Long term review on spyderco ceramic stones and demo

I’ve used these stones for about a year and I want to give my opinion on them.

[@jensebu78]

Nice Video! Thank you! Are you really sure that the medium stone dished out from using it? Mine wasn't flat from the beginning. Looks like yours. The other side is the same but the other way around. (Like a banana)It is from how they get produced. My UF doesn't have it, is really flat because it got flatten after they made it. I flattend the Medium on one side (the side were the middle comes high). It is much flatter now, but it changed the surface. It is now more on the UF side. It is OK for me, because i have two sides... But i wonder how the other guys do it. I can not imagine that you can flatten it and have the same "grid" after it...

[@rtknifeandsword9618]

Here in russia we have the access to relatively cheap quality diamond stones that costs less and work faster than the ceramic, they are called Venev industrial diamonds, but i still would like to try these out. From what i saw they are good at putting the rolled edge back to straight, because they don't cut so much material off. Is it true?

[@totesmalotes]

Yes, that is a plus about these stones. They are good at maintaining an edge and they don’t take away much material from the blade. That’s a good way of looking at the use of these: as a way to maintain your knives after normal use.

[@jasonerickson1033]

Absolutely true and i love veneve diamond stones for my k390 maxamet m4 etc. Steels

[@ramonade_knives]

Venev stones are really good quality. I live in France and still try to get these ones to work with ! Sadly I have to order them in the USA, it costs a lot in shipping

[@EumlOriginal]

In my experience, the stones grind finer than you would think of the grain, but only if you keep them clean When grinding you can often hear a crackling sound, these are the remains of the Burr and that is bad for the cutting edge You should also always test how the stones behave with which steel, sometimes they are better dry, sometimes with water or with water and a little dish soap I would not use the stones alone but as a supplement to diamond plates, with the Spyderco Medium you can replace the very fine diamond plates, I would skip the Spyderco Fine and use the UltraFine - the material removal is sufficient for this

[@totesmalotes]

Nice. Thank you. This is helpful insight.

[@silverslvr5185]

While these are expensive, they work very well. While I currently only own the medium and fine, the Aus8, d2, s30v, and m390 are the order of ease when polishing I’ve come across. S90v felt like I was going nowhere, till used a diamond stone first, then these two made an improvement. I just bought a used Rex-45 so when it arrives, I believe it’s going to require the diamond stone first.

[@totesmalotes]

Thank you for adding your experience with these stones. Rex-45 is hard stuff, good luck.

[@mlankford6077]

They work well. I'm not happy that they're advertised as being flat, and not even close to being flat. Every one I bought was concave on one side and convex on the other. I just flattened them on my granite reference block. I heard that Norton makes better ones, and they're really flat.

[@totesmalotes]

I haven’t checked out Norton, I will. Thank you for the information and sharing your experience with these stones.

[@andrewsteinberg7103]

I would go with diamond plates or bonded diamond for newer high end steels then go to spydy ceramics> a polished edge is not good for breaking down card board for there is no bite , 600 grit and stropping is best for a work knife, Polishing is basically for food prep

[@totesmalotes]

Thanks for the advise. I do have some diamonds stones but I mostly use those to hand grind knives I make to an apex.

[@David-bs3rq]

Liked the video. You mentioned the grit equivalent for the medium stone (~800), but what do you think the grit equivalent is on the UltraFine? I've seen comments online ranging from 2,000 up to 10,000 grit. I'm new to sharpening and recently bought the UF as my finishing stone, but i'm not experienced enough to tell the difference. I have a 2,000 (shapton glass) and it doesn't feel as smooth as the SpyderCo UF, so I think the UF grit equivalent could be quite a bit higher, but would like your opinion. Thanks.

[@totesmalotes]

Hello, so the highest I’ve used in sandpaper is 3000 grit and the Spyderco UF feels similar. But in looks the difference is easier to tell: if you use the Spyderco UF you do get a polish on your knife’s edge but it is cloudier than the polish you would get from using 3000 grit sandpaper. So I would say that the Spyderco UF stone is probably around 2800 grit, if I had to guess.

[@David-bs3rq]

Interesting. Thanks!

[@RobbieT015]

​@@David-bs3rq if use a leather strop after the UF stone you will have a mirror finish . (but watch a you tube clip where someone shows you how to strop a knife,its a different method to sharpening on a stone else yo will cut in the leather) ..or if you want to be real cheap you can use your old denim pants. Only knives of mine that got a mirror finish are my kitchen knives..on my edc i dont...else i have to touch thme up every day they go over my medium stone than some swipes over the fine stone ...2min over my leather strop and they good!

[@EumlOriginal]

In my experience, the stones grind finer than you would think of the grain, but only if you keep them clean When grinding you can often hear a crackling sound, these are the remains of the Burr and that is bad for the cutting edge You should also always test how the stones behave with which steel, sometimes they are better dry, sometimes with water or with water and a little dish soap But if you are not yet that experienced in grinding, I definitely recommend a pocket microscope Due to the hardness of the stones, they do not forgive mistakes, so it is better to see what you are doing and to draw conclusions from it

[@chrishoesing5455]

Man, it really looks like you are using a super steep angle when you're sharpening that knife. Especially when you get towards the tip. I would guess the compined angle of the apex is nearing 90° at the tip.

[@totesmalotes]

Let’s concentrate on the spyderco stones instead.

[@chrishoesing5455]

@@totesmalotes please don't think that was with an insulting intent, when it was meant more as unsolicited advice. Sticking with your recommendation... Would you buy these before shapton glass stones?

