05-04-2018, 04:52 PM
Wade,
I have not yet sharpened VG10 steel, but I had a similar problem with MAXAMET and S110V. I use a WE system with all the diamond grit paddles and three grades of diamond lapping film.
My "normal" reading for almost all knives I sharpen is below 150 and closer to 135-140. My Spyderco PM2 in S110V would not get below 150. Same thing with a friends MAXAMET blade. I've had my knife on the sharpener at least 6 times with the same result. I've analyzed and modified my technique - slower strokes with light pressure to no avail. At each grit change I run a sharpie right down the edge of the blade and use my scope to make sure I'm removing it all before I move to the next grit. These steels don't seem to provide much if any burr like the other pocket knives I've sharpened.
So, I did some web searching and found some other people who posted problems with sharpening these super steels. One thread caught my attention when it mentioned that diamond stones were the problem. They said that when they moved to finer grits they switched to Shapton/Chosera water stones and got a much better edge. Of course they didn't have an edge tester to quantify a "better" edge.
Long story short, I found that Bob at Oldawan had loaner Chosera 800/1000 stones for the WE. I used those and got my number down to 112.
Just my experience YMMV
I have not yet sharpened VG10 steel, but I had a similar problem with MAXAMET and S110V. I use a WE system with all the diamond grit paddles and three grades of diamond lapping film.
My "normal" reading for almost all knives I sharpen is below 150 and closer to 135-140. My Spyderco PM2 in S110V would not get below 150. Same thing with a friends MAXAMET blade. I've had my knife on the sharpener at least 6 times with the same result. I've analyzed and modified my technique - slower strokes with light pressure to no avail. At each grit change I run a sharpie right down the edge of the blade and use my scope to make sure I'm removing it all before I move to the next grit. These steels don't seem to provide much if any burr like the other pocket knives I've sharpened.
So, I did some web searching and found some other people who posted problems with sharpening these super steels. One thread caught my attention when it mentioned that diamond stones were the problem. They said that when they moved to finer grits they switched to Shapton/Chosera water stones and got a much better edge. Of course they didn't have an edge tester to quantify a "better" edge.
Long story short, I found that Bob at Oldawan had loaner Chosera 800/1000 stones for the WE. I used those and got my number down to 112.
Just my experience YMMV