Can i get a knife sharpener recomendation?

eyeeatingfish

eyeeatingfish

Joined
Dec 9, 2003
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Ive got one of the older spyderco sharpmakers, the one where there is only one angle, not two. It comes ith a grey and a white ceramic.... medium and fine i think.
Im thinking I could go out and get soemthing a little bit better. I also have a belt sander for extreme things like axes and what not. Got 300 grit for that.

I have knives of various steels, hardest being a bg42 recondo.
I have some experience so i dont need the idiot proof designs.
Want it to have at least 2 or 3 grits, and either capable of doing serrations (sharpmaker from spyderco) or one of those rounded tapering file sharpeners(DMT) I do like my spyderco but a little bit more abilty would be nice.
Gotta sharpen kitchen knives and various fixed and folding knives.
I dont mind spending around $100 on a omplete set of stuff.

Do i need daimond? If so should i just get an assortment of DMT stuff?
Are the newer sharpmakers able to do everythig/all steels? (the narrow stones can be somewhat limiting sometimes.)

Thanks for the recomendations!
 
I like a neat and tidy looking edge. I use an EdgePro Apex and a Sharpmaker. You could just get an XXcourse and a fine DMT diamond hone and make your edges thinner than your old Sharpmaker setting. You could even prop up the corner of your Sharpmaker, lay the diamond hone against one of the stones and sharpen like usual. You should be able to keep a nice neat angle. After both sides are done, sharpen a nice little micro-bevel on the Sharpmaker stones with base level.
 
That edge pro looks nice, and fast. A little pricey but maybe worth it. I dont sharpen knive that often that i need to regularly sharpen them though, so i can spend a little longer sharpening my knives.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
That edge pro looks nice, and fast. A little pricey but maybe worth it. I dont sharpen knive that often that i need to regularly sharpen them though, so i can spend a little longer sharpening my knives.
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I hear ya. I think an XXcoarse DMT would be the way to go. That and your Sharpmaker would do most everything you need. The EdgePro really shines on OPKs. Other Peoples Knives. After awhile you realize that most people couldn't care less about geometry and any sharp edge at any angle is more than they're used to. It's so simple to match any angle with the EdgePro and get a sharp crisp edge that looks nice and neat. The OPKs are done in no time, look terrific and are probably the sharpest knife they own now. Believe or not, I once had a guy who complained that his knife was too sharp and that I should have warned him when I gave it back to him.
 
maybe ill stick with my sharpmaker and augment it with a few items from DMT including the round file, double sided folding model and maybe a block style design or two.
Do the daiond ones come in fine or usually just rougher grits? The only problem with the sharpmaker is the small stones and limited angle. 20 degrees i think.

Also, i know that using natural sharpening stones, maybe ceramics too that they do lose shape over time. Do the daimond coated ones do this too? What do you call that stone thats used to refurbish the sharpening stones, making them flat again?
 
1. Some folks complain that the diamond stones wear out too fast.

2. Diamonds grit availability goes up as fine as the 3 micron DMT diasharp. Shapton waterstones go as fine as 0.5 microns.

3. ???
 
try these lansky five stone w/guides makes things literally razor sharp if you want it does 17,20,25,30 degree angles. i also heard diamond kits that are similar are good, i personally have tried diamond steels i think they take of too much steel and are easy to ruin a decent edge. but if it has guides i think it may be a good choice. use steels in between sharpenings to straighten the rolled edge, most often you can do this, but once you are able to see light reflecting off of the euclidian line it is time for a new edge. don't oversharpen if you wan't to keep the blade depth closer to original.
 
eyeeatingfish said:
With the new daimond stones, is there any reason to go with convention and ceramic stones?
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Depends. 1200 grit (aka Extra Fine, aka 9 microns) will do most everything you need (as will 600 grit aka Fine aka 25 microns) for knife stuff. DMT's 3 micron/8000 grit diamond is such a pain in the patootie compared to a Norton 3 micron/8000 grit waterstone when it comes to getting a very fine finish that the Norton is worth the using water and flattening the stone after each use (Norton's 1000/8000 combination waterstone is one of my favorite stones).

Spyderco's Medium and Fine benchstones won't strip out on the corners like diamond stones can, one or both of those might make the preferred follow-up after using a 600 grit diamond stone if you're looking for just a little more polish to the edge.

What sort of belt sander do you have? You might be able to trick out its belt selection with help from SuperGrit, customsandingbelts.com, or Lee Valley and skip getting a whole new sharpener.

If you're still needing a new sharpener ;) , get some coarse diamonds, some medium and fine waterstones, and an instructional dvd from Chiharu Sugai (Korin), Murray Carter, or Harrelson Stanley. The diamonds can regrind overly thick knife bevels and flatten the waterstones. The waterstones can make your edges happy. One of those 'complete kits' with the 800 grit stone, 6000 grit stone, and stone-holder is a great start.
 
