Why do CATRA recommend the use of Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) for powered sharpening wheel abrasive when many other people use Diamond?
Diamond is one of the hardness substances known to man and CBN comes very close behind it, so the obvious choice would be diamond. But most knives are made from steel (either stainless or alloy steels), which contain a certain amount of carbon. Now as our school science told us diamond is in fact a carbon crystal, which when grinding along the surface of steel reacts with the carbon atoms within it and causing premature wear. Therefore in a practical sense CBN lasts much longer than diamond. Manufacturers of sharpening systems that use diamond either don’t know this fact, or would rather you bought more sharpening wheels because they wear out faster, or they believe the marketing sexiness of diamond sells more products. However as CATRA is the worlds leading sharp edge technology centre we believe in using the best and most efficient material for the process.
