Am I a Sharpmaker retard?

T

TheCollector

Joined
Mar 21, 2008
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I got my Sharpmaker about a week ago, and dug out a junky $10 knife to practise on. I somehow cannot seem to get the edge any sharper than decent although I hear of people getting their knives crazy sharp on Sharpmakers. I was wondering if it was because of the knife's stainless steel blade, that cannot obtain such an edge, or if it just really hard to sharpen stainless steel.
 
First question, did you watch the instruction DVD closely before starting?

Depending on the existing edge bevel on your "junky $10 knife", you may not even be approaching the actual edge yet. Even the corners of the brown rods do not remove metal quickly, and if the cheap knife has a wide edge angle, you may have to remove a LOT of steel to get down to the edge. Try coloring the edge bevel with a Sharpie marker, then take a couple of passes on the stones to see what part of the bevel is being abraded. I'm betting that it is the top of the bevel at the shoulder where the edge bevel meets the main grind. If that is the case, simple perseverence will get the job done. Don't bother counting strokes, it will only depress you.

Next thing is, keep your pressure light. Pushing down too hard will just flex everything, leading to inconsistent angle from stroke to stroke.
 
TheCollector said:
I got my Sharpmaker about a week ago, and dug out a junky $10 knife to practise on. I somehow cannot seem to get the edge any sharper than decent although I hear of people getting their knives crazy sharp on Sharpmakers. I was wondering if it was because of the knife's stainless steel blade, that cannot obtain such an edge, or if it just really hard to sharpen stainless steel.
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It would say your problem is either technique or not having sufficient patience. :p

Do you know where the stones are making contact on the blade? I'm guessing the edge is set at an angle greater than the 30 or 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker. Depending on how much metal you need to remove to get to the edge...you'll be at it a while. Get a black sharpie and color the edge of the knife and then work it on the sharpmaker. Look where the marker is getting worn off and you'll see where are you hitting. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys.

yablanowitz said:
First question, did you watch the instruction DVD closely before starting?

Depending on the existing edge bevel on your "junky $10 knife", you may not even be approaching the actual edge yet. Even the corners of the brown rods do not remove metal quickly, and if the cheap knife has a wide edge angle, you may have to remove a LOT of steel to get down to the edge. Try coloring the edge bevel with a Sharpie marker, then take a couple of passes on the stones to see what part of the bevel is being abraded. I'm betting that it is the top of the bevel at the shoulder where the edge bevel meets the main grind. If that is the case, simple perseverence will get the job done. Don't bother counting strokes, it will only depress you.

Next thing is, keep your pressure light. Pushing down too hard will just flex everything, leading to inconsistent angle from stroke to stroke.
Click to expand...

morrowj_98 said:
It would say your problem is either technique or not having sufficient patience. :p

Do you know where the stones are making contact on the blade? I'm guessing the edge is set at an angle greater than the 30 or 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker. Depending on how much metal you need to remove to get to the edge...you'll be at it a while. Get a black sharpie and color the edge of the knife and then work it on the sharpmaker. Look where the marker is getting worn off and you'll see where are you hitting. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes I watched the instructional video closely twice, and I think that my technique is alright, but what you guys said about the edge bevel being larger than what is set on the Sharpmaker is probably right. I've read in other threads about the brown rods not taking off that much, and that is probably also part of the problem. As in my other thread, is there any way of telling what the pre-existing knife edge angle is? Also, to yablanowitz, if I don't count strokes, when will I know both sides are even, or does that not matter?
 
If you use the sharpie you can see how far off you are on the 20° setting and on the 15° setting. You will at least have knowledge that the original angle was greater than 20° per side.

I alternate sides with each stroke.
 
Alternate sides, so you have the same number on each. Then it doesn't matter what that number is. If it happens to be thirty-five thousand six hundred seventeen strokes per side, well to me that is pretty depressing. That's why I use diamond hones to reset the edge angle when necessary. ;)
 
yablanowitz said:
Alternate sides, so you have the same number on each. Then it doesn't matter what that number is. If it happens to be thirty-five thousand six hundred seventeen strokes per side, well to me that is pretty depressing. That's why I use diamond hones to reset the edge angle when necessary. ;)
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That's why I now use diamond hones to sharpen my knives, especially these days
with almost all my using blades made of D2, S30V and other steels of similar hardness.
 
