Advice for sharpening distal taper

[Mmm390]

Ok...

So I'm practicing my sharpening skills this time with a 6 or 7 inch curved blade with a distal taper. I'm practicing on a spyderco sharpmaker which requires you to hold the knife as straight as possible. But I'm finding myself having to adjust my angle to about 15 degrees outward not only for the distal taper but for the curve in the blade as well I'm guessing. And my results are not consistent.

I'm I overthinking things? Holding it straight the whole time doesn't seem to get me consistent results either.

Any tips?

 

[Ourorboros]

Well haven't used a Sharpmaker, but I think you're overthinking it.
The edge should be reasonably centered regardless of the distal taper. So while the blade thins going from heel to tip and from spine to edge, the edge should be consistently aligned with the center line of the spine.
You might want to check out how even your own movements are.

 

[Pendexter]

I'm pretty sure about what I'm writing, but not 100%, so take it with a grain of salt:

When I use the flats on the Sharpmaker, I do the same thing and turn the blade (yaw) to keep the edge on the center of the stone as I get towards the tip of the blade. You do need to keep the blade perpendicular to the ground/table/Sharpmaker base (roll) the entire time. Holding the knife perpendicular is what maintains the angle.

When sharpening on the edges of the triangles, it doesn't seem to matter as much.

The best way to see what's happening is to completely clean the fine (white) stones and then sharpen on the flats. What you're aiming for is to get the black marks (abraded steel) to be in the center of the stone only. Unless you angle your knife (yaw) as you gets towards the tip of the blade, the edge of the blade gets sharpened by the corners instead of the flats of the stone. It's very obvious on the white stone. It took me a while to get used to the motion where the knife stays on the flats the entire stroke.

It should make intuitive sense that you need to angle the blade, since if you were on a regular stone, you'd change your angle when you get towards the edge.

 

[bucketstove]

Ok...

So I'm practicing my sharpening skills this time with a 6 or 7 inch curved blade with a distal taper. I'm practicing on a spyderco sharpmaker which requires you to hold the knife as straight as possible. But I'm finding myself having to adjust my angle to about 15 degrees outward not only for the distal taper but for the curve in the blade as well I'm guessing. And my results are not consistent.

I'm I overthinking things? Holding it straight the whole time doesn't seem to get me consistent results either.

Any tips?

Hi,
What blade? Whats the problem?
What is your goal, even bevel width (cosmetic), or same edge angle (pictures below)?
Straight? Yeah, for same angle, you have to hold blade vertically as sharpmaker manual says,
and you also have to pivot for the curved bits ,
to keep the edge outline perpendicular to stone outline,
see all the pictures below, maintain the green square

A karambit version , slight modification compared to spydercosharpmaker.pdf



https://imgur.com/a/kIiMVWF


sharpening-maintainangle-pivotblade-tiltedstone.gif
on an inclined/tilted sharpening stone, pivot when you reach belly/tip so it sharpens at same angle as the rest of the blade
Sharpmaker view its vertical

sharpening-maintainangle-pivotblade-tiltedstone-16-sharpmaker.png

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The need to turn or rotate the blade may just be due to the edge angle getting wider toward the tip, which is very common, especially on factory edges of upswept blades. Mark the bevels with a Sharpie, then see where the ink comes off after a few sharpening passes. If you see that the ink is only being removed at or above the shoulders of the bevels in the belly & tip portion of the blade, while maintaining the hold perpendicular, that would confirm the edge angle is getting wider there. If so, you would need to either rotate the spine of the blade away from the rod to keep the bevel flush, OR regrind the edge angle near the tip to keep it consistent. Bevels will get wider near the tip, in doing so.

In ideal circumstances, keeping the hold perfectly vertical would keep the bevels flush along the full length of the cutting edge. But factory edges are seldom ideal in that respect, and sometimes you'll need to adapt and do what needs to be done to maintain flush contact.