Please share experience with the manticore stone

Wild Willie said:
Forgive me if this is too off the mark, but FortyTwoBlades FortyTwoBlades are the trace diamonds in the American mutt enough to cut the carbides in m390?
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I wouldn't consider them present in high enough concentration to make a meaningful difference when sharpening steels with higher than 3% vanadium content. However, I can say that at ANSI 400 grit and below (which is the range of grits those stones are made from) you can effectively sharpen high-vanadium steel because the abrasive grains are large enough and the carbides are small enough (about 3µm) that they're simply scooped out with the rest of the steel during sharpening. It's mostly once you start getting into the finer grits that you start needing super-abrasives.
 
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FortyTwoBlades said:
I would consider them present in high enough concentration to make a meaningful difference when sharpening steels with higher than 3% vanadium content. However, I can say that at ANSI 400 grit and below (which is the range of grits those stones are made from) you can effectively sharpen high-vanadium steel because the abrasive grains are large enough and the carbides are small enough (about 3µm) that they're simply scooped out with the rest of the steel during sharpening. It's mostly once you start getting into the finer grits that you start needing super-abrasives.
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Thanks for your help. :thumbsup:
 
does anyone have a quick method of flattening this stone? Ive sharpening everything within a 1/4 radius and would like to flatten it out.
 
I just got to put my manticore bench stone to work on a tramontina machete that I also purchased from FortyTwoBlades FortyTwoBlades ... Banged it up on the rails of a bandsaw mill trimming a knot and a few suckers. WOW does this thing get the job done in a hurry.
 
The Manticore is good but I actually prefer the American Mutt due to the irregular grit sizes. This seems to keep the stone from getting clogged up better than others. Plus it’s under $8!
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
A word of caution with the American Mutt that to prevent glazing with it high pressure is a must. :)
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How high is high pressure? Forgive my further derailing a thread dedicated to another stone, but I just got a pocket size American mutt and am pretty impressed with how it cuts... I'd hate to ruin it. Are we talking more than you strop with, or more than you need with a round file on a saw chain that just hammered a bunch of hardware?
 
We're talking about putting a good amount of "oomph" into it. With the pocket one the small contact area helps but you'll definitely want to use more than stropping pressure, as that should be pretty light.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Just the American Mutt specifically because it's a hard bond. The hardness of the bond will affect the requisite pressure for getting grit to shed in use to expose fresh cutting surface.
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Sorry for highjacking the thread but I have a question regarding the American mutt. I love the stone but it seems I somehow glazed it. I thought I was using enough pressure but I guess I didn’t... It cuts really slow now and feels way too fine. I tried resurfacing it with a coarse silicon carbide stone and an Atoma 140. Both didn’t really work. What would you recommend?
 
lonelyronin said:
I tried resurfacing it with a coarse silicon carbide stone and an Atoma 140. Both didn’t really work. What would you recommend?
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For flattening I've had good success both with loose SIC (60 or 80 grit, I think) and with a coarse SIC "stone flattener" I got out of the big river that flows through the rainforest in Brazil, so not sure why that wouldn't have worked for you. If anything, the finish off the loose grit was really rough and was more aggressive than originally until it "wore in" a little. I will note that the Mutt seemed to lap the flattener almost as much as it was lapped, but it got the job done.
When I notice glazing or smoothing and don't feel like it needs flattening (which it doesn't very often), sometimes I'll just grab a beater knife and really bear down on the stone for a few passes to refresh the grit. Call it a sacrificial system, but it hasn't seemed hard to keep the stone cutting.
 
lonelyronin said:
Sorry for highjacking the thread but I have a question regarding the American mutt. I love the stone but it seems I somehow glazed it. I thought I was using enough pressure but I guess I didn’t... It cuts really slow now and feels way too fine. I tried resurfacing it with a coarse silicon carbide stone and an Atoma 140. Both didn’t really work. What would you recommend?
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When I have to recondition the surface of my American Mutt I have had good success using 30 grit SiC powder.
I have used 60 and 90 in the past but they start to break down too quick.

Like Benjamin said using a good amount of pressure keeps exposing new grit on the AM , I have also found keeping it well saturated helps things out too.
 
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