Cerax better for PM steels?

[rick alen]

Just saw on another post that Cerax stones contain silicon carbide, SC being harder than vanadium carbibes, unlike AO, wonder if any who have the 6K and/or 8K have found they put a better all around edge on the high vanadium carbide PM steels?

 

[JBroida]

for what its worth, only the cerax 5k has any SiC in it... the rest are all alumina or white aluminia and the 5k is a mix of both according to the suehiro website

 

[madelinez]

I've heard shapton glass stones are effective for steels like zdp-189. Are they silicone carbide based?

 

[M1k3]

They work on pretty much everything, including ZDP-189.

 

[kayman67]

No. And off the top of my head, I can't even name one 6/8k stone that's SiC.

 

[rick alen]

Jon, would you say your 6K diamond stone leaves a better edge here with the PM steels than alumina stones? After break in of course.

 

[kayman67]

Some people use cbn or diamond spray to improve performance.

 

[Garm]

In their traditional/professional line(where you'll finde the Rika and those stone) Suehiro have two different 8k stones.
The W-8 is made with aluminum oxide, while the green G-8 seems to be made from green silicon carbide,
Stu from toolsfromjapan wrote something about the differences between the two before he closed up shop.
There's still info about the stones out there, but I haven't used any of them personally.

 

[kayman67]

Completely forgot about those.

 

[rick alen]

Yes I know about diamond spray, I recall the green stone, if the one I'm thinking of it was said to be too soft, grit was not too fine either. Recommended for dressing alumina stones.

 

[JBroida]

Jon, would you say your 6K diamond stone leaves a better edge here with the PM steels than alumina stones? After break in of course.

better? thats subjective. It cuts quickly (not amazingly fast though... never going to be like a diamond plate in terms of speed) and does so regardless of what steel you are cutting, all while dishing slowly and providing solid tactile feedback (my subjective and biased opinion).