05-02-2018, 03:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-02-2018, 03:48 PM by Mark Reich.)
Hi Wade,
I've had a fair amount of experience with VG10, and it's been outstanding for me. It's easily one of my favorite modern stainless steels. It compares very well against other high quality, high carbon, non-powdered stainless steels like 154CM, AUS10, D2, 12c27, and the rare 440C with cobalt. VG10 actually has cobalt and tungsten, which are, generally speaking, my favorite alloys.
From what I gather, VG Max is just the powdered version. I guess VG Max could probably be considered a "New super steel" just because it's powdered, but I'm not finding the chemical composition. If VG Max has the addition of vanadium ubiquitous in powdered steel, plus the larger grain of powdered steels (powdered steels may be getting finer grained, but they started huge, and they're still only about size 5, which is not fine at all), I can see how it would be more difficult to sharpen. Unfortunately, you might as well get used to sharpening powdered steels, as the end of this tendency is disappointingly out of sight.
What type, what grit and what size DMTs are you using? What do you mean by, "it would have been better on a belt"? What type and what grit belts are you talking about? How are you finishing your edges?
I just sharpened my Al Mar SERE in VG10, finishing on 8µ PDP. Nothing special involved. It took about 4 minutes, and ended up at 115 ..... on my NEW PT50!!!
Wow, measuring just got WAY easier, and now I'm on a level field!! HUGE improvement!!
ps- I'll offer free sharpening to anyone who wants to send me their Shun knives. I want to see for myself what the problem is.
I've had a fair amount of experience with VG10, and it's been outstanding for me. It's easily one of my favorite modern stainless steels. It compares very well against other high quality, high carbon, non-powdered stainless steels like 154CM, AUS10, D2, 12c27, and the rare 440C with cobalt. VG10 actually has cobalt and tungsten, which are, generally speaking, my favorite alloys.
From what I gather, VG Max is just the powdered version. I guess VG Max could probably be considered a "New super steel" just because it's powdered, but I'm not finding the chemical composition. If VG Max has the addition of vanadium ubiquitous in powdered steel, plus the larger grain of powdered steels (powdered steels may be getting finer grained, but they started huge, and they're still only about size 5, which is not fine at all), I can see how it would be more difficult to sharpen. Unfortunately, you might as well get used to sharpening powdered steels, as the end of this tendency is disappointingly out of sight.
What type, what grit and what size DMTs are you using? What do you mean by, "it would have been better on a belt"? What type and what grit belts are you talking about? How are you finishing your edges?
I just sharpened my Al Mar SERE in VG10, finishing on 8µ PDP. Nothing special involved. It took about 4 minutes, and ended up at 115 ..... on my NEW PT50!!!
Wow, measuring just got WAY easier, and now I'm on a level field!! HUGE improvement!!
ps- I'll offer free sharpening to anyone who wants to send me their Shun knives. I want to see for myself what the problem is.