- Joined
- Nov 30, 2018
- Messages
- 497
Couple of thoughts to add after spending a couple of hours re-profiling and sharpening 4 different steels last night ((Spyderco M390, M4, LC200N, ZDP-189).
First of all, my stones were not cleaning as well. Too much stuff left on them and could not figure out why. Finally occurred to me that my 95% isopropyl is old and that I've accidentally left the cap off it a couple of times. It likely nowhere near 95% right now. Trip to the drug store for some 91% confirmed this. Much better cleaning with alcohol that hasn't been diluted with evaporation. So if your stones aren't coming clean I recommend getting some new alcohol. I'm going to use 95% or 99% going forward. I also ordered a push down alcohol dispenser so I don't have to worry about leaving the cap off the bottle going forward.
Sharpened ZDP-189 with these for the first time. It took about 2x the time to get the same sharpness as the others. Some for re-profiling. It's pretty resistant stuff. Not sure if it's higher hardness or something else.
I've sharpened LC200N but not re-profiled it. It feels similar to VG-10 when sharpening but doesn't cut as easily. It was interesting to re-profile and is nice to sharpen. Not hard to sharpen but a little different.
First of all, my stones were not cleaning as well. Too much stuff left on them and could not figure out why. Finally occurred to me that my 95% isopropyl is old and that I've accidentally left the cap off it a couple of times. It likely nowhere near 95% right now. Trip to the drug store for some 91% confirmed this. Much better cleaning with alcohol that hasn't been diluted with evaporation. So if your stones aren't coming clean I recommend getting some new alcohol. I'm going to use 95% or 99% going forward. I also ordered a push down alcohol dispenser so I don't have to worry about leaving the cap off the bottle going forward.
Sharpened ZDP-189 with these for the first time. It took about 2x the time to get the same sharpness as the others. Some for re-profiling. It's pretty resistant stuff. Not sure if it's higher hardness or something else.
I've sharpened LC200N but not re-profiled it. It feels similar to VG-10 when sharpening but doesn't cut as easily. It was interesting to re-profile and is nice to sharpen. Not hard to sharpen but a little different.