All you Spyderco Sharpmakers users, what angle?

[Rifter]

what do you use on your knives? 30 or 40? and why?

 

[Buzzbait]

It depends on the knife, but I mostly use the 30 degree angle.

 

[Mike990]

40 degrees. It gives a great durable edge that is hair poppin sharp. I have used the 30 degree on occasion to back bevel.

 

[ThinkOfTheChildren]

I usually try to get away with using the 30 degree setting. If the knife can't take it, I go to 40 degrees.

 

[knifenerd]

40 degree angle generally. But it depends on the knife. Thinner "kitchen" type knives tend to like the 30 degree angle.

BTW, the new diamond hones for the 204 will be available in a month or two. It will make re-profiling much easier.

 

[amywilkerson]

Originally posted by Mike990
40 degrees. It gives a great durable edge that is hair poppin sharp. I have used the 30 degree on occasion to back bevel.

Can you please define "back bevel"?

 

[Coonskinner]

There are many here who could define this better than I can, but here goes...

If you keep sharpening your knife at 40 degrees and using it, sharpening and using it, eventually you will wear away enough material that performance will suffer, and resharpening will become difficult. Occasionally removing some material higher up on the edge bevel will compensate. I think some use the term, "grinding in relief" or something like that.

Now, having made a feeble attempt to answer that question, I sharpen at 30 degrees most of the time.

Amy, if you want to look in the FAQ section under sharpening, you will find that Joe Talmadge has submitted an incredible amount of good information.

 

[RH]

Spyderco video and instruction book recommends the 40 for most all normal sharpening tasks, so that's what I use.

 

[ErikD]

I tend to use the 30 degree angle more. I feel it gives a sharper edge, and as long as the knife is of a good quality well heat treated steel it should hold the edge just fine for most tasks.

It also depends a lot on what angle was used originally to make the knife. I have found that many of the folders I buy come sharpened from the factory at around 30 degrees, so I just maintain this edge. If I were to sharpen a hard use fixed blade I would probably choose the 40 degree angle to make the edge a little more durable while chopping.


Erik

 

[mr44]

40 degrees since my Sharpmaker is the 203 that I got just before I found out that the 204 had made it obsolete. I would really love to have that 30 degree option for certain folders but now I have to buy a whole new system to the tune of CDN $100 just so that I can get a differently molded piece of plastic.

PM