Do any of you use a flat stone?

dc50

dc50

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I"m just wondering if any of you use a flat stone or diamond flat to sharpen your Spidies? The reason I ask, is that I have been using a stone to sharpen my knives for years. With all my new Spiderco knives I'm a little afraid to bugger them up, by not using the well touted Sharpmaker.:D
 
I don't use a flat stone myself on my Spydercos, but quite a few Spyderco users do. If you can sharpen another brand of knife on flat stones, you shouldn't have any problem with a Spyderco. If anything, they'll be easier to do than many other brands because Spyderco does such a good job of setting the bevels from the factory.

I do use a flat DMT diamond sharpener on some of my Striders and I have used Spyderco's Profile rods on a couple of Spydercos in the past. They worked fine, I just prefer the Sharpmaker when I can get to it.
 
Thanks Dale!

I suppose the advantage of using the Sharpmaker, is there is less of a chance
of the wrong angle and putting scratches on the blade. ;)
 
That is about it for those of us who have already aquired the skill to sharpen free hand. The only thing I use my SharpMaker for is serrations. All my PE blades get sharpened on flat diamond hones.
 
Only flat stones, yes. And, I've gone back to basics, with a Norton fine/medium stone for all my sharpening. Gets an ultrasharp, toothy edge that won't quit.
 
yablanowitz said:
That is about it for those of us who have already aquired the skill to sharpen free hand. The only thing I use my SharpMaker for is serrations. All my PE blades get sharpened on flat diamond hones.
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I agree. I use DMT, Spyderco, and Japanese benchstones on all of my knives. I use the Sharpmaker for serrations and big recurves, or really quick touch ups. I must say that I did first learn the basics of sharpening on the Sharpmaker, and the quick results I got with it gave me the confidence to start freehand sharpening with benchstones.

Mike
 
Bus Driver said:
I"m just wondering if any of you use a flat stone or diamond flat to sharpen your Spidies?
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I don't currently own any spydies but I'll speak up anyways. Either a sharpmaker or a plain stone will work perfectly provided you know what you're doing.

I do own a sharpmaker and I find it to be a very useful tool. Depending on which knife I'm sharpening and what my mood is I either sharpen my knives with the sharpmaker properly set up or I just use one of the sharpmaker's stones freehand.

It's easier for me to sharpen with the sharpmaker if:
-The knife has a very small edge bevel
-The blade has a downwards curve (such as a hawkbill)
-I'm in a hurry
-The edge/bevels are not ground evenly/properly
-The edge has serrations

I prefer to sharpen freehand if:
-The blade has a dramatic curve (such as the front part of a spey blade)
-The blade has an edge bevel of neither 30 or 40 degrees
-I want to use a lighter touch
-The blade has a wide edge bevel (such as my chef's knife)
-The blade is longer than a few inches
-I'll be sharpening the knife while watching a movie or something like that
 
If you mean bench stone, yes. I use DMT Diamond stones. They do a good job on my Delica (I just got done sharpening with the Fine stone, and sure enough, it's shaving-sharp).

Bus Driver said:
I suppose the advantage of using the Sharpmaker, is there is less of a chance
of the wrong angle and putting scratches on the blade. ;)
Click to expand...

I have odd bevel angles... One of my bevels is steeper than the other. I don't notice unless I look closely, though, and it doesn't seem to affect my cutting. That isn't to say you should just brush it off, though.

Stavrou0 said:
Curious, how would one sharpen a hawkbill on a flatstone?
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I don't... I don't like the idea of sharpening recurves on bench stones. I'm gonna get either a Sharpmaker, diamond rods, or a curved recurve sharpener to do that (a bench stone that's humped upwards to accommodate recurves).
 
i just use some honing compound and leather strop. works great. i'll use the DMT if the edge needs some work.
 
RLR said:
Only flat stones, yes. And, I've gone back to basics, with a Norton fine/medium stone for all my sharpening. Gets an ultrasharp, toothy edge that won't quit.
Click to expand...

For touchups I use a Sharpmaker, for reprofiling a dull edge I do as above.
 
Alright..... you guys have done a great job answering my question :thumbup:
there's still some good ole boys out there,doing free hand.
I also see that a Sharpmaker would also be a great tool to have as well, for doing the touch ups. Great stuff !!
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RLR said:
Only flat stones, yes. And, I've gone back to basics, with a Norton fine/medium stone for all my sharpening. Gets an ultrasharp, toothy edge that won't quit.
Click to expand...
RLR thanks for the reply..When I was a meat cutter, Norton oil stones were pretty much it, this is what I started with.
Do you find with the new harder steels,that the stones work for you?
I did purchase a couple flat diamond stones, thinking that the Norton wouldn't handle some of the high end steels.
 
I've got a blue = coarse DMT benchstone for repairing damaged edge's. Next to that 204 set for touch up's and a leather belt for stropping.

The fine and extra fine DMT stones might be better instead of the ceramics on very high HRC super steels like fe ZDP 189 or that fancy japanese blue steel.

I have a duckfoot diamond coated on my to buy list. They are affordable and might be handy for odd bladeshapes like hawkbills and recurves.
 
"I have a duckfoot diamond coated on my to buy list. They are affordable and might be handy for odd bladeshapes like hawkbills and recurves."
Reply With Quote

Maarten, Let us know how the duckfoot works
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I use a Coarse diamond DMT if I need to set the bevel on an abused knife or want to rebevel the edge. After that I use my Spyderco profile stones (lying flat on a table) to finish up. I can get my blades back to shaving sharp now. It's too difficult for me to use the Profile stones vertically like the Sharpmaker stones.
 
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