Delta 3V: Honing

I have basically consolidated all my sharpening kit to 3 Venev stones (6 grits 80, 150, 240, 400, 800, 1200) and a coarse\fine strop paddle. I enjoy hand sharpening and I like that I can see the edge on the stone whereas I can't see that on the Spyderco sharpmaker.

Maybe this is heretical, but I don't use different media for different steels. *shrug*. I can get a hair whittling edge on any knife I own with the diamond bonded stones, or a very durable\toothy edge, all on the same stuff. It works.
 
TRfromMT said:
I have basically consolidated all my sharpening kit to 3 Venev stones (6 grits 80, 150, 240, 400, 800, 1200) and a coarse\fine strop paddle. I enjoy hand sharpening and I like that I can see the edge on the stone whereas I can't see that on the Spyderco sharpmaker.

Maybe this is heretical, but I don't use different media for different steels. *shrug*. I can get a hair whittling edge on any knife I own with the diamond bonded stones, or a very durable\toothy edge, all on the same stuff. It works.
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Well, there's nothing diamond won't cut, so it is universal in that regard. I won't used diamond on soft / "gummy" steels, like some of the Victorinox parers and such my wife likes to use and need frequent touch-ups. But it's especially good on higher Rockwell stuff. And the bonded diamond gives feedback like ceramic, which I like.
 
I use my Shapton Glass for touch ups if they need more than a strop and they work great for that. I have used diamonds for heavier sharpening/edge repair but still finished on my Shaptons and a strop.
 
Blues said:
Shapton Glass are great. I have 500 - 2000 - 4000
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I really enjoy using them and the feedback they give. I have the coarser 220 ... 320 ... the 500 ... 1000 ... and 4000. To me most of the Shapton stones act like a much finer grit than they are rated. But with so many different ways of grading stones many brands have their own unique feel.
 
I use diamond stones on my Wicked Edge 130. I noticed the difference in the feel and sound of sharpening the D3V steel right away like you did. It felt like the diamond stones were just gliding across the steel. The most perfect edge apex I've ever seen - spot on! I was slicing rolling papers, receipts, and anything I grabbed. My DEK1 is very sharp.
 
I literally just use a ceramic hone. Occasionally strop real quick on a belt that has some black paste on it. I am not patient enough at this time to sit and use 3-5 different stones/mediums. My wife did buy me a work sharp guided system, I'll have to sit down with that and try it out.
 
Murphjd25 said:
I decided to sharpen my DEK1 last night, the edge was a little worse then I thought it was after cutting drywall. All I did was diamonds and medium stones (600ish). It slices phone book paper and that’s good enough for me.
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That's usually where I am as well. Once it cleanly slices phone book paper in both directions it's as good as I need it to be. I'm not into polishing bevels, mirror finishes and such.

For me, the downside of investing the time and effort in seeking the "perfect edge" would be the fear of ruining it afterward. I want to enjoy the knives, not become their slave.
 
This is my set up for almost every knife.
I usually go right off the black and then a few passes on bare leather. Shaves and cuts very aggressively into fibrous material's
For whatever reason when I did this on my MC I had micro chipping and had to progress to the blue stone.

Just wanted to add I've been using this blue stone since about 2009-10 and it's still going very strong.
nNcNtbX.jpg
 
VashHash said:
This is my set up for almost every knife.
I usually go right off the black and then a few passes on bare leather. Shaves and cuts very aggressively into fibrous material's
For whatever reason when I did this on my MC I had micro chipping and had to progress to the blue stone.

Just wanted to add I've been using this blue stone since about 2009-10 and it's still going very strong.
nNcNtbX.jpg
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Yep. Love DMT's diamond stones.

Tried various sharpening options, and as with others, aside from the fun geeking out over a polished edge, I actually find a slightly toothy edge more useful overall.

In my case, I usually use the DMT Fine (red). I have a DMT Fine Diafold from ~1994 that still works fine. It's smoothed down so it's noticeably finer than the Fine side on my newer DMT Diafold Fine (red)/Coarse (blue).

Really quick for touchups and the Coarse is aggressive enough for establishing a new bevel on reaaally dull edges (done that with the Fine in the past, but it takes too long).

A light strop on a homemade balsa wood strop loaded with a little DMT paste and I'm GTG.
 
Murphjd25 said:
I decided to sharpen my DEK1 last night, the edge was a little worse then I thought it was after cutting drywall. All I did was diamonds and medium stones (600ish). It slices phone book paper and that’s good enough for me.
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I just got through push cutting and slicing up a phonebook yellow page like it was nothing with my DEK1. I sharpened it up before to 1K grit stones if I remember right.
 
Meridian said:
Venev diamond bench stones and a Knives Plus green strop work very well. As others mentioned the Spyderco Sharpmaker is fine to use and will tend to keep your edge more symmetrical as its semi guided, always finish with a strop if you can.

I would recommend familiarizing yourself with flat stones like Venev or Naniwa eventually, they work extremely well and are more versatile than guided systems.

Look up Virtouvice on youtube for sharpening advice, the mans a legend.
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Blues said:
I use a strop from northwest_knife_guy that I like quite a bit. 'Roo hide. And 1 micron diamond spray.
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There was a post on this forum previously about using diamond paste for stropping. Apparently Delta 3V may loose some of its edge retention if you don’t use some kind of diamond past or spray on the strop. Nathan posted an explanation, and described the paste that he formulates for his knives. Maybe someone can find the post. I’m sorry I don’t have time, I have to go to work.
 
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jus_gus said:
There was a post on this forum previously about using diamond paste for stropping. Apparently Delta 3V may loose some of its edge retention if you don’t use some kind of diamond past or spray on the strop. Nathan posted an explanation, and described the paste that he formulates for his knives. Maybe someone can find the post. I’m sorry I don’t have time, I have to go to work.
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Interesting, I haven't seen the post or thread. It could be, (speculating on my part), that without the diamond, the naked strop might have a tendency to round the edge rather than cut the carbides and leave more bite? There has long been a back and forth discussion in the Maintenance / Tinkering / Embellishment sub-forum about carbide tear out...and if it's an actual thing or not.

Some swear it is, some are not convinced. I once asked Larrin Thomas his opinion..which was that he had not seen convincing evidence of it, though he was aware of the claims.

I use the 1 micron spray on the basswood side of the strop, but the kangaroo leather side is naked.

Hopefully, we can get Nathan the Machinist Nathan the Machinist to chime in on the topic. Good stuff.
 
jus_gus said:
There was a post on this forum previously about using diamond paste for stropping. Apparently Delta 3V may loose some of its edge retention if you don’t use some kind of diamond past or spray on the strop. Nathan posted an explanation, and described the paste that he formulates for his knives. Maybe someone can find the post. I’m sorry I don’t have time, I have to go to work.
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Loose? Sorry Gus, but that is one viral typo that drives me nuts. You were looking for "lose".
 
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