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Just chatted with @Dr. Knives and I guess he was removed from commenting on this thread. Looks like the stones that got sent to @Mariner were sent back, so he will send them out again
why was he removed from commenting here?Just chatted with @Dr. Knives and I guess he was removed from commenting on this thread. Looks like the stones that got sent to @Mariner were sent back, so he will send them out again
why was he removed from commenting here?
interesting for sure...Good question, I guess too much discussion around pricing
I just picked up a 400 vit from him myself and like it a lot
Npinteresting for sure...
would you consider reviewing it?
I'm afraid I don't know. DrKnives appears to have their account restricted due to KKF rules on vendors, so is unable to post.Thanks for the reviews! Fun stuff. Where are the diamonds headed next?
Hi folks! Sorry for the delay @Dr. Knives sent me two more stones to play with and I wanted to compare them all together and send them off simultaneously. The stones I received are the original 400 and 3k (called "Soft 400" and "Soft 3k" going forward) as well as two new 400 grits, one with a higher binder content (called "HB") and one with a different binder (called "DB"). I am off at university now so I was only able to test on a couple of things, the first was a CPM MagnaCut Chef (63.7 Rc) which I had to thin and do some initial polishing on and the second is my everyday CPM 10V chef (64 Rc). The results are summarized below, I am happy to answer any questions. I will be comparing these stones primarily to the BBB 400 and 3K as though they are the same price but I'm pretty sure they aren't so take that into account.
Thinning\Polishing MagnaCut:
I'm not the greatest grinder out there so I tend to even out my grind and start the polish on the MC carbide-containing steels on my BBB 400 stone. The BBB 400 stone is extremely hard and doesn't really release any abrasive so it tends to glaze over after every 30-60 seconds (this requires it to be quickly refreshed with the included Nagura).
Soft 400
This thing is a thinning/polishing BEAST. While using it it clearly releases a lot more grit than the BBB 400 which leads to a fairly muddy-looking finish (fine for my purposes). It feels a bit coarser than the BBB 400 and cuts a bit faster, but most importantly it was nearly impossible to glaze. I was only able to get it to glaze with about a 1-minute hard thinning with the largest possible surface area of the blade in contact with the stone (something I usually avoid because it tends to glaze over stones quickly). Based on the amount of grit released I assume the stone would need to be lapped fairly frequently if you are doing a lot of thinning, which isn't necessarily ideal (but given how much faster it is I'd still consider it an improvement). That being said I will almost certainly be picking up one of these as a dedicated thinning stone, maybe in a thicker size if I can get it.
HB and DB
The HB and DB stones were harder than the soft 400, as expected this made them quite a bit easier to glaze. Both stones left a noticeably brighter finish than the soft 400 although I couldn't tell the difference between the two harder stones in terms of finish. Again compared to the BBB 400 it felt like the grit was coarser and I think both stones are still a bit softer than the BBB 400. In terms of grit released I couldn't tell a difference between the hardness of the HB and DB stones however, the DB stone sounded and felt harder to me. Overall for thinning, I think I still prefer these to the BBB 400 but they are less "life-altering" good than the Soft 400.
Sharpening CPM 10V:
For sharpening I only really tried to HB 400 and the Soft 3k. The HB 400 was very aggressive as you would expect and had good sharpening feedback (I'd say a little worse than the BBB 400). The soft 3k was also very aggressive, it felt to me almost more like a 2k stone but I'm not a huge sharpening connoisseur so take my thoughts on that with a grain of salt. It put a fair tooth edge on the blade quite quickly and I was pretty happy with it. The Soft 3k seems quite soft (for diamond vits), maybe a bit softer than the Soft 400, and has a bit of a dish in the middle that I don't have to tools to take out. Similarly to the BBB Vits, these stones feel a lot more like conventional stones to sharpen on while maintaining the benefits of the harder abrasive.
Summary and Recommendation
Soft 400: Life-changing thinning stone if you have to handle thinning a lot of MC carbide-containing steels
HB and DB 400: Perfectly competent diamond vits, a bit coarser and softer than the BBB 400
Soft 3k: a very aggressive 3k with hardness which seems similar to the hard end of conventional stones (you can work up a slurry).
