Spyderco Stone Question

[Orlando Gonzalez]

I recently got the Medium & UF Spyderco stones and had to do some minor flattening of the UF stone, something I don't look forward to doing again. The medium one was flat. I had some old Buck Brothers and Stanley chisels I wanted to try on the stones to see how they worked. Per the instructions that came with the stones, I used a powdered abrasive cleaner (in water) and a non-metallic scouring pad to clean them to remove steel particles. However, after doing this, I still see slivers of steel embedded in both stones. I don't thinks this is normal, or is it? If it isn't, how do I go about removing them. I think that they may be leaving scratch marks on the backs & bevels of the chisels. I like the stones, but if removing the slivers of steel is going to wear out my Atomas and/or DMTs, I'll just toss them out.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

George Wilson posted about doing the flattening under running water to avoid damage to the diamond plates. I do not know about the metal embedded in the stone. I do not own any spyderco stones myself.

[ken hatch]

I recently got the Medium & UF Spyderco stones and had to do some minor flattening of the UF stone, something I don't look forward to doing again. The medium one was flat. I had some old Buck Brothers and Stanley chisels I wanted to try on the stones to see how they worked. Per the instructions that came with the stones, I used a powdered abrasive cleaner (in water) and a non-metallic scouring pad to clean them to remove steel particles. However, after doing this, I still see slivers of steel embedded in both stones. I don't thinks this is normal, or is it? If it isn't, how do I go about removing them. I think that they may be leaving scratch marks on the backs & bevels of the chisels. I like the stones, but if removing the slivers of steel is going to wear out my Atomas and/or DMTs, I'll just toss them out.

Orlando,

Have you sharpened a cutter after cleaning the stone (with visible steel particles) and were you able to see scratch marks made by the embedded steel? My experience with the UF Spyderco is that once flat the only time it needs to be touched with a diamond stone is to speed it up. While I'm not a fan synthetic honing and polishing stones, the Spyderco stones work well as a polishing stone.

I just went out to the shop and sharpened a chisel using the brown and the white UF Spyderco stones. When I looked at the UF stone with a 10X lupe I could see scattered black specks on the stone. The stone has not been used or cleaned in a year or so. Once finished sharpening the bevel and back of the chisel had a nice scratch pattern with no rogue scratches when examined with the same 10X lupe.

My guess is you do not have a problem.

ken

[Orlando Gonzalez]

Ken,
It was when I was sharpening a chisel after cleaning them that I noticed the marks. I previously sharpened a few spokeshave blades on the Spydercos then cleaned the stones. The slivers are more prevalent on the brown Medium stones but if I look closely at the white stone I can see the slivers as well.

I'll do some more work with them and see if it's a non issue.

Thanks for the response.

[Charles Guest]

I recently got the Medium & UF Spyderco stones and had to do some minor flattening of the UF stone, something I don't look forward to doing again. The medium one was flat. I had some old Buck Brothers and Stanley chisels I wanted to try on the stones to see how they worked. Per the instructions that came with the stones, I used a powdered abrasive cleaner (in water) and a non-metallic scouring pad to clean them to remove steel particles. However, after doing this, I still see slivers of steel embedded in both stones. I don't thinks this is normal, or is it? If it isn't, how do I go about removing them. I think that they may be leaving scratch marks on the backs & bevels of the chisels. I like the stones, but if removing the slivers of steel is going to wear out my Atomas and/or DMTs, I'll just toss them out.

They get plugged if you use them dry. Sometimes they get plugged anyway. Whatever time you 'save' using these on the front end is lost with the scouring needed later.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

They get plugged if you use them dry. Sometimes they get plugged anyway. Whatever time you 'save' using these on the front end is lost with the scouring needed later.

I Agree Charles. Just went out to see if I could remedy this again. Found that the scouring pad with dry Bar Keepers wasn't working on the Medium (brown) stone even with a dash of water to make a slurry. However, it did work on the UF (white) stone. What worked on the Medium stone was Bar Keepers, dash of water, and the X-coarse DMT stone. Took 99% of the embedded slivers out. It didn't take long, but I don't know if the trade off is worth it. I'll keep them for now, but they won't be my go to stones.