I, in fact, AM a Sharpmaker retard. After DECADES of not being able to sharpen a knife with any system, including the Sharpmaker, I bought one of these
http://www.warthogsharp.com/
at the Eugene show last weekend. And since I only had the 325-grit diamond rods I got a servicable but not shaving sharp edge. BUT then I did a quick follow-up with the edges of the fine rods on the Sharpmaker, and now my knives are all shaving sharp, with almost no effort!! I haven't even used the flats, or the ultrafine stones yet. But I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally have reliably sharp knives . . . . .
 
Don't worry, all you need is practice.
In my case, I found I had the tendency to sharpen softer steels at a too narrow angle (30º) and the edge used to roll easily.
 
Wow fishface, how much did that system cost you?

YES!! After using the marker trick with my broken-tipped leek, I got it paper-splitting sharp, and managed to shave my fine asian arm hairs off.

Now I'm going to use the marker trick on my junky knife and see how it goes. Maybe I should get those diamond rods...

Thanks for all the help and advice guys
 
TheCollector said:
Wow fishface, how much did that system cost you?

YES!! After using the marker trick with my broken-tipped leek, I got it paper-splitting sharp, and managed to shave my fine asian arm hairs off.

Now I'm going to use the marker trick on my junky knife and see how it goes. Maybe I should get those diamond rods...

Thanks for all the help and advice guys
Click to expand...

You can get the diamond rods if you want but a much cheaper alternative is to go get some course grit wet and dry paper and simply wrap a bit around your existing rods. Grind away with your knife until you get the angle you want then tidy it all up with the rods as normal.
 
1) To get to the edge, you should not be alternating sides on the sharpmaker. Simply work one side until you raise a burr, then do the same on the other side. After that you can alternate and move to finer rods.

2) Using the term "retard" like that is not very sensitive to people who are developmentally disabled.
 
Another thing you can do is to take a black marker and mark the edge of the knife. Then after a few strokes on the Sharpmaker or stone look to see how much of the black is left. If you are doing it properly the only black removed should be right down on the very edge and not on the side of the blade. Hope that makes sense to you. If your knife is very dull to start with the Sharpmaker is not the best of tools to use. You can't beat a good stone. If it is very dull you probably should be using a coarse stone, then work up to medium and then fine. Also with the Sharpmaker it may help if you stand up so you can look down on the blade to see if you are really holding correctly.
 
I guess he's developmentally challenged on the sharpmaker.
 
"Retarded" literally means "slowed", as in "the rocket's descent was retarded by its parachute." While I agree that there are all sorts of derogatory usages of things that shouldn't be ("retarded", "gay"), I think everyone would be better off if the people using it tried to stop, and the people who were bugging them got a %^& bee out of their bonnet!

Mods, feel free to delete this, I just felt it needed to be said, since the thread had already veered off topic.
 
Lucky Bob said:
"Retarded" literally means "slowed", as in "the rocket's descent was retarded by its parachute." While I agree that there are all sorts of derogatory usages of things that shouldn't be ("retarded", "gay"), I think everyone would be better off if the people using it tried to stop, and the people who were bugging them got a %^& bee out of their bonnet!

Mods, feel free to delete this, I just felt it needed to be said, since the thread had already veered off topic.
Click to expand...

they won't delete it......why should they? good post.
 
Sharpmaker is like a woman. You need to work slow, use a soft touch and stay straight.
 
BoxANT said:
Sharpmaker is like a woman. You need to work slow, use a soft touch and stay straight.
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lol good one BoxANT :D
to TheCollector: don't feel bad, i floundered for quite some time on the Sharpmaker...an aquired skill that still takes practice/steadyhands/good lighting ;)
 
I have had my sharp maker for about six months. At first I too floundered a bit, but now I am quite handy with it. I find that it works best on knives that are not that dull. I touch up my knives with the white stones about once a week, and save the darker stones for when I have given my knife a real workout. I have noticed that it works better when I stand at my desk or kitchen counter, you have to experiment with the height that works best for you. The only problem I still have is getting the very tip of the knife sharp. This may be due to the fact that I kind of blunted it when I was just starting with the sharpmaker. Anyhow once you get the hang of it you will love it.
 
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