Can anybody vouch for the Sharpmaker?

D

danseifert

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Mar 22, 2011
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I sent a Benchmade in for sharpening and it came back 2 weeks later with an edge that was mediocre at best. It only cost me 5 bucks and I don't care enough to send it back again or complain since they have done well with a couple knives before, this one just missed. It made me realize that I need to be able to sharpen my own knives.

I'm not willing to drop the cash for a system like edge pro or wicked edge and I don't want to take the time to learn how to use a flat stone or rod. I just want something consistent and simple.

The Sharpmaker is attractive to me because its cheap (less than $50) and its portable. I like the idea of being able to throw it into a pack and touch up my blades while camping. Can anybody vouch for the Sharpmaker? Are the two rod sets that come with it adequate or will I need to throw down for more accessories?

Every knife I own is a knife that I use regularly, so the mirror finish air bleeding thin type edges aren't super important to me. I just want to be able get my knives extremely sharp on my own and without too much trouble.

Thoughts?

Thanks
 
i have used the sharp maker with good success on pocket knives, but had to purchase the diamond rods for bigger jobs. if a knife is really dull you will need these rods. that said, i still can't get my busses sharp with it. overall it works with some knives, especially those with thinner blades.
 
Yes the sharpmaker is a good system that will produce good edges fairly quickly if you don't let them get to dull. The UF rods are for that air bleeding edge that you say is not that important to you. I don't really see a need to pack it with you on trips, a pocket stone/diamond, would be smaller.
 
Sharpmaker is great. The only limitation is when a knife's edge bevel is more than 20 degrees on either side. If that's the case, then the rods don't hit whichever edge is > 20 degrees. I have found about 1/2 of the Benchmades I've bought come with at least one edge > 20 degrees. In contrast, with only 1 exception I can think of, every Spyderco I've had works with the Sharpmaker right out of the box. There's a well-known technique--the "Sharpie test"--which shows whether the rod is getting to the edge. Use a Sharpie to mark the edge on both sides. Do 10 or so strokes on the Sharpmaker. Eaxamine with a magnifier--you will be able to see whether the rod has hit the edge or above it.

That's not an insurmountable problem. With some elbow grease, you can reset the edges using a course bench stone. Carborundum stones are cheap--diamond stones are more expensive but work faster.

I wouldn't bother taking a Sharpmaker kit camping because it's a bit bulky--YMMV. I generally take a DMT credit card size diamond hone for that.

Learning to sharpen your own knives is a good thing. Also, as suggested, it's best to touch your knives up often rather than let them get dull. The Sharpmaker excells at that. Depending on how much cutting you do and what you cut, a few strokes on the white rods on a regular basis will keep your edge sharp.
 
As the others have suggested, the Sharpmaker is great for maintaining an already extant edge at either 30 or 40 degrees inclusive. If the edge is more obtuse, you are in for quite a sharpening session when you get around to re-beveling. The diamond rods will certainly help out there.
 
Sounds like I should probably learn how to sharpen my knives on a flat stone. I've got some beaters that I can use at first. Any recommendations on what type of stone I should get and where to pick one up? It also sounds like the sharpmaker is not as portable as it looks. Either way, I think I'll go ahead and pick up a Sharpmaker and try it out as well.
 
I like to use DMT diamond stones. A little water and light pressure, and a moderate amount of steadiness of the hands will bring you great results. You can find them for around $40 or so. I'd recommend getting a coarse/fine DMT stones, as these grits will transition well to the coarse sharpmaker rods.
 
The sharpmaker is plenty portable. You probably can't stick it in your back pocket, but the closed-up system is pretty compact. The sharpmaker is much quicker to learn than stones, and could be used as sort of an intermediary to learning stones(flip it over and lay the stones in the bottom of the case.)

Also, like cynic said, get the diamond rods if you're going to do any reprofiling.
 
It sounds like the Sharpmaker is what you're looking for. I'm happy with mine. I think it's a good system to learn on. As others have said, if you don't let your knife get too dull, the medium and fine stones that come standard are good. I think you should stick with those, and get the optional rods later if you feel like you need them.
 
