Disappointed with Gatco Tri-Seps sharpener...

O

OmegaA

Joined
Feb 13, 2004
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282
I read a lot of positive comments about this sharpener, especially on "Equipped to Survive" website. So, I bought two of them, one as present to my friend (they cost almost 3 times more in the UK than in the USA, by the way). Today I got the sharpeners.
First of all, you cannot keep the right angle on the sharpener. It seems to me the angles at the rubber bottom are about 30 degrees. You cannot keep your knife vertical and sharpen the knife with right angle as shown in instructions, in my opinion. So, keeping the right angle is not that stright forward as on spyderco Tri-Angle.
Because you cannot keep the angle, I do not see much difference of this sharpener from ordinary sharpening stone - you can keep a stone under desired angle in your hands and sharpen knives. The only difference is you can buy for the same money a bit larger stone, so it will be more convenient to use.
Another problem I had is that I could not make Victorinox Pickniker sharp enough to shave my hair on my hand - my usual test which I do after I sharpen knives on grey rods of Spyderco Tri-Angle before they are ready to be sharpened on white rods.
So, I am disapointed. I thought it would completely replace Tri-Angle on long trips, but it does not look even near to Spyderco in quality. I completed sharpening my knife on Tri-Angle, so I cannot say if Tri-Seps really improved the sharpness of my Pickniker.
Could you advice me if I expect too much performance from this sharpener? Can I sharpen knives with steels harder than of Victorinox that they could shave a bit, or at get to acceptible sharpness? I am thinking one of the reasons for such poor performance might be brand new stone - I had to rub Spyderco rods on each other before first use, as was recommended in instructions. I did rub Tri-Seps using my Spuderco rod as well, but did not feel any difference.
Advice is much appreciated.
Regards,
 
I was very dissapointed with mine to. The only thing it is OK for is serrations.
But I can not keep the angke like you said. I have yet to get a knife sharp on it. I do better freehand with a diamond stone.

TBG
 
OmegaA said:
You cannot keep your knife vertical and sharpen the knife with right angle as shown in instructions, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

What is the difficulty?

I am thinking one of the reasons for such poor performance might be brand new stone
Click to expand...

Odds are it is related to the problems maintaining an angle.

-Cliff
 
I used one exclusively before I got a sharpmaker, and it worked out fine for me.
 
Sorry you are finding the Gatco Tri-Seps a challenge, but it was never meant to replace something like the Spyderco Sharpmaker. The Tri-Seps is a pocket-sized field sharpener, which is what I have recommended it for; the Sharpmaker is designed to be used at home, or at least not designed to be carried into the field. It's heavy and bulky. I and many others I know who have used the Tri-Seps or the similar Lansky Dog Bone have not had any problems sharpening with one, though one cannot expect a short, handheld sharpener to hold an angle as exactly as a Sharpmaker with a large rigid base designed to hold fixed angles. That's unrealistic, sorry.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
What is the difficulty?
-Cliff
Click to expand...

I am left-handed. It is quite easy for me to keep the sharpener in right hand and knife in left hand. To keep the angle correct, I reffered to angles of rods on Tri-Angle. This way I easily sharpen right side of the blade. However, when I get the knife into my right hand and sharpener into left hand, it is just not comfortable! So, it works out I sharpen one side of the knife better than the other.

The instructions say I should make about 15-20 strokes on each side to make knife sharp, however, the knife cannot shave hair on my hand at all. I guess I may expect similar sharpness from Tri-Seps as from grey rods of Tri-Angle -when I achieve some shaving effect on Tri-Angle grey rods, I know I need to change them to white rods to get good shaving sharpness.

Could you tell me, guys, do I demand too much from the Tri-Seps? As Doug already pointed out, you cannot really compare Tri-Angle with Tri-Seps, they are completely different categories. But I do not know how sharp knife I should expect after sharpening on Tri-Seps.

Cliff Stamp said:
Odds are it is related to the problems maintaining an angle.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Quite possible. Could you refer me to some websites with instructions how to sharpen knives properly on Tri-Seps?

And how can I complete the sharpening that my knife could shave hair easily?

Regards,
 
OmegaA said:
So, it works out I sharpen one side of the knife better than the other.
Click to expand...

I can understand that, I would have a similar problem trying to be very precise with my left hand. I am right handed and what I would do is keep the sharpener stable with my left and use my right hand to work both side of the blade which would require you to flip it around and haul it away from you to hit the right side, which seems awkward but I could do this with much greater precision than trying to use my left hand. It is also much faster to alternate strokes that way.

The instructions say I should make about 15-20 strokes on each side to make knife sharp ...
Click to expand...

This depends on the knife, steel, and edge configuration, very basically work until you get a burr, flip, do the same, then cut the burr off with elevated strokes and finish with a few light passes at the origional angle. This is a really condensed version of Jeff Clark's method which he has described in detail.

Could you tell me, guys, do I demand too much from the Tri-Seps?
Click to expand...

No.

As Doug already pointed out, you cannot really compare Tri-Angle with Tri-Seps, they are completely different categories.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you are comparing, they should be able to produce similar quality edges, the Sharpmaker is more versatile (sissors, multiple grits, works as benchstone, pseudo-files, etc.) but you are just comparing plain edge sharpening which is a valid comparison on any sharpening system.

-Cliff
 
I carry a TriSeps as my main edc sharpener. I find it excellent, but I don't use its built in angle function.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
This is a really condensed version of Jeff Clark's method which he has described in detail.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Could you show me where to find it? Does not appear in the "Search"...
Thanks,
 
Well in about 30 years of knive enthousiasm, i tried about everything and the only thing that stands up to my standard is the Spyderco Tri-angle. Not the smallest for backpacking but hey, it works! What is the use of taking something that works only a bit? Fot me there is no question, the tri-angle goes wherever i go.
 
I agree that the rubber bottom does not work well for maintaining the sharpening angle -- so I just don't use it that way. I use the Tri-Seps as a hand held sharpener, with nice rubber safeties on the ends to keep me from cutting myself :) . I've also noticed that even though it should be the same ceramic as the Spyderco "grey" stones, it isn't as aggressive.

Personally, I think the Tri-seps is a pretty good little sharpener, but I'd probably feel the same way you do if I'd paid three times as much for it (mine was $6, IIRC).
 
Over the years I have tired a few of the sharpening gadgets and the Spyderco Sharpmaker is a good one. However nothing beats a good bench stone, DMT and Norton make some good ones. I still use the Spyderco at times but always go back to the benchstones. I get a much better edge on the bench stones. Yes it did take some practice.
 
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