Experimenting with the Bond Hardness in knife sharpening stones and strops

I don't think enough is said about the effect of bond hardness in knife sharpening stones. In this video I show it with 3 different bonds of similar grits, plus some other stuff. The experiments with similar grits are 16k and 30k Shaptons, Idahone hones, and strops with various abrasives. I am using Shapton Glass stones just for fun as they work very well with this steel.
I try a new format for this video and while I like it for keeping the length reasonable while showing a lot of different sharpening scenarios I do recognize that I made a lot of mistakes, that I won't repeat.

[@barkingspider2007]

Great Video! Have you concluded that: 1. Overly hard resin - poor results. 2. Diamond Matrix Stones are in the "Just Right" zone. As an observation, various steels respond differently to any given type of abrasive. Was the knife you sharpened 440 carbon steel? Is the knife relatively soft? (HRC below 60) The Matrix stones do an outstanding job on very high HRC steel. (HRC 62-67 and Maxamet 70) Thanks for the video. 😎👍

[@CGSW]

I think the knife is 440c and the hardness is good for what it is. The Matrix stones still work well on this steel but I borrowed a full set of Shapton Glass stones and the hones from EP probably 2 years ago and it's time to give them back so I wanted to play with them some before doing so. It also gave me a chance to try aluminum oxide on my polymer strops.

[@dombond6515]

Amazing do u have factory seconds slight chips or defective ts that don't really affect stonrs?

[@CGSW]

I only get a few cosmetic seconds of my own stones and so far have used them myself. I do have a bunch of Matrix stones I have made over the years that EP won't touch but recently said that I can sell them myself as long as I remove their name from them. I will do this in a few months, I am backed up that much, and list them on my website. I will do a video announcing when they are for sale so don't forget to subscribe if you are interested. They are all first quality but have some minor issue like a blemish on the aluminum mount, a dent from getting dropped on my concrete floor, the wrong mount was used for that grit, etc.

[@dombond6515]

@CGSW perfect exactly what I'm looking for. Thx hopefully it's soon

[@tjs6558]

How many passes do you use with leather strops

[@CGSW]

For bare leather generally 10-20 strokes per side and only for burr removal. Even for a softer steel like the knife in this video bare leather doesn't do much to the steel, it really needs some abrasive added to it. But leather is a bit too soft and quickly convexes the apex. If it is loaded with diamond then 2-3 passes max, any more and the angle at the apex changes significantly.