Pretty new to knives in general, especially sharpening. So i bought the sharpmaker to sharpen my knives with. My main concern is my becker bk-16, the edge is perfect on one side, and alot taller and uneven on the the other. Same for my couple of cryos. Would using sandpaper around the rods and reprofiling the blade fix this?
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Fixing edges with the sharpmaker
- Thread starter Mike14_07
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Yes use 120 grid, make sure the paper is on the rod tight, and then progress to 220 and then 400 and then you can go back to SM medium and so on
You should check out the diamond rods directly from Spyderco. I believe they come in a set (with ceramic rods that are finer than the ones that came with the Sharpmaker). I normally don't use my knives until they get dull, so the rods that came with the Sharpmaker is great to touch up on my blades frequently. But if you need to shave more steel, the diamond rods will do.
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Agreed about practicing on knives you don't care about. Pull some dull, unloved ones out of the junk drawer!
Also agreed about the diamond rods. I treat a dull knife and one with a botched edge the same: reprofile with the diamond rods on the 30 degrees setting, then move to 40 degrees with the medium rods for that micro-bevel everyone talks about. For kitchen knives I stop there, and continue on with the fine rods for EDC and knives I'm still infatuated with. I've hardly used the ultra-fine rods.
Having weird, mismatched angles with my hand sharpening is the reason I bought the Sharpmaker
Also agreed about the diamond rods. I treat a dull knife and one with a botched edge the same: reprofile with the diamond rods on the 30 degrees setting, then move to 40 degrees with the medium rods for that micro-bevel everyone talks about. For kitchen knives I stop there, and continue on with the fine rods for EDC and knives I'm still infatuated with. I've hardly used the ultra-fine rods.
Having weird, mismatched angles with my hand sharpening is the reason I bought the Sharpmaker
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I say learn on the new Becker, just take your time. Cheaper knives can be frustrating when your just starting out. The soft cheap steel is less forgiving and will ruin itself with anything other than light pressure. Light pressure is good, hard pressure doesn't cut any faster and will only ruin your stones, but some cheap knives are just a joke. Grab some cbn or diamond rods, someone recently posted about ruby rods for a very low price at a not sponsored dealer, a quick search will find that.
Now what i can recommend a cheap knife for, is getting a basic understanding of grits, edge geometry, and sharpening. Find a decent knife you are willing to sacrifice for your own enrichment. And not a super thin kitchen knife or something similar, you want to be able to see the bevel forming. Dull it completely and reprofile to a very nice edge using only sandpaper freehand. Go to sand a hardware store and get a few sheets of the wet/dry metal paper grits from 80 up to the highest they have, usually 800-1200. Watch some youtube on freehand, use a sharpie to see where your cutting, learn how the grits feel when they cut, don't go up a grit until all the previous scratches are gone. If you do this one time you will instantly improve your sharpening by miles. It may take a while, but its fun. Sharpening is almost my favorite part of the hobby. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once. After this you will have a good edge, and you can then explore microbevels etc and have an idea what people are talking about. And not just an idea in your head, a feeling in your hands when the edge touches your abrasive and when you check the edge on your fingers/paper.
Touch the edge after each grit, learn what it feels like at each grit. After doing it so many times, i can feel the difference between a 220 grit edge and a 600 grit edge etc. When you start getting crazier more specialized steels you may want a coarser vs a fine edge. This will help develop that sensitivity.
After you go through this process, when your fixing something on the sharp maker, you'll just know when something doesn't "Feel" right.
Now what i can recommend a cheap knife for, is getting a basic understanding of grits, edge geometry, and sharpening. Find a decent knife you are willing to sacrifice for your own enrichment. And not a super thin kitchen knife or something similar, you want to be able to see the bevel forming. Dull it completely and reprofile to a very nice edge using only sandpaper freehand. Go to sand a hardware store and get a few sheets of the wet/dry metal paper grits from 80 up to the highest they have, usually 800-1200. Watch some youtube on freehand, use a sharpie to see where your cutting, learn how the grits feel when they cut, don't go up a grit until all the previous scratches are gone. If you do this one time you will instantly improve your sharpening by miles. It may take a while, but its fun. Sharpening is almost my favorite part of the hobby. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once. After this you will have a good edge, and you can then explore microbevels etc and have an idea what people are talking about. And not just an idea in your head, a feeling in your hands when the edge touches your abrasive and when you check the edge on your fingers/paper.
Touch the edge after each grit, learn what it feels like at each grit. After doing it so many times, i can feel the difference between a 220 grit edge and a 600 grit edge etc. When you start getting crazier more specialized steels you may want a coarser vs a fine edge. This will help develop that sensitivity.
After you go through this process, when your fixing something on the sharp maker, you'll just know when something doesn't "Feel" right.
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Grab and old hickory butcher knife or the 8 inch slicing knife. Its a similar steel, less than 10 bucks if you shop around, and great to learn on guilt free. And i guarantee youll love owning them they're both really bada$$, for using in the kitchen/general utility and when you need that gangs of new york feeling in your hands.
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I love the sharpmaker and use it for 90% of my sharpening but reprofiling that Becker is a lot to ask of the sm, even with the diamond rods. Thats just a lot of steel that you have to remove. A coarse bench stone would be my weapon of choice. If you are not comfortable free handing then you can wrap the sm rods with sandpaper as suggested above but be patient because that job is going to take awhile.
Ok tried the sand paper, was taking too long, gonna try something else. Do i need to hot both sides equally and it will eventually even out or hit one side more than the other? Would extra course on a lansky or dmt aligner set be better or??? Cant afford and edge pro and i do not have enough practice to consistantly use stones yet.
If you're not comfortable enough with freehand then a guided system would be a good choice. I'll throw a recommendation in for the dmt magna guide. The stones are great and offer some versatility as your skills progress. As far as the uneven bevel, this is a good video on the subject. https://youtu.be/bQzBy-qKUy0
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Yeah, I had to reprofile an S30V Schrade last year and I wasn't getting anywhere with the coarse natural stone on the Lansky. I ordered an extra coarse diamond stone and that just zipped right through it in a minute or two. The Lansky or KME would be my choices for setting bevels until you have more experience freehanding. Legato is right about not using too much pressure, you can ruin knives, stones and diamond hones. Decent older knives are great to learn on, you're not frustrating yourself trying to sharpen recycled tin cans and if you goof up a bit you won't stroke out from messing up on your favorite knife.
Best advice right now would be to use a sharpie to make sure you're hitting the entire bevel so you don't finish up only to have not even touched entire sections of the edge.
Best advice right now would be to use a sharpie to make sure you're hitting the entire bevel so you don't finish up only to have not even touched entire sections of the edge.