MicroFine Ceramics (1.4/.6): Progress!

[RLDubbya]

I’ve been going through the typical WEPS-NEWBIE problem set; included in this set is a group of problems with the ceramic stones. I have, for quite a long time, like the edge I get from Spydie’s Sharpmaker using the ceramics with the ultra-fine ceramics added as an additional step. There is a particular “feel”, a peculiar tactile sensation, of using the ceramics with a blade – it reminds me of walking on ice, or maybe trying to wipe snot off a glass doorknob as the blade moves across the ceramic in edge-leading strokes.

I didn’t quite get that feeling with the WEPS MFs. It was close, however. The biggest thing which has been truly a problem for me: blades were coming off the MFs with more visible scratching than they had prior to using the stone. This was truly a problem, as I couldn’t effectively work out a progression using the ceramics, nor could I even really use those stones.

While I have a metric ton of work involved with getting my business off the ground,  and could easily spend every waking moment focused on those tasks (not to mention other tasks that come with living), I decided early on that I would, no matter what, spend enough time in my workshop every day to get some process improvement work done, and to sharpen at least one knife.  I’ve been following that, and yesterday I committed to time with the ceramics.

I first started with “lapping the stones”. I just rubbed ceramic face against like ceramic face; as I was randomly doing this with the gray (1.4), I noticed something taking place for the first time. The surface of the stone was changing a bit, from something that looked like unglazed ceramic to something that had a polished look, that appeared to be glazed. When I worked on the .6 (white) side, this change was even more prominent. It reminded me of a mortar and pestle I had in junior high I used for chemical compounds: the inside of the mortar was not glazed, it was unfinished. That way, when the user really leaned into grinding something with the pestle, there was no glazing to chip off.

That visual memory really looked like what I was seeing unfold in front of me with the stones.

After the lapping, which took me about 10 minutes, I grabbed a knife that I had just sharpened and was relatively scratch free; if you looked at with a loupe and good light, you could see the scratch pattern; I could not discern those scratches without visual aids.

I first hit the knife with diamonds: 800, then 1000. I skipped 1500, and went to 1.4micron ceramics. I performed a total of 100 strokes, and (a) it felt different while doing those strokes and (b) when I looked at the edge, it was considerably cleaned up. I then moved to white ceramic (.6micron) and did about 100 strokes. Looking at the edge afterwards, it was even cleaner and more scratch free than before.

These two outcomes were extremely different from what I had been seeing: ever since I had them, the ceramics would always leave their own scratch pattern after 1000 diamonds, and they never removed the old scratch pattern. This, then, was huge progress.

I finished the blade off with a nano cloth hone and an extra fine diamond paste. I did about 50 strokes, starting with a moderately light pressure and using progressively less pressure on each stroke until by stroke 35 or so, it felt like I was barely touching the blade with the cloth.

My edge came out quite nice. It looks very shiny, and nearly scratch free. Since I was not attempting to create a true high-polish mirror, but just a good looking working edge, this was a great result. I’m going to be using this progression, I think, for a lot of EDCs and other knives that get used quite a bit.

 

 

As somebody with advanced terminal cancer, there will be dark days when I complain about things you say for no apparent reason. Please consider this my apology in advance for such times. There will be days that what I say is clearly wrong, making no sense: on these days I will often be argumentative. Please do not "let me slide" at such times, but rather call me out, point out what is factually wrong, and demand I explain my position. Please also consider this my apology in advance for such times.

5 users thanked author for this post.

Mark76, sksharp, tcmeyer, wickededge, Organic

[Organic]

That is very interesting indeed. It sounds like lapping the ceramics not only flattened the surfaces, but may have also helped get them past the break in stage. Thank you for sharing your progress.

[Mark76]

The 1600/1400 ceramic stones are indeed made by Coorstek, the company that makes the Spyderco stones. In my experience, they work well (once broken in and not producing dust anymore) and fit well in a progression their name suggests.

There are more questions about the 1.4/0.6 stones. See also other topics on this site (and my blog). I also don’t know whether they are made by Coorstek (Clay?).

Their names seem to suggest they fit somewhere at the end of a fine progression. But to be honest, I think they are more coarse. They do work well, however, just not at the grit level their names suggest, Just give it a few tries to see where they fit in a progression. And remember – ceramic stones are softer than diamond stones and require more strokes (and pressure?) to remove the scratches from diamond stones.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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sksharp

[wickededge]

The Micro-Fine stones are made by Coorstek and compare well with the Spyderco stones.

-Clay

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sksharp, Mark76, Organic

[Rich]

After reading this post, I decided to pull out my much neglected/ignored ceramics.  I have both micro and super fine sets.  I decided a while ago to not even try to use them given the results I was getting.

Today, I took them out and spend 30-40 minutes per grit lapping them together while watching TV, added water and cleaning them regularly during the process.  I did notice that the dust did start heavy and end very light.  I also noticed that the shine which the stone surface had when I started is now gone.  All 4 grits are now dull in appearance.

I took a test knife and used this progression,  Diamond 400/600/800/1000/1500; Ceramic 1200/1600/1.4/0.6.  I was not trying to get a perfect mirror and did not pay attention to completely working out the prior scratch pattern with the next grit.

Let me first say that the feel of these stones completely changed, for the better. They went from smooth but able to feel and hear the grit to feeling completely smooth, hearing/feeling next to nothing, like glass on glass.  The haze that the 1.4 produced before lapping is gone.  Had I spent the time to examine and completely remove prior scratches, this would have been as good if not my best work yet!  The edge is hair splitting! (I tested it)

I now need to figure where they really fit into my progression.  I am very encouraged!!

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378pete, wickededge, tcmeyer, Josh, Mark76, sksharp, Marc H, Organic

[sksharp]

Good information RL thanks man. To you as well Rich thanks.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mark76

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