Spyderco Ultra-Fine & Norton Crystolon Dual Grit Edge | 40 mm Manila Rope | ANDE Knife Test

The Spyderco Ultra-fine has been one of the best performing dual grit fines, but how does the performance hold up to microscope scrutiny? Back to the ANDE Rope we go with a fresh edge sharpened on the Spyderco Ultra-fine Ceramic Stone and the Norton Crystolon Coarse!
Also check out my tutorials on dual grit sharpening.
What's a dual grit edge, you may ask?
Think: high performance aggressive knife edge!!! This method for versatile razor sharp knives is fast, easy, and leads to edge retention increases of up to 50% in some tasks! Watch my tutorials to quickly learn innovative hand sharpening techniques with whetstone, diamond plate, & honing strop.
The dual grit method is a specific method for sharpening one side of the edge coarse and the other fine - an updated tutorial is below:
• CPM MagnaCut Dual Grit...
And the results have been observed by independent testing:
• You Won't Believe How ...
If you're curious about the science behind the edge mechanics, check out this scienceofsharp.com article in which Dr. Todd Simpson analyzes the effect:
scienceofsharp...
Please consider supporting me on Patreon if this helps you,
www.patreon.co...
Whether your passion is bushcraft knives, survival blades, hunting & fishing knives, edc knives, or kitchen knives - this method could revolutionize the way you sharpen your knives and make your edge last longer!!!
#thehomeslicesharpening #dualgritedge #dualgrittest

[@mikeobrien4081]

I've been thinking about your dual grit results and the differences between slurried stones (3-body abrasion), adhesive wearing stones, and "regular" abrasion stones. It seems that a slurried abrasive fine stone like the Cerax does a better job of standing up and cleaning the burr than the adhesive UF ceramic. I wonder how a yellow coticule stone would compare since it is an abrasive rather than adhesive wearing stone, but it abrades very finely and uniformly (in scratch depth) because of its soccer-ball-shaped garnet particles. So it may be a very good performer in shaping the burr without "gouging" too much material. Just a thought. Love the content as always, your buddy videos with your dad and pastor were fun.

[@homeslicesharpening]

Mike I feel so honored that you have kept up with all the research, and this is one of the most helpful comments to date! I will consider it. Where do you buy a yellow coticule?

[@mikeobrien4081]

@@homeslicesharpening I'm honoured that you're honored! It's amazing that people like you, Pete, Larrin, Shawn and Todd (and Roman!) put so much work into this research, and into presenting it in such an engaging and understandable way. It's the kind of thing that people hoped the internet would be used for back in the day. As for finding yellow coticule, they're usually found at shaving equipment stores like Badger&Blade or Fendrihan's. Since they're a natural stone, the price increases very steeply with size, but around 2022 I saw smaller ones approx 2"x5" for about $80CAD/$60USD. That was for "basic" as opposed to "premium" grade stones, but I think the difference is mostly cosmetic, relating to the lightness and uniformity of the stone's colour. (Could be wrong about that, razor guys have written whole books about these stones).

[@mikeobrien4081]

@@homeslicesharpening I see that Lamnia has what looks like coticules for $25CAD, they're odd shapes and small but should be enough for smaller blades, look for "Otter Extra Fine Whetstone N4'". They have a listing for larger ones but they're out of stock.

[@homeslicesharpening]

Ok, I'll keep an eye out! Thanks!

[@stevenlachance8576]

Gabe your coarse edge in the microscope seemed to have cross hatched areas. I would worry that creates islands of steel that might be weaker.

[@homeslicesharpening]

It's possible. I sometimes do strokes in alternating directions heel-tip tip-heel if I can't get a burr to come loose. I have assumed that dual grit functions best with minimal stropping, so I try to deburr as much as possible on the stones. Sometimes it's not possible to deburr the coarse scratch pattern unless you vary stroke direction a bit. However, I need to try out keeping the stroke pattern constant and deburring on the strops more because it could definitely be more stable. Thanks for the thoughts!