Got a sharpmaker today

C

cistercian

Joined
Apr 22, 2015
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481
I got home and the box was here...my new sharpmaker!I had been free handing on diamond but I was inconsistent so I ordered the sharpmaker.

It works wonderfully and made a blade I could not get to shave shaving sharp...now I want some ultra fine stones!
I strop with an old leather belt with cerium oxide to finish.
Under a scope my angles looked great!

Nice sharpener!
 
vary nice, as i'm still struggling on my DMT DIA- sharpener to get the angles right ! and i'm almost ready to give it up and just order the sharpmaker,i'm always looking for peoples input on the sharpmaker and if it really works or not! i see that most people have problems with trying to sharpen a dull knife,rather then just keeping a good edge real sharp,my problem is trying to keep the factory bevel the same,oh well,practice practice,i'm almost there but not quite!but i'm ready to pull the plug and just order the sharpmaker at this point,so i hope you have grate luck with yours,take care.
 
Got a 2nd hand sharp maker about a week ago. I have a mini-grip that had some decent-sized chips in the edge. I spent all damn day, but I got them out, and I got the knife to cut a few hairs off my arm. I scratched up the blade a bit and am still learning a bit, but it's addicting for me. I've sharpened up my Dad's Skyline and my brother's RAT 2 as well, although I feel like I could really use some cutting rods. Do I get the Diamond rods or the CBN rods? They're the same price, but I'm not sure which route is best or even why.

But yeah, I think I have the basics down. It just took a long time to get the chips out.
 
I'm a Wicked Edge guy mostly as I do a lot of sharpening for others, but on my personal knives I fall in love with the simplicity of the Sharpmaker every time I use it.

I had reprofiled my PM2 to a highly polished edge awhile back and had been using it a decent bit lately. Growing tired with messing with clamps and angle cubes, I got out the Sharpmaker and did a few swipes with the fine stones and a few with the ultra fines. No stropping. The knife was wave cutting phone book paper again effortlessly in only a couple minutes.

It's just really hard to complain about something so simple that produces such great results with such little effort. The ultra fines aren't mandatory for an excellent edge, but they're definitely worth it in my book. It's not a reprofiling machine, but IMO the Sharpmaker is the best $50 or so I've ever spent.
 
uofaengr said:
I'm a Wicked Edge guy mostly as I do a lot of sharpening for others, but on my personal knives I fall in love with the simplicity of the Sharpmaker every time I use it.

I had reprofiled my PM2 to a highly polished edge awhile back and had been using it a decent bit lately. Growing tired with messing with clamps and angle cubes, I got out the Sharpmaker and did a few swipes with the fine stones and a few with the ultra fines. No stropping. The knife was wave cutting phone book paper again effortlessly in only a couple minutes.

It's just really hard to complain about something so simple that produces such great results with such little effort. The ultra fines aren't mandatory for an excellent edge, but they're definitely worth it in my book. It's not a reprofiling machine, but IMO the Sharpmaker is the best $50 or so I've ever spent.
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I agree.I was going to order ultrafines next week but I just ordered a 153 dollar washing machine motor instead.Get this...it is assembled with epoxy...no screws.
That means I could not replace or make new bearings for it...and that kind of thing really pisses me off.Oh well...
 
blanex1 said:
vary nice, as i'm still struggling on my DMT DIA- sharpener to get the angles right ! and i'm almost ready to give it up and just order the sharpmaker,i'm always looking for peoples input on the sharpmaker and if it really works or not! i see that most people have problems with trying to sharpen a dull knife,rather then just keeping a good edge real sharp,my problem is trying to keep the factory bevel the same,oh well,practice practice,i'm almost there but not quite!but i'm ready to pull the plug and just order the sharpmaker at this point,so i hope you have grate luck with yours,take care.
Click to expand...

I have had inconsistent results freehand...but the sharpmaker works really well for me.I expect epic results with more practice!I only regret I sharpened a 154cm Benchmade on it and not my stolen VG-10 Endura.
Oh well, gotta practice on something!It removed material more rapidly than I expected yet the finish with the fine stones was very nice.The strop polish really is a nice touch.Mirror at 100 power.

