@maximus83 and I can actually vouch for the first claim, I forgot how long it took him to work on his kershaw m390, but I reprofiled my m390 lionsteel roundhead a couple of days ago, and it took a while for me to get a big enough burr to be comfortable to switch grits, but it did the job that it was meant to. As for cardboard, I'm pretty sure that I'm on someone's wall of shame for using corrugated cardboard as a strop lol
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Non-vanadium super steels?
- Thread starter dkb45
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That's interesting. I missed this before, but what you're saying is that SiC can abrade vanadium carbides? I remember reading that it's just below vanadium carbides on hardness, so obviously not able to abrade them. If it can, I guess I should look at getting some SiC buffing compound to strop with.
I'm not sure about using SIC as a buffing compound, because I can't speak to the scientific aspect of why SIC is totally sick! IF the compound works like my moldmasters, I would imagine you will be stropping for far longer than you should. (I would imagine it will work) Hopefully it will be cheaper for you, and hopefully, it will give you the results you want.
Edit: Next year I will be experimenting with the cheap Chefknivestogo diamond pastes on strops, so if it does let me slip below 3 microns well, then I will be more than happy recommending it.
navman
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I'm not sure about using SiC as a strop abrasive as I don't tend to strop high vanadium steels. I typically sharpen on diamond and then do 2 or 3 passes on a ceramic rod (lightly) just to ensure there is no wire edge remaining.
Softer material can abrade harder material. Its not a 0%/100% interaction. Its just not as efficient.
Depends on how well the carbides are held in place, how sharp the abrasive is, how well the abrasive is held in place, lubrication, how hard the person sharpening is pushing against the stone, etc. Arkansas stones dish out, even if they're just used on 1070 steel (when hardened, 1070 has basically no primary carbides that are harder than the stone).
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Don’t try to get a burr when sharpening m390 type steels. They seem to not form burrs. That is why it was so hard for you to raise a burr on it.
Then test hardness of United Cutlery 420J then... These are $20 "junk" knives. You are the one making the claim of 0.09% Carbon as being a perceptible difference...
You claim to be able to make the difference between two nearly identical flavours of the same steel composition, yet even as rigorous a tester a Cliff Stamp can hardly see any difference at all between CPM-M4, K390, VG-10 and a 1$ Chinese knife in 420J: He controls for edge grit/angle, cut motion speed, cut angle, cut area, edge curvature and, most important of all, he mixes randomly the batches of cardboard, an idea I have yet to see mentioned by any other tester. Do I need to add he is the only one to ever talk about "scatter" in his results, when all other testers do these absolutely rigid fantasy rankings?
G.
If you are not going to chop with it, then there is no real purpose in owning a large knife. You think large knives should not exist because your grandmother said so. Got it.
One thing I can tell you. Axes (or saws) sure are crap to carry, de-limb or clear trail with. And they also slice extremely poorly. I agree that if you have a fireplace and a reclining chair the axe is indeed far more useful, and I presume you and your grandmother thus speak from experience.
Gaston
I’ll have to look into better sharpening methods in that case, but i have seen XHP play nice with the burrs on SIC
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Hello Gaston 
420J steel can be as low as .15 carbon and be very much in spec. 420HC can't below .46 and be in spec. The difference is probably greater than you think. There is no way to tell what the hardness is without testing it so saying there is not much difference can be correct, or not correct. The fact is though that the 420HC is used because it can be made harder than 420j because of the higher carbon. 420j can't be run at the hardness that Buck runs theirs at. Note I'm not saying that 420j can't make a good knife. I have a few that I use as beaters and they are tough and corrosion resistant. Because of the steel they won't have as high wear resistance and they won't have the hardness to have strength enough to do what some other steels will so they need thicker edges than steels like the 1% steel ( O1, W2, 52100, etc.) The 3 points of hardness between the 420J knives and Bucks 420HC knives will have a similar but lesser effect. That is exactly why Buck uses it over 420J. Write them and ask if you don't believe me.
I have not needed excuses to buy and enjoy large knives since I got divorced. An axe is more of a PITA to carry than a knife. Not more than an 11 inch blade knife to me. Those are great to admire but stay at home. Carrying an axe is not a problem for me and when needed it is well worth any problems it may have been. I'd rather have it than a large knife except in jungle grass/bamboo/vines or even North American blackberry thickets where the machete is better than either axe or knife. The right tool for the job is best for me so I plan around that. Axes and large knives both aren't best for slicing but that isn't an issue for me. I always have a folder too as well as a fixed blade knife ( 4to 7 inch) . Axes properly sharp can do more slicing than most think but there again, why?
Talking about grandmothers and reclining chairs is silly so I'll drop that one.
Joe
420J steel can be as low as .15 carbon and be very much in spec. 420HC can't below .46 and be in spec. The difference is probably greater than you think. There is no way to tell what the hardness is without testing it so saying there is not much difference can be correct, or not correct. The fact is though that the 420HC is used because it can be made harder than 420j because of the higher carbon. 420j can't be run at the hardness that Buck runs theirs at. Note I'm not saying that 420j can't make a good knife. I have a few that I use as beaters and they are tough and corrosion resistant. Because of the steel they won't have as high wear resistance and they won't have the hardness to have strength enough to do what some other steels will so they need thicker edges than steels like the 1% steel ( O1, W2, 52100, etc.) The 3 points of hardness between the 420J knives and Bucks 420HC knives will have a similar but lesser effect. That is exactly why Buck uses it over 420J. Write them and ask if you don't believe me.
I have not needed excuses to buy and enjoy large knives since I got divorced.
An axe is more of a PITA to carry than a knife. Not more than an 11 inch blade knife to me. Those are great to admire but stay at home. Carrying an axe is not a problem for me and when needed it is well worth any problems it may have been. I'd rather have it than a large knife except in jungle grass/bamboo/vines or even North American blackberry thickets where the machete is better than either axe or knife. The right tool for the job is best for me so I plan around that. Axes and large knives both aren't best for slicing but that isn't an issue for me. I always have a folder too as well as a fixed blade knife ( 4to 7 inch) . Axes properly sharp can do more slicing than most think but there again, why?Talking about grandmothers and reclining chairs is silly so I'll drop that one.
Joe
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Odd, I can get a burr to raise on M390 when using diamonds. At 600 grit the burr gets pretty small, higher grit it's more or less unnoticeable.
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If he can't tell a difference between garbage Chinese steel and super high end steel, I'd say he is horribly unperceptive. I can tell after a few cuts into virtually any medium the difference between pot metal and premium steel. Multiple tests show junk steel staying sharp for a dozen or two cuts, and premium steels can go well into hundreds. You would have to be the worst tester on the planet to not notice a difference between those.
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You can get a burr to rise. It just has a tendency to not form burrs easily. And as you say at higher grits it is a very small burr usually.
Some steels seem to form burrs very readily.
Please note that I put the carriage in front of the horse on my sharpening system. I got my SIC for next year's S110V purchases, so it's just things playing out as they are. Do diamond's work better for m390? Maybe, but I expect my initial lowest grit reprofile burrs to be very prominent, I might be spoiled due to XHP TBH lol.
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Diamonds will be your best friend with super high vanadium steels like S110V. SiC can't match the aggression of diamonds when it comes to equal grits.
Yes I am fully aware of that haha, and I think that this is my stop. I am still learning so I can't speak on the good/bad of using them. They do work, and that's good enough for me right now