Any Sharpeners in Chicago?

M

MikeS1605

Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
59
So i have a benchmade 9100 that i have been carrying for 6 years now. It has not been sharpened since new and to say the least, it needs it. Are they any reputable places anyone knows of to do so? I went into one "knife" shop down town and the guy was taking knives to a grinding wheel and although I dont know much about sharpening, that didnt seem right. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
Send it to someone on the forums. I'm sure richardj or somebody like that could get you fixed up.
Look into buying a sharpener also, it's an irreplaceable skill.
 
Go and get yourself a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Anyone, after a minimum of practice, can use it and get excellent results. They're not that expensive, will save you money in the long run and lets you get a bit more pleasure out of using and maintaining your knives.

Failing that, RichardJ will certainly get it shaving sharp for you.
 
Dude, where in the area do you live? I'm about 40 minutes drive from
Chicago in NW Indiana. I can show you how to sharpen your own knife so you can always do it yourself from now on.
 
eKretz said:
Dude, where in the area do you live? I'm about 40 minutes drive from
Chicago in NW Indiana. I can show you how to sharpen your own knife so you can always do it yourself from now on.
Click to expand...

There's a great offer. Anybody serious enough about visiting a site like this one, should be able to sharpen a blade. Take him up on it.
 
I'm in Elgin, and the happy owner of both the Sharpmaker and more recently, an Edge Pro "Apex". My own opinion and experience with sharpening is that I like the Sharpmaker angles and it's fantastic for putting on the finished edge, so I re-profiled ALL my knives, from Spydercos to Ka Bar fighting knives, to the "Spyderco" angles with the Edge Pro "Apex", which will safely, neatly, and quickly re-profile an edge, then I put the finished secondary bevel on with the Sharpmaker. The problem is, the factory grind is too blunt usually, and this is where, as I've recently found, the Edge Pro excells for re-profiling. If you try to reprofile an edge on a Sharpmaker,---especially on a larger knife that needs a lot of metal removed, like my Ka Bar did to get down to the 30 degree backbevel angle---you'll spend a LOOOOOONNNG time on the SM. The Edge Pro and a coarse stone take it down pretty quickly, though. Then I work up through the grits to 1000 on the EP for the backbevel, get rid of the wire edge, and go to the 40 degree (included angle) rods on the Sharpmaker for 20 light strokes per side. This got all my knives "scary-sharp".

I can pop hairs above the skin with all my knives now----I'm pretty happy. Send me a PM if you have questions or live nearby. I'll try to help if I can.
 
Last edited:
I generally would go for someone on the boards instead of a local who will just put it on a bench grinder. I personally have had good luck with Knifenut1013 (he got a CPM-D2 blade of mine hair-whittling sharp and with a mirrored edge) but I would imagine that anyone here is decent, certainly better than the bench grinder (although I would ask what their technique is before you send off your knife.)
 
I would suggest sending it off the Richard J, then buying a sharpmaker to keep it sharp, for a blade that has not been sharpened for 6years, the sharpmaker would not work until a proper bevel is put back on it.
 
Depending on how "off" the primary bevel is, a Sharpmaker will work and put the correct bevels on as well. That's exactly what it's designed for-----it's just a matter of time! If you're willing to put in very long hours on the coarse rods, you can do it, it just won't remove the amount of metal you need to remove when reprofiling as quickly as the Edge Pro Apex will-----this is why I now own both systems. EP excels at quick, accurate, safe (no burning) removal of metal---even the amounts needed when reprofiling a thicker blade. Once that's done, it's a simple matter to do 20 strokes per side on the SM to bring it up to hair-popping sharpness. Of course, I can get as finicky as I want when I'm not doing it for a living. I haven't sought work from others yet, and don't really plan to. I can't see getting paid for the time I like to spend doing a job I'm happy with. The Edge Pro Apex leaves a beautiful, even bevel on your blades.
 
Last edited:
You can always get the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker. If you don't want to spend that much money, get some course grit emery paper and wrap it around the normal rods.
 
Yea, I thought of that, but I figured I'd put the $$$ towards the Edge Pro-----there's a lot more versatility and accuracy as well with this system. It's the best $$$ I've spent on sharpening equipment. The finished edge looks and performs better than I ever hoped. But, about your suggestion gajinoz, I built a jig that basically transforms my Spyderco bench stones into a giant "Sharpmaker" that I use for the finished edge as well sometimes. IMHO, it actually works BETTER because much more of the blade is in contact with the stone being honed at once eliminating the chance of "wavieness" (though very small!) that may be introduced by using the much narrower Sharpmaker rods. Yes, I have to "flip" the stone from one side to the other in my angle jig, but it goes fast and works so well, it's worth it!
 
Last edited:
A little off topic, but I am going to be going into Chicago in a couple weeks and want to bring my emerson with 3.5" blade. Ive been reading about some restrictions about blade size and stuff like that, is that true?
 
Yeah it is, and Chicago cops don't mess around OR give breaks. I'd be checking the knife laws on Google for Chicago if I were you. I think the max legal length might be 3", but don't rely on that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top