Thread: Best way to sharpen Mercator Stainless?

Originally Posted by Nick-D

The knockoff stainless blade will be softer, so you will need to do more work on the Mercator to get the same result.

Being XC75(1075) the carbon blade will have a much higher ultimate sharpness potential than the cheap stainless will due to the large chromium carbides in the stainless. You will have to be a pretty good sharpener to get to a point you notice that.

Did you form a burr on the Mercator?

@Nick-D okay that explains it. In my nativity, I thought it was the other way around (the carbon steel would work up an edge faster as it’s softer or something)
This makes sense because I probably spent a bit more time on the stainless blade, mainly because there were still two angles visible on the edge. I’ll go back and spend more time on the Carbon blade. Thanks for the advise