the deeper scratches to at least 200grit. the reason why is that i find this can have quite a bit of resistance in cutting. grabs like a file. That, and also it will have more corrosion problems.by Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
As a point about what I mean by the larger knives having a choil being worth it, look at the comparison in blade length and cutting edge length, per Spyderco specs, between the Chief and the Endura: Endura: - Blade of 3.75” - Edge of 3.44” Chief: - Blade of 4.1” - Edge of 3.6” So with these two we clearly see how if the Endura had a choil, it would really reduce the comparativeby Ryan Nafe - New Knives, and New to You Knives
As far as the vertical blade play with the lockbacks, I don’t ever really have much concern with that. It’s an almost unavoidable feature of the lock design and never really bothered me, though some knives have less of that problem than others. The Chapparal and the Native 5 would be on the upper end of that, having less than any other knives I’ve used despite getting quite a lot of pocket tiby Ryan Nafe - New Knives, and New to You Knives
Yeah I’ll definitely measure the geometry of everything. Edge thickness and angle, primary grind angle, etc. As far as the choils go, to me it’s a bit of a mixed bag. On knives the size of the Chapparal and smaller, I like it because you get more grip length relative to the folded size of the knife. On large ones like this Chief, the Military or the Police 3/4, I think it can be pretty usefulby Ryan Nafe - New Knives, and New to You Knives
I’ve got one of these on the way. I’ve really been liking the Native 5, but I often wish it had the longer blade and handle of my all-time favorite Eagle Ultralight. And I also like the XHP in my Chapparal, it both grinds and sharpens a little easier than the S30V of about equal hardness and I think it’s a perfect steel type for coarse edges, being very homogeneous and loaded with round chromby Ryan Nafe - New Knives, and New to You Knives
So I ordered (from Gritomatic) the base model Edge Pro Apex, in addition to an organizer for 9 stones and a digital angle gage. I opted out of the Atoma plates for now and decided to just trust exactly what Gritomatic recommended for the stones, out of curiosity and to see what I think about what they think works well: For general/average knives they recommended: - Boride Ruby 150 - Boridby Ryan Nafe - General Sharpening
QuotecKc (Kyley Harris) … comparing to a thinned out factory edge still too thick, which could not even attempt the bone without risk of injury Risk of injury meaning the force required was so high that it would be dangerous to do the cuts, right?by Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
The Spyderco Native 5 LW in SPY27 was checked again three times and was 60 HRC The Benchmade hunting knife in S90V was also checked again three times and was again 59 HRC Al Mar Eagle Classic in AUS-8A: 59.5 HRC (exactly the same as the Eagle Ultralight previously tested)by Ryan Nafe - General
Cold Steel Kudu Lite in 5CR15MoV: 54.5 HRC (this is an $8 Chinese knife)by Ryan Nafe - General
A coworker’s Benchmade Mini Barrage in 154CM: 60 HRC A razor blade (presumably AEB-L or 13C26) : 62 HRC (save the razor blades, guys, they’re worthy of a quick re-sharpening)by Ryan Nafe - General
I don’t know if I can test one because I need parallel surfaces to use the machine. The other testing device can check basically anywhere and doesn’t need parallel surfaces, it’s just a probe that you touch to the steel, but I don’t know how to use that so I have to get lucky and see a metallurgist in that lab before they leave for the day. But I’ll definitely add one of those knives to my cart nby Ryan Nafe - General
I found another Wilson 3JR machine I have access to, and after verifying it’s accuracy with a knife of known hardness, I started recording other results. Here’s where they’ll be: Spyderco Native SPY27: 59 HRC Spyderco Little Native S30V: 62 HRC Pro-Tech Godson 154CM: 59 HRC Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner S90V: 59 HRCby Ryan Nafe - General
Jason are those Venev stones the Orion ones, the resin bonded diamonds?by Ryan Nafe - General Sharpening
Quoteme2 The grouping was about the same as the wadcutters at about 1.25”. Slightly behind the 158 grain load but it was still pretty good. This seems a good mid range load, missing the recoil of the 158 grain loads. That’s a really accurate revolver. Have you considered getting a chronograph? The one I have is just a simple one from Competition Electronics, the ProChrono LTD model. They’reby Ryan Nafe - Firearms