[@totesmalotes]

@@chrishoesing5455 no, I didn’t take it as an insult I was just trying to be funny. I always appreciate advice. It’s true that I sharpened this knife with a wide edge. I found that Vanax is tough but it’s edge tends to deform when my mom uses it to chop bones. I haven’t used Shapton glass stones but I would highly recommend these spyderco stones for knife edge maintenance. The only downside is that even with the medium grit these stones aren’t really good for re-profiling or repairing an edge. I use a Trend 300/1000 diamond stone for that, which I would also recommend. Hope that helps.

[@jensebu78]

Thank you for that informative video! I might try to sharpen my kitchen knives only to a medium stone (DMT Fine) and than go to the leather. Before i got my DMT Stones, i hated sharpening ( normal standard two sides wet stone). So i did id around all 6 Month. It was OK. Now i have the feeling i should do it again after two or three days (private family cooking!) because the knife doesn't cut the tomatoes not that good anymore. Have the feeling that they were longer sharp before i made them razor sharp. Still, i am interested in such stones or at least at the Ultra-Fine. I have the DMT Wooden Box with the blue, red and green stone and a stop with chromeoxid and only leather side. Might be a good finishing stone... Greetings from Germany, Jens

[@totesmalotes]

Hello, thank you. Each steel is different but for me I found that using the medium spyderco stone (it feels like 800 grit sandpaper) and then stropping it with green compound seems to give my kitchen knives a more toothy edge. Which seems to last longer than a polished razor edge. This is something you can try; each steel is different and sometimes a toothy edge doesn’t last for some steels but it’s an idea. Hope this helps. Greetings from the U.S.A.

[@jensebu78]

@@totesmalotes Hi, thanks for that tip! I don´t own a spyderco yet. But i guess i will try that with my DMT stones! Looking forward to it. :-)

[@tompossessed1729]

How many knives you sharpen on the spyderco stone for it to barley dish out

[@totesmalotes]

I’m not too sure how many but it’s basically the same few knives over and over again. My personal knife that I use for work, I only go over it about once every two weeks.

[@greekveteran2715]

I've reprofiled M390 on the cheapest sandpaper on the market. Of course, I would advice to get proper equipment that fit your steels better, but sharpening/reprofiling etc, is a matter of knowledge and a lot of experience. You can always have your own method, however there are also rules and proper methods. I got here, to see If the Spderco ceramic worth the money. I search for the longest lasting sharpening system, so these stones look like the only way to go.

[@totesmalotes]

I’ve re profiled knives with sand paper too. I just think that the medium stone, the roughest one, isn’t rough enough for re profiling. I have tried it and it takes forever.

[@greekveteran2715]

@@totesmalotes Thanks for helping! I'll probably end up getting a Shapton Glass 320 grit, and then either the same for a medium 1000, or any ceramic stone I find with 1000grit. Thanks again! By the way, things are getting really bad everywhere, that's why I'm setting up this sharpening system. I already lost my job, the company I used to work was sold and in the same time, both people from the Police, and the Army, advise us to prepare for war.. Wish you good luck my friend, keep em sharp and stay safe!

[@totesmalotes]

@@greekveteran2715 nice. I use 300 grit to re profile my knives and it’s worked well for me. I hope things start getting better for you and in general.

[@wades623]

bar keepers friend and a green scotch brite pad will get rid of that discoloration and swarf

[@totesmalotes]

I use Ajax but I’ve heard Bar Keepers Friend is better. I’ll try it with the green scotch brite pad too. Thank you.

[@leecherlarry]

@@totesmalotes Ajax, Ata, etc doht work well. BKF works so much better.

[@totesmalotes]

@@leecherlarry nice. Thank you.

[@tikkidaddy]

BKF., Water, 3M greenie pad.

[@sinyd100]

а какая зернистость у Medium, Fine, Ultra ? не могу найти показатели

[@totesmalotes]

Hello, it’s been a while since I have sharpened knives using sand paper but to me: Medium feels like around 800 grit, Fine feels like around 1,500 grit and last Ultra Fine I would say is around 2,500 grit. Ultra Fine is hard to tell what grit it is but I’ve used 3,000 grit sand paper and I’ve gotten a less foggy edge than Ultra Fine. Hope this helps.

[@sinyd100]

@@totesmalotes спасибо большое

[@totesmalotes]

@@sinyd100 no problem, I hope it helped.

[@Rchan925]

Great video. But ur base is killing me. It's rocking around so much

[@totesmalotes]

Ha ha yeah, I have other stuff I can use but I keep going back to that 4x4.

[@Rchan925]

@@totesmalotes 😅👍👍

[@dr.texasalumn5336]

Cool vid, bud. 🤘🏼😉

[@totesmalotes]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[@jasonerickson1033]

Sorry bro but u need to refine your stropping technique a little you can get hair whittling edges off that stone

[@totesmalotes]

I can get hair shaving sharp if I use compound on the leather but I don’t use any for this knife because I like it toothy.

[@smokinjoe1256]

better dont touch the tip of the knife….the one hand that is not on the handle should be always over the stone. it will make the angle more stable and you dont cut yourself.

[@totesmalotes]

Thinking about this, it makes sense. If my hand is over the stone the knife should have less of a chance of teeter tottering. Thanks.

[@jasonerickson1033]

Dude just get silica powder and flatten it good as new piece of cake i have done it several times

[@totesmalotes]

Cool, I might try this later.

[@iamfuckingyourwaifuandther2743]

I can see how we got to the point where we use stones to sharpen knives, but leather? You know there were just people back then going around trying to sharpen their knives with w/e material they could find just to see if it worked LOL.

[@niggaclintock]

I have these stones also, I did sharpen one of my knives that is maxamet and they did an awesome job. Did take a bit more time but definitely worth it.

[@totesmalotes]

They are good stones.