ceramic stones

[littlebiglane]

Hi,

My wife is buying a pair of ceramic sharpening stones for her vast collection of chef's knives. I am a waterstone and oilstone person but thought that I might 'advise' her on which stones to get...and at the same time gain use of these stones I really have no experience of them and if they are any good. But an opportunity to 'borrow' my wife's ones is tempting.....

Does anyone know which two stones she should go for (lets base it on the spyderco bench ones as I can get a discount on these from Tamarack)? Should I get medium and fine or medium and ultra fine or fine and ultra fine? Also - a question for all you sharpening gurus out there - is ceramic okay for O1 steel as that is what the majority of my knives are (although all hers are stainless)? I don't want a too agressive (or the opposite) removal of metal matter from my blades as they are not as hard as my wife's stainless chefs knives......

Any thoughts would be valued....

 

[Hoodoo]

I love my ceramic stones! I have all three Spyderco bench stones. The coarse and fine will work well for you. The ultrafine is great for woodcarving tools but for chef's knives, the coarse and fine are all you need.

Neither of those stones work well for reprofiling. For that or for flattening the bevels on a scandi ground blade, I usually start wtih a DMT diamond bench stone or 80-150 grit sandpaper.

When you shift to ceramic stones be sure to pick up a rust eraser to clean your stones. Run the eraser over the stones and wipe with a dry cloth. Beats the heck out of scouring powder. Not nearly as messy.

Rust Eraser

 

[littlebiglane]

How often do you need to clean the stones? Every use or several times during use? Do these stones 'clog' easily? Sorry for dumb questions - ceramics are new to me...Thanks

 

[littlebiglane]

I love my ceramic stones! I have all three Spyderco bench stones. The coarse and fine will work well for you. The ultrafine is great for woodcarving tools but for chef's knives, the coarse and fine are all you need.

So...okay to use with O1 tool steel?

 

[TheGreenMan]

There’s an interesting discussion of the ‘grits’ of the Spyderco stones here (for those that don’t know, the forum member ‘sal’ is Mr Sal Glesser of Spyderco):
http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31188

I'm very happy with my Double Stuff pocket stone, by the way, and use it frequently to sharpen kitchen knives -EDIT: more correctly that should be, knives I use in the kitchen

Kind regards,
Paul.

 

[TheGreenMan]

So...okay to use with O1 tool steel?

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I noticed yesterday that the pocket stone seems to tear the wire edge somewhat on one of my very few O1 blades. I think the ceramics may be more suited to harder types of steel.

Kind regards,
Paul.

 

[littlebiglane]

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I noticed yesterday that the pocket stone seems to tear the wire edge somewhat on one of my very few O1 blades. I think the ceramics may be more suited to harder types of steel.

Kind regards,
Paul.

That's exactly what I thought I heard somewhere. That ceramics were better for super-steels etc. and that it was too agressive on 01 stock.......but getting any substantial advice on this is hard to come by......

....anyone else with some knowledge...? It might be okay for my wife's knives but I do not want to spoil my 01 collection!

 

[TheGreenMan]

I think that O1, and other softer steels, on ceramic stones might be a good candidate for honing, edge trailing, a technique that Hoodoo mentioned in another thread a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve tried the edge trailing method on a number of steel types since he mentioned it, and in my limited experience to date, it seems to work best on steel that is a little softer, be it carbon or stain resistant.

The technique requires some experimentation and practice, but I’ve found it can deliver improved results with certain types of steel, and on certain stones. I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t cover all the variables, but heck, this is, in part, is what makes it fun

Kind regards,
Paul.

 

[Tiley]

I've found that using the Spyderco fine and ultrafine ceramic stones works well with my 01 knives. The grey one - medium - does take off a fair bit of metal but, as with all these things, it depends on how much force you use. Using the two finer stones produces a really good edge on my SBT with a mirror finish! Seriously though, they do work very well with both 01 as well as S30V and RWL54 et cetera.

 

[TheGreenMan]

A very useful post, Tiley.

Though, you have me at a disadvantage, in respect to the ultra fine Spyderco bench stone, as I have no experience of it. But I will gladly concede that the amount of pressure used during the sharpening/honing stokes (on any abrasive surface) will produce a finer finish at each ‘grit’, meaning, that the lower the force applied to each sequential stoke, and on the same stone, will produce a finer series of scratches, which reduces the number of stokes needed at the next finer ‘grit’. This has the effect of reducing the overall time needed to bring an edge to a polished, scratch-free cutting edge.

From this point on, stropping produces dividends (with the exception of serrated or partially serrated blades).

Kind regards,
Paul.