Okay so Jende sells King 1K stones for the Edge Pro, they’re relatively inexpensive and I think will work very well as a replacement for the SuperStone 400, the effect is basically the same, it’s just that the King is a bit softer. They also sell Spyderco Ceramics for the Edge Pro. The Atoma 1200, the Spyderco Medium, and the Spyderco Fine should do very nicely as a set of finishing stones.by Ryan Nafe - General Sharpening
Guys, I’m gonna get an Edge Pro Apex. I want to be able to set edges at known angles in order to make very precise changes to cutting ability and durability as well as making comparisons between knives/steels when edge angle is the same. The question is what would be an all-around stone setup, an array of stones and plates for the three key steps in sharpening: 1. Shaping 2. Preparing thby Ryan Nafe - General Sharpening
QuoteRyan Nafe The slight recurve might be a problem though, it might make it hard to apex it cleanly on a diamond plate. There actually isn’t a recurve in the edge, it’s an optical illusion. The section of edge nearest the handle is actually straight, it just slants upward at an angle. The knife I got looks like a store display model: the edge is impacted in several places, it’s obvious thby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
But it’s also not exactly surprising considering how it’s similar to other knives I’ve tested or other manufacturer specs on very similar steels like VG-10 and S30V. So while it’s lower than I would’ve guessed, it’s still right in the typical production range for knives in similar high carbide stainless.by Ryan Nafe - General
I think it’s accurate because I had the metallurgist test it with a portable electronic tester that found exact agreement with the Wilson 3JR machine I used. That probe can also check near the edge and it was the same number as the spine showed.by Ryan Nafe - General
K390 is one I haven’t bothered to look into, I just sort of wrote it off as another duper steel. But apparently I was wrong, I mean if the hardness is in the same range as ZDP-189 but the carbide size/aggregates are much smaller than typical chromium carbides then that might be an excellent steel. Similar to M2/M4 where the toughness is relatively high for the carbide volume. I’ll have to pick onby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
QuotecKc (Kyley Harris) in regards to s90v.. note that if it is a coated blade, you need to remove the coating to perform an accurate test. Yeah that’s actually the reason I’ve been trying to get blades that aren’t coated, where possible. In one case I found a very coarse bead blast seemed to effect the blade. The edge behaved as I would expect D2 at about 60 to behave, it was difficult to grinby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
The Pro-Tech in 154CM tested at 59 HRC today.by Ryan Nafe - General
The Native 5 ins SPY27 tested at 59 HRC today. Readings on the spine were the same as readings on the flats close to the edge, so I don’t think Spyderco is doing anything in the grinding that’s burning the steel.by Ryan Nafe - General
It really would be interesting to see a manufacturer put the same money and energy spent towards the high carbide steels into a simple steel, excellent heat treatment, and thin geometry. They could probably break even in costs but the knife might be much better suited to most uses. S90V was interesting enough to me to buy a knife in it for purposes of seeing what, if any, difference I can actuallby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
QuotecKc (Kyley Harris) this depends on the steel to a degree, but in general its correct that cryo only needs to reach the temperature, and not hold the temperature. the cryo is converting retained austentite into martensite as an act of dropping to that temp. once it is done, holding it wont convert more. I missed the distinction between holding it there and just getting it there. Gettingby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
The last point about holding the blade at the cryogenic temperature for longer not doing anything was kinda odd because he referenced the HRC number as evidence that it doesn’t do anything meaningful. Well the HRC number isn’t the point anyway, the point of cryogenic quenching is to lower the percentage of RA, not to gain Rockwell points. Now offhand I’m not sure what difference would actually ocby Ryan Nafe - Video Reviews
I doubt it will be significantly different from the other steels in that general S30V/VG-10 class. Differences might be observed with multiple runs of an experiment but I don’t think they’re likely to be significant enough to warrant the work necessary to find out.by Ryan Nafe - General
Quotejasonstone20 Ryan, What has you sharpening progression i.e. what stones did you use to sharpen the SPY27? I just shape it with a Crystolon, prepare the edge to take an apex with the SuperStone 400, and then apex it with either the DMT or the Spyderco ceramics. Same as most of my other knives.by Ryan Nafe - General