Well since getting my Shaptons from Komitadjie a couple of weeks ago I have really been using any excuse I can to try them out. And boy do they impress. The feedback from the stones is absolutely fantastic. It's really like taking a piece of velvet across the edge of the knife. They work super fast and are much easier to set up and use than I thought they would be thanks to the help of my angle cube. If I had the ability I would take some microscopic pictures of my edges, but for now you will just have to take my word for it. It's really amazing looking through my loupe you can really see the difference in the scratch patterns from the 1k diamonds to the 1k Shaptons. And the Shapton 2k while it doesnt quite get you that mirror edge it still shines nicely. So far I have done a Benchmade Mini-Griptilian in 154cm. And a Gerber auto opener in S30V.

First heres the Gerber:
Sharpened at 23 degrees with diamonds up to 1k, followed by the Shaptons 1k, and 2k. Then stropped to .5mu. Then I put a 25 degree micro bevel on the knife with the Shaptons 2k and stropped it about 10 times per side with .5mu CBN. The edge came out super sharp and still has a nice bite to it. I thinned down the factory bevel a little bit roughly 3 degrees and micro beveled it because I know the person using it uses it pretty hard between work and the fire department volunteering. This was my first sharpening job of S30V and bothe the WEPS diamonds and the Shaptons performed wonderfully. It really didn't take me all that long to do the reprofile of the knife.






And now the Benchmade:
After doing the Gerber for a friend of mine I decided I wanted to redo the edge on my mini grip. I previously had a 16 degree edge that was taken to .5mu CBN. This time I followed Pretty much the same routine as the Getber only this time I reprofiled to an 18 degree primary edge with a 21 degree micro bevel at Shaptons 2k. While I haven't been able to do a lot of testing with this knife yet it really is crazy tree topping sharp. I managed to get myself with it a little bit just unclamping the dang thing although I am still not sure how I managed that. It slices and push cuts wonderfully and also tree tops arm hairs. I did a little slicing of small tree limbs with it today at work and it left a beautiful cut and made it through with ease. At this point I definitely see some more Shaptons and or Choceras in my future.

Awesome David - have you done more experimenting with the stones? How did the edge on your Mini-Griptilian stand up at 21? Thanks for sharing the photos and experience
Bob

Nice job on those knives!

I've found that on the more abrasion resistant steels, using the diamonds to do the profiling/repair work really sets the stage for the Shaptons and Choseras to refine the edge.