Overall if these stones are priced in the <$150 range they blow pretty much anything else available in that range out of the water. Much higher than that and I would start considering them a value side grade from the BBB vits. I would love to get my hands on a 1k stone a touch harder than the Soft 400 as a secondary polishing stone. I would also probably recommend making the harder 3k stone as I don't feel like I get much benefit from the greater friability when just sharpening.
I think your conclusion nails it and I agree with the $150 price point. That’s about 1.5x the coarsest Nanohone cost, and this one cuts much faster.Hi folks! Sorry for the delay @Dr. Knives sent me two more stones to play with and I wanted to compare them all together and send them off simultaneously. The stones I received are the original 400 and 3k (called "Soft 400" and "Soft 3k" going forward) as well as two new 400 grits, one with a higher binder content (called "HB") and one with a different binder (called "DB"). I am off at university now so I was only able to test on a couple of things, the first was a CPM MagnaCut Chef (63.7 Rc) which I had to thin and do some initial polishing on and the second is my everyday CPM 10V chef (64 Rc). The results are summarized below, I am happy to answer any questions. I will be comparing these stones primarily to the BBB 400 and 3K as though they are the same price but I'm pretty sure they aren't so take that into account.
Thinning\Polishing MagnaCut:
I'm not the greatest grinder out there so I tend to even out my grind and start the polish on the MC carbide-containing steels on my BBB 400 stone. The BBB 400 stone is extremely hard and doesn't really release any abrasive so it tends to glaze over after every 30-60 seconds (this requires it to be quickly refreshed with the included Nagura).
Soft 400
This thing is a thinning/polishing BEAST. While using it it clearly releases a lot more grit than the BBB 400 which leads to a fairly muddy-looking finish (fine for my purposes). It feels a bit coarser than the BBB 400 and cuts a bit faster, but most importantly it was nearly impossible to glaze. I was only able to get it to glaze with about a 1-minute hard thinning with the largest possible surface area of the blade in contact with the stone (something I usually avoid because it tends to glaze over stones quickly). Based on the amount of grit released I assume the stone would need to be lapped fairly frequently if you are doing a lot of thinning, which isn't necessarily ideal (but given how much faster it is I'd still consider it an improvement). That being said I will almost certainly be picking up one of these as a dedicated thinning stone, maybe in a thicker size if I can get it.
HB and DB
The HB and DB stones were harder than the soft 400, as expected this made them quite a bit easier to glaze. Both stones left a noticeably brighter finish than the soft 400 although I couldn't tell the difference between the two harder stones in terms of finish. Again compared to the BBB 400 it felt like the grit was coarser and I think both stones are still a bit softer than the BBB 400. In terms of grit released I couldn't tell a difference between the hardness of the HB and DB stones however, the DB stone sounded and felt harder to me. Overall for thinning, I think I still prefer these to the BBB 400 but they are less "life-altering" good than the Soft 400.
Sharpening CPM 10V:
For sharpening I only really tried to HB 400 and the Soft 3k. The HB 400 was very aggressive as you would expect and had good sharpening feedback (I'd say a little worse than the BBB 400). The soft 3k was also very aggressive, it felt to me almost more like a 2k stone but I'm not a huge sharpening connoisseur so take my thoughts on that with a grain of salt. It put a fair tooth edge on the blade quite quickly and I was pretty happy with it. The Soft 3k seems quite soft (for diamond vits), maybe a bit softer than the Soft 400, and has a bit of a dish in the middle that I don't have to tools to take out. Similarly to the BBB Vits, these stones feel a lot more like conventional stones to sharpen on while maintaining the benefits of the harder abrasive.
Summary and Recommendation
Soft 400: Life-changing thinning stone if you have to handle thinning a lot of MC carbide-containing steels
HB and DB 400: Perfectly competent diamond vits, a bit coarser and softer than the BBB 400
Soft 3k: a very aggressive 3k with hardness which seems similar to the hard end of conventional stones (you can work up a slurry).
Overall if these stones are priced in the <$150 range they blow pretty much anything else available in that range out of the water. Much higher than that and I would start considering them a value side grade from the BBB vits. I would love to get my hands on a 1k stone a touch harder than the Soft 400 as a secondary polishing stone. I would also probably recommend making the harder 3k stone as I don't feel like I get much benefit from the greater friability when just sharpening.
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