I have a delta belt sander with grits 80, 100, 220 and 300.
I ahvent seen anything else but I havent given much thought to ordering on the internet. Ill check out the internet for other belts. DO they make belts at 2000 grit?

Thomb, what do you mean the spyderco stones wont strip out on the corners?

And will the waterstones do hard metals like bg-42?

Is there much of a difference between ceramic and the natural waterstone?
 
eyeeatingfish said:
DO they make belts at 2000 grit?
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3M and Norton do! 3M's Trizact A6 is a 2000 grit aluminum oxide belt. They're available from http://rshughes.com Can be pricey, though.

eyeeatingfish said:
what do you mean the spyderco stones wont strip out on the corners?
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I've removed a wee bit of diamond on the corners of my DMT 600, 1200, and 8000 grit diamonds (FYI: their 8000 diamond is very annoying to use compared to regular waterstones).

eyeeatingfish said:
And will the waterstones do hard metals like bg-42?
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Never sharpened BG-42 myself, but waterstones work great on SG-2 (the second Super Gold Powder Steel) at RC64, SGPS (the original Super Gold Powder Steel) at RC62, M2 at RC60 and RC65, S30V at RC's 58-61, INFI at RC60 (guess on the hardness on that one), VG-10 at RC's 58-60, and ZDP-189 at RC64. My guess is the S30V or the Super Goldies are close to BG-42 and waterstones just eat them up like candy.

eyeeatingfish said:
Is there much of a difference between ceramic and the natural waterstone?
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Yes. Ceramic and synthetic waterstones tend to have more aluminum oxide or silicon carbide as their abrasives and have more uniform particle sizes. They tend to work more easily with highly-alloyed steels such as S30V. Well, Nortons and Shaptons do. Kings leave a smoother edge than Nortons of similar grit, but they're slower.
 
Thanks for all the info thomb. I might go out and invest in some good ceramics then. Ill probably get a med grit daimond for more serious reshaping though.

And on the bg-42, I recently used 220 grit on a belt sander to reshape the straight edge. (it was a very obtuse angle) and today i used the med grit on my olderspyderco sharpmaker to try and sharpen it. Since i reground the dge myself it didnt match perfectly to the sharpmaker's angle, though I was able to compensate.
It took a bit longer than most of my other knives but I was able to get it sharper so i guess I answered my own question there.

I guess my only problem now is becomming good enough to tell what angle thee blade needs to be sharpened at. Im guessing its not going to hurt the knife a whole lot if the angle is off only a few degrees right?

About the belt sander though, what would I need to go and buy? I know there are different types of belts and I understand the meaning of grits and how to use them. What kind of setup would i need to be able to sharpen, reprofile knives? I wouldnt mind getting more than i need because I plan to get into knife making more in the future. Ive made one, pictured below, and reprofiled a few.
 
We spend 100's and 1,000's of dollars on knives and other sharp stuff and we all seem to want to skimp on the sharpening system.

There is much debate about diamond stones and range of angles and grit size as well as composition and length of service of our stones.

The longer and harder I looked for a solution for myself the more I became confused on what I really needed. I ultimately believed I needed 2 or maybe even 3 systems. Eck!

Today I visited Edge Pro in Oregon. I studied hard before I went there and brought a list of questions and bag of knives with me. I not only got a demo, but I spent 3 hours sharpening the very wide assortment of knives I brought along.

Don't buy multiple systems or hones-on-an angle or limit yourself to the a few degrees of angle or the types of knives you can reprofile and sharpen. EDC, folders, fixed blade, kitchen and everything in between was easy and resulted in fine hair-splitting sharpness.

Oh yeah... I bought one and you don't know what you're missing by not having one.

No, I'm not on the payroll!

http://www.edgeproinc.com/
 
That does look like a nice system - very capable, but still sets the angles mechanically for you so that the result is not dependant on your fine motor skills.
 
I've tried different sharpeners and in the last year I've gone back wards I guess to Norton stones or waterproof sandpaper with mineral oil.
 
555 said:
I've tried different sharpeners and in the last year I've gone back wards I guess to Norton stones or waterproof sandpaper with mineral oil.
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I guess your skills have gotten better then.

How do you use sandpaper? Just lay it down on something flat? What grits do you use?

Also im curious, with all the different type of sharpening systems, do they all remove metal? Obviously a belt sander removes metal but stones and ceramic, do they remove metal or just bend the edge of the knife back in the right direction?
 
throw everything in the trash and buy the new paper wheels you put on a grinder, takes off very little metal, is a quick and relatively easy process and my knifes have never been sharper, amazing.
 
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