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I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the Sypderco 303MF. It's the medium on one side, fine on the other, and it's small (1x5 as a guess based on the other pocket sized offerings).
I know some don't mind a small finishing stone, but is it practical for a coarser stone? If so, it seems like a great offering for $22 + shipping.
Please let me know what you think.
I have one that I use for my pocket knife. The stone is really small and REALLY thin (only about 1/4 inch thick) so I would not call it really practical for fast metal removal. If you want something in a similar price range then I would get the DMT-E (the 6 inch is only about $20) because it will work significantly better for what it seems like you want to use it for.
Is the thinkness really a concern? I was under the impression that these stones were good for a long time once they were lapped? Also, what about the DMT makes you think it would be better? I'm new to hones, so please parden my ignorance.
Sydercos should not need lapping if yours is not flat I would send it back.
I use one of these as a travel hone .They do give very good results.Paul
They will not really wear out fast so that is not the issue. The stone is too small to use in a stone holder so you will most likely have to use it in your hand. Since the spine of the razor needs to be down going both ways you only have a little less than 4 inches of honing length and you really have to be careful not to cut your hand because of the thinness of the stone.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
So if I'm correct, the main concerns are not cutting myself and being able to get the whole blade over the hone in an X pattern?
That doesn't sound too bad. I've been using a shorter and thinner but slightly wider stone, and I'm pretty comfortable with the size. I think I'll pull the trigger and see how I like it. It's about $30 shipped, and if I don't like it for razors, maybe I'll find it to be good for knives.
Those are two valid concerns, but another significant one is that you want a stone to quickly remove metal but this one will only give you about a 1X4 inch working surface area. It is going to take a ton of passes to remove a lot of metal whth such a small stone. I would much rather spend my $30 (plus a little more for shipping) and get a 8X3 DMT-E or a $20 6X2 DMT-E diasharp from craftsmanstudio.com. The diamond abrasive surface will cut faster than the spyderco, and the extra length will allow you to do more work per pass. If you want to carry it with you to touch up your pocket knife as I do then it will work great, but I just don't think that it is the best choice for what you described. Just my .02Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
Ah, I had not been thinking about the number of passes. That's my newness showing. I'll be sure to take a look at craftsmanstudio before I make a decision.
Thanks again for the input.
I'll second David's advice, he knows what he's talking about.
And from my own experience, the DMT's just cant be beat in the long run.
I was checking out the DMT6E, and the grit rating in it was 1200. Is that accurate? If it's that low, that would be too coarse for what I was looking for. The Sypderco is about 4k on the medium side and about 8k on the fine side.
I guess what I'm asking is how coarse is the 6E?
The grit rating that you gave on the Spyderco is not correct, did you get it from Joel's "estimate" over at B&B? If you do some research then you will find that Sal (the person who ownes Spyderco) rated the medium grit in the medium hundreds and the fine at about 2K (which is consistent with the needs of a knife) as did Tim Zowada. I definately would not want to shave with a razor off the DMT-E but I would not want to shave with a razor off the Spyderco Fine either. You will need more polishing off either stone. Both stones are very fine in knife terms but very course in razor terms. I would like to see Spyderco make a 6X2 size Fine/Ultra Fine stone which would make a great barber hone type of stone. The Ultra Fine would produce and maintain the razor edge, and the Fine could fix minor damage. Now that would be a really useful stone for razors. I have been meaning to contact Sal about this idea, maybe I will in the near future.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
I did get the numbers off Joel's write up. I have a finishing stone, but need to fill in the rest.
It seems odd to me that the fine would be so low, since the ultra fine seems good enough to shave off. I would not expect there to be that big a gap. Maybe I'll try PMing Joel since he seem to have used the Spydercos.
I think conventional wisdom says to use the medium for setting a bevel and the fine and UF for finishing like you would a Norton 4K/8K. I just got a set of these to try to learn to hone, so I will see how it goes.
Brad, let me know how they work for you, especially if you can progress through the three and end up with a good edge.
I just found out I have a Woodcraft near me, so I might pick up some Spydies tomorrow.
I think that the medium stone is probably a little on the coarse side
for razors. You will find that the Fine stone can cut very quickly and
get a razor ready for polishing on the Ultra-Fine in no time.
- Scott