Can i sharpen a Ginunting-sword with a spyderco tri-angle sharpmaker?

The SharpMaker will definitely sharpen recurved blades. You have to tilt the handle down as you go through the curved area. You may also want to use the edges of the triangles, as opposed to the flats. With gentle recurves, the flats will work. With more dramatic curves (smaller radius), you'll need to use the corners.

However, the blade you linked to is 20" long. I think the SM stones are 8". I've done 9.5" blades on the SM many times. This length of blade requires some care, but it can be done reliably. A blade that's more than twice as long as the SM rods will be challenging to do correctly. You might be better off using a hand held stone and holding the blade still.

On the other, other hand, sword sharpening is a fairly specialized endeavor. For Japanese blades there are very specific geometries that need to be maintained in order to sharpen properly. I do not pretend to be a qualified sword sharpener of any type. I'm just saying that sword sharpening isn't nearly as straight forward as knife sharpening. The SharpMaker is definitely not the first sharpening tool that I think of when I think of sword sharpening.

Good luck!

Brian.
 
I would use waterstones. A simple King 1k 6k would do fine.
 
A blade that long and stones that fine is not going to make for a good match. Usually a fairly large stationary stone was used for initial bevel setting or periodic maintenance and a smaller one used for touchups as needed, but of course swords didn't usually need much edge work because they'd rarely actually be engaged in cutting. Often a sword was wrecked after 1-3 engagements depending on the period, context of use, etc, as well, and the kind of damage they'd take in use would require a LOT of work to iron out. For sharpening a vintage blade dulled through mishandling in storage or a new blade with a poor factory edge or blunted through test-cutting you'll probably want to go with a well-anchored bench stone.
 
You can certainly try to do the sword in sections on the SM. You might have good luck; you might not. Part of the issue is trying to hold the sword vertical and steady and make a consistent motion. Because the sword is long and you are probably going to hold it by the handle, you have a whole lot of blade sticking out in front of your hand while you try to make a stroke down the SM rods, while applying a small amount of pressure to the outside, and stroking downwards *and* rotating the handle down to follow the recurve of the blade.

This would not be my choice. You might be able to do it. I wouldn't.

Good luck!

Brian.
 
I'd stick to fortytwoknives advice. He specializes in sharpening large blades and tools like scythe blades and machetes etc.


No, would not recommend the sharpmaker for that.
 
Jason B. said:
I would use waterstones. A simple King 1k 6k would do fine.
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This would be my advice too. Silicon carbide wet/dry also an option. I wouldn't advise tackling that without being familiar freehanding smaller blades first.
 
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