Can a knife be just too dull to sharpen on a Sharp Maker?

L

LastDefender

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May 30, 2007
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I have a very dull large French Chef kitchen knife that I just can't seem to get sharp using the Sharp Maker. Is there a point of no return with a knife?

Thanks in advance,
Gary
 
I think the sharpmaker is meant for keeping a knife sharp, not reprofiling a totally dull edge to becoming sharp.

However, I think with enough effort, anything is possible, it really just depends on how many times you wanna try it...

Good Luck
Phil
 
Yeah, phil000 is right.

The Sharpmaker is for touching up edges, not for reprofiling very dull knives. Even with the extra course stones, it still might take you hours to get your kitchen knife sharp.

If your patient enough though, and willing to work on the SM for a few hours, it can be done.
 
If the knife has an edge angle below the 20 degree mark of the Sharpmaker it shouldn't take too long. I had some fillet knives that were dead dull and they sharpened up in about 5 minutes each.
 
If you have the diamond stones you should be able to reprofile the edge, but it still takes some significant time and effort.

With just the course/brown stones it will take you forever.
 
buy a cheap carborundum stone (coarse and fine grit), reprofile the edges, then use the sharpmaker to put the final edge. strop a little and you're good to go. The sharpmaker, tho brilliant just cannnot rebevel a knife. If you look at the scratch patterns of a sharpmaker, you'll understand why rebevelling is near impossible, unless you have plenty of time (think hundreds of hours).
 
200 grit diamond hone will reprofile with a little application of pressure and time. Then hit it with 400 and 600 grit to polish, and then finish with a nice strop on some cardboard with valve grinding high polish grease.

I sharpened one of my mother's Santoku knifes which was very dull. I handed it to her and told it was extremely sharp...much sharper than it had ever been and I also told her you could shave hair with it now. She didn't believe me and rubbed the blade on her arm at a slightly less than 90 deg. angle, and it popped off some fine hairs like it was cutting silk. She believed me from then on. :)
 
For exceptionally dull and beat up knives I use 2 methods to do my most demanding re-profiling work. First of all I have 2 coarse diamond stones. One is a 200 grit 3M stone that is very aggressive and the other is a 220 grit Norton stone that is great for moderate reprofiling.

Now if I have a knife that has literally went through hell I have a TORMEK sytem which used a water cooled, low rpm grinding stone. You can see those at >> www.sharptoolsusa.com <<

I would have to concur that the Sharpmaker is much more of a "maintaining tool" than it is an aggressive sharpener. I've often wondered why Spyderco didn't come out with a very aggressive sharpening stone for the 204 kit :confused: .
 
Ludwig said:
The Sharpmaker is for touching up edges, not for reprofiling very dull knives. Even with the extra course stones, it still might take you hours to get your kitchen knife sharp.
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I disagree with this statement. You just need to get right stones. I reprofiled several of my knives without any problem and it didn't take much time. I use 150 and 320 grit ruby Congress stones.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=444326
 
smegs said:
How are those ruby stones holding up? Do they dish or change shape as they wear?
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Ruby stones supposed to use wet, but I use them dry and I use very coarse flat stone with water to clean them when they get loaded and keep them flat.
Ruby stones are very inexpensive and will wear, but probably will last me for a few years. All depends on use.
 
bh49 said:
Ruby stones supposed to use wet, but I use them dry and I use very coarse flat stone with water to clean them when they get loaded and keep them flat.
Ruby stones are very inexpensive and will wear, but probably will last me for a few years. All depends on use.
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Thanks. They look like a good alternative to the diamond sleeves.
 
Try extra-fine sandpaper before going on the sharpmaker.. real cheap and with enough skills, you can reprofile a thick blade to be sharper..
have you watched the dvd? lol somewhat educational
 
) I would have to concur that the Sharpmaker is much more of a "maintaining tool" than it is an aggressive sharpener. I've often wondered why Spyderco didn't come out with a very aggressive sharpening stone for the 204 kit :confused: .[/QUOTE said:
I concur also. Maybe Spyderco could come out with the "Sharpmaker-205 model." With A 10 degree slot and a set of really course stones to handle the re-profiling issue.:)
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I send the wet dry method, all my kitchen knives get a convex edge that I just cut the burr off with the sharpmaker

this is how I test them
 
How often do you have to clean the stones? I have tried to sharpen my Endura a couple times and I clean the stones every time and still feel they do not perform well. I am newer at sharpening but I am also getting very frustrated that my edges do not stay sharp long at all.
 
fraggle09027 said:
How often do you have to clean the stones? I have tried to sharpen my Endura a couple times and I clean the stones every time and still feel they do not perform well. I am newer at sharpening but I am also getting very frustrated that my edges do not stay sharp long at all.
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I clean my stones after each use, but sometimes, if you decided to reprofile, using medium stones, you need to clean them more than once, before you done.
What angle setting are you using 30 or 40 degrees?
There are few tip for sharpmaker use, one of them is magic marker trick. Put black (or red) on the edge and make a few strokes on each side so you will see where you are removing material and if you holding knife vertically or you tilt it.
If you removing steel on the edge, than great, if on the shoulder than you are reprofiling and this should take time and many cleanings of medium stones.
Hold your knife vertically, use only light strokes, remove burr, it is very important. Ask questions, if you need, search this forum, read toolshed section of this forum. Also learn about sharpening in general, it will help to understand idea.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....2003&as_maxd=10&as_maxm=2&as_maxy=2003&rnum=1
 
fraggle09027 said:
How often do you have to clean the stones? I have tried to sharpen my Endura a couple times and I clean the stones every time and still feel they do not perform well.
How old is your Sharpmaker? New coarse (if you can call them that) stones will remove steel, but they'll do it very slowly. They need to be broken in a bit before starting to cut the steel very well. Rub the edges of the rods together a bit and you should see an increase in their cutting.

fraggle09027 said:
I am newer at sharpening but I am also getting very frustrated that my edges do not stay sharp long at all.
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As mentioned the magic marker trick is a good way to see where you're taking off steel. Also make sure that you're holding the knife very still as you pull it across the rod.

The most important thing about getting good results with the Sharpmaker is to make sure you're comfortable using it. Find a place where you can go through the entire range of motion fluidly and make sure the table you're using isn't too high or too low. You need to make sure that the angle of your wrist isn't changing along the entirety of the stroke, if it does the angle at which you're removing steel will change and you won't get an even edge.
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Thanks for the link and the good advise, To answer bh49's question, I am using the 40 deg placement. I'll have to sharpen it this week and try the sharpie trick.
 
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