Diamond rods for Sharpmaker - any better than sandpaper?

W

Will

Joined
Jan 4, 2003
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I spent hours sharpenging uselessly dull kitchen knives for my family using my Sharpmaker. I used 80 grit Al-oxide paper to speed up the process, but it was still painfully slow. Many here have suggested sandpaper as a cheaper alternative to the rather expensive diamond rods, but I would like to know how fast the diamonds are compared to sandpaper. If they are a lot more efficient, it might be worth buying them. If not, I will just stick to the sandpaper and be patient when reprofiling.

Will
 
Better to buy a regular diamond benchstone and just lean it against the sharpmaker rods for the angle. You can find Smith's 6" on ebay for $13.49 and they work fine.
 
I'd get a quality coarse diamond benchstone to cut the initial edge. It's fast, clean up is easy, and it's efficient particularly if you have to sharpen a lot of knives.

You could also look into buying a cheap belt sander.
 
I don't own the diamond rods. I own an EZE-LAP coarse/medium double sided diamond hone. I can tell you that the coarse side removes metal very fast. I think it took around 20 (more?) hard strokes per side to do a reprofile on an S30V blade. It wasn't much. A carbon steel slipjoint that was quite literally as dull as a butter knife also took very little time to establish an edge.

You can use it freehand but I also have my somewhat dangerous method that I use as well. Duct tape the bottom to a rod and hold the top with one hand to stabilize while sharpening.

In general diamond is worth it. Coarse waterstones are worth it as well. I can't offer any experience with the diamond rods though.
 
Will said:
... it was still painfully slow.
Click to expand...

Don't use it on the sharpmaker, put the sandpaper on a piece of wood and use it like a file. You should be able to reset the edges in about a minute unless you are changing their shape significantly at which point it is just a couple of minutes to go from say 20 degrees to ten degrees. Use the Sharpmaker for honing not shaping.

-Cliff
 
I bought a 11.5" Coarse Diamond benchstone off ebay Buy it now for under $30 shipped, not a bad deal- and now my reprofiling blues are gone. I still need a belt grinder though.
 
Sal has said the Spyderco Diamond rods are about 400 grit. I've had mine for awhile now and I like um, but reprofiling is still way faster with 100 grit paper. And they will wear out. They can also be damaged by pressing to hard. Also a little expensive.
 
Seems like I should stick with the sandpaper for now, but instead of wrapping it around the rods, wrap it over a piece of 2x4 or whatever, and use it like a benchstone.

thanks for the replies

Will
 
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