The Sharpmaker is an excellent tool. It enables you to sharpen quickly so it is not a big deal to sharpen often. Hair shaving sharp is pretty easy to achieve.
 
If you want something portable, that is made like a Sharpmaker, A.G.Russell sells one that comes with ceramic rods, and diamond rods, in a small belt pouch. The rods are shorter than the Sharpmaker, but still easy to use, for touching up in the field. The belt pouch is about 5-6 inches long.

EarlFH
 
It's been said the sharpmaker would be better suited if named the sharpkeeper. It's easy to use to keep your blades sharp but doing any reprofiling or serious grinding will require some more accessories. I will add my name to the list of people that vouch for the sharpmaker, I use it and it makes keeping your blades sharp very easy.
 
I like my Sharpmaker... but I LOVE my new DMT Diamond Aligner system.

I got this one http://www.cutleryshoppe.com/dmtalignerdiamondsharpener-deluxe4honekit.aspx which is almost the same price as a sharpmaker, but is smaller and more portable. It also allows you to choose many different angles. It has stones that are great for re-profiling and stones that are great for polishing.

It's a great little product and I went from not knowing how to sharpen a knife to hair whittling in about an hour of practice with it.
 
I like my Sharpmaker and use it very often to keep my working and kitchen knives nice and sharp. My wife uses two kitchen knives in particular and if I don't stay after them, they'll get dull enough that I need to use something more abrasive than the coarse rods. If that happens, I either put a piece of sandpaper around a rod or I just lean one of my DMT benchstones against the flat side of the rod. Either way gets them back sharp in quick order. I've had my Sharpmaker for years and it's as good as the day I bought it.
 
Get one; it's the easiest and most confident way to get into self honing your knives! Follow Sal's excellent video but at some time or point when you learn more you may vary some with it. The 204SM is just great to have around regardless!
 
I use the Sharpmaker on all my kitchen knives (even the serrated ones), scissors, a couple chisels, and some wire cutters were even touched up on it. I have an Edge Pro, but I will never sell or otherwise get rid of my Sharpmaker. The video included helped me to understand a lot about sharpening. Sal provides some really good advice for beginners.
 
I thought everyone had on by now.

The Sharpmaker is sort of like a Reeves integrated lock...everyone should try one...many who do, appreciate its simplicity and effectiveness.

As others have said, it works great on any blade that has an edge bevel of 40 degrees or lower (preferably lower). It is painfully slow for re-grinding or even re-beveling modern upper-end steels. For maintaining a good (or even high-end) EDC, few tools are as simple and quick as the Sharpmaker.

That is not to say that many people do not at some point graduate to free-hand, or some other more expensive guided system, because many of us do...but perhaps most still keep our Sharpmakers for the quick utility they provide.
 
The Sharpmaker is great for an effective touch-up. Only recently I put a shaving edge back on the Tenacious, the Police 3 and the Manix 1. In 30 seconds these knives had small nicks and burs removed and a factory-like edge restored.
For more serious work I use the Edge Pro, although I have reprofiled a knife on the Sharpmaker using the diamond rods. It's a lot easier to do on the EP though.
 
woodysone said:
Yes the sharpmaker is a good system that will produce good edges fairly quickly if you don't let them get to dull. The UF rods are for that air bleeding edge that you say is not that important to you. I don't really see a need to pack it with you on trips, a pocket stone/diamond, would be smaller.
Click to expand...

This is the key. I prefer freehanding but darn it, sometimes there just isn't time. I got a Sharpmaker and it is a nice tool. I think it would be better named the SharpKeeper. I also find it very usefull to put a nice maintainable microbevel on a reprofile job or on scandi grind knives. I wasn't real happy with the factory edge on a series of otherwise great folders I bought this winter. All were very very sharp but a little uneven. I reprofiled them on diamond plates freehand and then struck a microbevel on there with the Sharpmaker followed by stropping. Great , easily maintainable, edge.

Likewise on some of my Scandi knives I set the stones in the 30 degree "back bevel" slots and strike a micro bevel on there and strop. Great way to keep a Scandi sharp between taking it back to the stones and re-doing that wide bevel down to zero.

If you do not try to do to much (like reprofiling or repairing), the Sharpmaker is an asset in my sharpening toolkit.
 
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