Are diamond rods necessary with the Sharpmaker

R

Ratcoon

Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
43
Hi,

I am pretty new to knife sharpening and I find that sharpening with stones does not seem to have a long lasting sharp edge on my knives. Usually it dulls after a couple of days. I am thinking of buying a Sharpmaker but is it necessary to buy the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker? They cost $57.00 for a pair, more than the Sharpmaker itself. For this price we can buy the Edgepro, how does it compare with the Edgepro?

Thank you guys in advance.
Ratcoon
 
I restored a bunch of kitchen knives using the sharpmaker. They had some pretty nasty edges before I started. I had to use 100 grit sandpaper wrapped around the sharpmaker's ceramic rods. It did the trick. I'm sure the diamond rods would have been a bit quicker to remove as much metal as I needed - but the sandpaper worked just fine.

The diamond rods are only used for reprofiling or repairing edges. All of your sharpening will be done with the ceramic rods.
 
Agreed, you do not need the diamond rods, but they sure would make reprofiling a hell of a lot faster.
 
I got the diamond rods for my Sharpmaker. I love it the whole setup, but in retrospect I should have just gone with the Edgepro.

The diamond rods are pretty much for reprofiling, and reprofiling only. If you want a toothy edge on your knife, these diamond rods won't do that for you. They are extremely coarse, and leave a rather battered, bunged up edge that must be finished with the medium or fine rods.

You don't need them for reprofiling either, but they go a lot faster.
 
Personally I feel the diamond rods are overpriced for what you get. I feel you're better served by a larger diamond bench stone, which you can use for reprofiling duty, then turn to the ceramic Sharpmaker stones to apply the final edge. The bench stone is much more versatile than the rods and about the same price or cheaper to boot.
 
Since Foxhole atheist said most of my answre i will say this: Buy the sharpmaker. You wont look back.
 
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