Spyderco M, UF, and which diamond stone?

[Fred Bryant]

The diamond stone will be used for any flattening of the Spyderco stones and course sharpening. I am leaning to 2x8 Eze-Lap Medium Diamond 'stone'. It seems that the Atoma is the weapon of choice for flattening, but not sharpening. I am hoping, and let me know if I am wrong, that for the little bit of initial flattening and the occasional surface renewal, a sharpening diamond stone will do.

Thx's, Fred.

[Harold Burrell]

The Atoma is indeed a great stone. However...if you are talking about using it to flatten your spyderco ceramics, well...you won't be using it much. The spydercos are HARD.

[Derek Cohen]

Fred, I flattened the Medium and Ultra Fine with a Extra Coarse (250 grit) followed by a Fine (600) Eze-lap stones.

What I have found is that the Medium stays flat and requires minimal upkeep. The UF, however, does wear very, very slightly - just enough that you can see the pattern when lapped by the 600 diamond stone. I freehand sharpen, and try to use the whole stone, but it is inevitable that the centre gets a little extra work. There is not enough hollow to see as an impediment to lapping the back of a chisel, but it happens and, if you do not flatten this stone, it must become prominent over time. How often do I lap it flat? Once every couple of months. The point is, you will need a 600 diamond stone for this task. Other than that, I am very happy with the Spyderco M and UF. The only other stone I use is a 1000 Shapton.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Fred Bryant]

Thanks, 600 Eze-Lap it is. I am assuming that for a one time initial flattening it will work just fine, but might take a bit longer. Or, do I also need the 250 grit.

Fred

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Fred

If you purchase just one diamond stone for the initial flattening and ongoing maintenance, then get a 250. I use my 600 because it does not need more now. However I could not have got it into shape without the 250.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Fred Bryant]

Perfect.

Thankyou, Fred.

[Allan Speers]

Fred, I flattened the Medium and Ultra Fine with a Extra Coarse (250 grit) followed by a Fine (600) Eze-lap stones. ....


Derek, when did you stop using the Atoma 400? I got one, along with my Spydeco's, because that's what you use. (I have copied your entire sharpening rig, including the grinder & tool jigs, as I think it arguably the best overall system I've seen.) I've only had this rig since maybe January, and have only flattened the ultra-fine once, but it seemed to work just fine, and very fast.

Seems to me that a sharpening stone doesn't have to be SMOOTH, just flat, so a slightly course finish doesn't affect sharpening with it. Am I missing something? What do you prefer with the 600 g EZ Lap?

[Reinis Kanders]

My ezlap 600 has a hump in a middle so check it when you receive it.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Allan

I've never had an Atoma. I'm not sure where you got that. They are good, perhaps better for this purpose than the Eze-lap as I've never heard a negative report. Anyway, the diamond stone is not the sharpening system. Thank George for the original mentioning of the Spydercos. It was his recommendation that sent me exploring in that direction.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Allan Speers]

Wow, I wonder how I got that wrong? I got the CBN grinding wheel (mostly for adding hollows) the Tormek support stuff, etc. (I added a big gulp to collect fine metal dust from the CBN, just in case.) It really is a great total system approach.

Well, the Atoma 400 works great on all 3 of my Spydercos. It's also fairly large, which doesn't hurt. I think DMT makes some that are even larger, but I don't know if they are made as well.

[Matt Lau]

Derek,

What's your sharpening progression, and why?
I've been looking at my stones (Fine DMT, Cerax 200, King 400, King 800, Spyderco UF, and Honyama finisher), and I feel that there's probably one or two stones missing from it.

I really hope that I won't have to flatten the UF, as it's a really really tough stone!

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Matt

All blades are freehanded directly on a hollow. The amount of steel to be removed is minimal - that is important. When the hollow is at its maximum, that is, is under 0.5mm, it is possible to just use a Medium and Ultra Fine Spyderco. As the hollow gets larger, possibly about 1.5mm up, a coarser stone is included to raise a wire edge. This can be either a very worn in Ezelap Fine diamond stone (probably about 2000 grit now) or a Shapton 1000. For most work I do not need to go finer than the UF.

It is difficult to shake past experience that waterstones need maintenance. As a result I check the Spydercos every now-and-then. The Medium stays true and the UF needs a micron removed after a month or so. I do this on a mildly broken in Fine Eze-lap.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Fred Bryant]

Been using the 600 Eze-Lap Diamone, Med Spyderco, and UF Spyderco. I have ended up 'settling', at least for the time being, on the convex chisel honing as I had the most success with it. Everything is fine, except I can not clean the UF or Med stone no matter how much comet/scrubbing. The white stone is now yellowish with steel tracks in it. I am using water with a couple of drops of dawn. It seems to perform OK.

Problem?

Thx's, Fred.

Sorry, computer hiccuped mid post editing:

As far as flattening, I am not sure it was needed, but I did have machining ( more like diamond grinding marks ) on my UF. To determine flatness, the best I could do was to use the starret blade to my square ( the straightness thing I currently own ) and used feeler gauges. The 600 grit diamond plate had a 1 to 3 thousand hump in the middle ( 1 thousand feeler gauge on one end, 3 thousands on the other end ), the UF stone was flat except for one corner that had a 5 thousands dip that extended in 3/8 inch, the medium stone had 4 waves of about 3 thousands depth across the long dimension. The big 250 grit plate ( 2 1/2 by 11 1/2 ) had a hollow of 5 thousands over about 10". I used it to 'flatten' the Med and UF Spyderco. In reality I realize that I just conformed those stones to the big plate. I then went over each stone with the 600 grit just to smooth the surface. Did I do good, or was there a better method?

For sharpening, there is no problem although I can not get items as sharp as my old system yet. Of course the old system was absconded :mad: with and does not fit my mobile status at the moment. For flattening the backs, it seems to take excessive long as the stones get finer. I believe that this is due to re-conforming the chisel to the stone. It took a whole lot less time on previous water stone system. After they are flattened, the system seems to work great as I am only working the back on the fine UF stone. I am becoming a big fan of the no jig approach, I just with I could get it a little sharper. I am betting it will come with practice. The other great part is I am not having to flatten the stone because it is fill of grooves from small tools.

I would recommend it. Thank's to all who pointed me here.

Thx's, Fred.

[Reinis Kanders]

You could just lap it a bit with your diamond stone, at least the medium spyderco. UF might be better left polished.

[Derek Cohen]

I periodically lap the Medium and UF with a 600 grit Eze-lap. This ensures that the surface is clean and has fresh grit. Otherwise, I clean the UF with soapy water and a plastic scrubber. Most of the time I use edges off the UF. They are sharp enough.

Regards from Perth

Derek