Here is the ZT Strider 0301 Collaboration:



Blade: S30V stainless-steel Tungsten DLC coating with Tiger Stripes. 4.25" blade length. 0.156" thick.
Scales: 3-D machined G-10 and titanium in Ranger Green.
Pocket clip: Reversible, removable to tip-up or tip-down carry.
Closed: 5.25"
Weight: 8.6 oz.

Sharpened on Wicked Edge with the following progression at 19 degrees per side:

Shapton - 120#, 220#, 320#, 1000#, 1500#, 2000#, 5000#, 8000#, 15000#
Strops - 1mµ mono diamond, .5mµ mono diamond, .25mµ mono diamond, .125mµ CBN, .050mµ poly diamond, .025mµ poly diamond

Yikes! That's a serious progression

Amazing looking, too!

Bet that all you have to do is THINK about cutting something while holding that, and it'll fall apart out of pure terror. Definitely good 'nuff for opening letters and cutting string.

15 steps!!!

They all thought I was nuts when I did 12

It's faster on the WEPS though. Just twist the paddles.

Having two sides to the paddles definitely increases efficiency. Those two knives were really fun to sharpen. I realize now after doing the progressions on Leo Mitchell's knives that I should have backed off the pressure on the strops. It's a lesson I had learned on the competition knife last fall and then forgotten....

That is an insane edge. Love it!!!! After reading the thread it looks like strops can hang with the super fine stones.

jvmrjones04 wrote:


Here is a nice comparison page showing (some and more to be added soon) photos of the results of the various different stones and strops: Stones and Strops Comparison It really helps to illustrate the different kinds of finish and edge that leather and stones produce.

Here are some more polished edges:





This is an ESEE belonging to Leo Mitchell. I used the following progression on it to achieve that finish:

Chosera: 400#, 600#, 800#, 1000#, 2000#, 3000#, 5000# and 10000#
Strops: 1µm mono-diamond, .5µm mono-diamond, .25µm mono-diamond and .125µm CBN

I documented the entire process of sharpening this knife with the Chosera stones on my blog here: Sharpening Blog

It's a good tutorial on using the waterstones and on creating a convex edge with the sharpener.

Here are a couple of knives that I just finished for Arthur Lynn in preparation for the PKA Show this weekend in Denver:



I love his Damascus patterns.