I want a nice bench strop now.I have a small supply of optical finish grade cerium oxide to load it with (cerium oxide can polish silicon carbide BTW).
 
Prepare to have "Strange" bare patches on your forearms in the near future lol. And/or your legs if you really get carried away rofl.
 
cistercian said:
I got home and the box was here...my new sharpmaker!I had been free handing on diamond but I was inconsistent so I ordered the sharpmaker.

It works wonderfully and made a blade I could not get to shave shaving sharp...now I want some ultra fine stones!
I strop with an old leather belt with cerium oxide to finish.
Under a scope my angles looked great!
Click to expand...
I don't think you'll find the Ultra Fine rods will make much of an improvement over your strop.

If anything, I'd recommend you consider getting the CBN rods to make reprofiling and sharpening very dull blades a breeze.
 
3rdGenRigger said:
Prepare to have "Strange" bare patches on your forearms in the near future lol. And/or your legs if you really get carried away rofl.
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When I first got mine I was as smooth as a dolphin. :)

dolphin-main.jpg


Enjoy your sharpmaker.
 
bearfacedkiller said:
When I first got mine I was as smooth as a dolphin. :)

dolphin-main.jpg


Enjoy your sharpmaker.
Click to expand...

Noticeable bare patches have arrived.....

My friend has a very dull blade...I am going to start with a coarse diamond and then move to the sharpmaker.I have yet to use the brown stones...
I really like this system...I have never gotten such a good edge so fast!I still want the UF ceramics to reduce polishing time on the strop.
 
vanslem6 said:
TravisH said:
If anything, I'd recommend you consider getting the CBN rods to make reprofiling and sharpening very dull blades a breeze.
Click to expand...
That answers my question. :D
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Forgot to say why CBN over Diamond - both are coatings and rated at the same grit (~400) but, IIRC, the CBN coating lasts longer than the Diamonds coating.

There's also a cheaper alternative - coarse grit (80 to 600) silicon carbide rods from CongressTools.
 
TravisH said:
Forgot to say why CBN over Diamond - both are coatings and rated at the same grit (~400) but, IIRC, the CBN coating lasts longer than the Diamonds coating.

There's also a cheaper alternative - coarse grit (80 to 600) silicon carbide rods from CongressTools.
Click to expand...

The congress site was interesting!And thanks for that...I have a few coarse diamonds already so I will just use those.My habit is to never let a knife get dull...so for my personal use it is a moot point.It is only when helping a pal with a super dull blade that it is even an issue.
 
I've had a few people tell me that their knives were too sharp after I sharpened them and that they were afraid to cut themselves lol. Despite the fact that less pressure to cut results in greater control and less chances of cutting oneself accidentally, some people can be intimidated by an edge that can be used to shave. I digress, back on topic, the SharpMaker is definitely best utilized to keep your knives "Scary" sharp rather than reprofiling. Diamond or CBN rods are necessary to reprofile, but when it comes to your own knives you'll get lots of life out of the existing bevel by touching the edge up regularly. It will take quite a while to get to the point where you need to reshape the existing edge bevel in order to get a good microbevel (If you don't want to spend forever on the brown rods), but you may want to grab some diamond or CBN rods now anyways. You'll want/need them eventually...trust me, I regret waiting as long as I did before grabbing some diamond rods.
 
On the opposite side of that, the ultra fine stones are great too. I just got them in this week and they put a great finish on your blades. I sharpened my Delica 4 tonight and in 10 mins I had a razor sharp push cutting edge, with damn near a mirror finish.

As other posters have stated, don't let you edges get too dull and the sharpmaker will make maintaining them incredibly easy.
 
Was trying to put a good edge on my brothers Zancudo last night. One side looked to be about 15˚, while the other is/was much steeper. Still didn't get both sides to match 100%, but my right thumb has been numb for 12 hours now, lol. I need to get those CBN rods, asap. Trying to bring these folders back to life is proving far more time consuming that I had imagined. I like doing it, but just need to cut down on the time, lol. I have noticed that the mini-grip that I worked on last week is easily touched up like everyone mentioned. I'd like to get all of my brothers knives like that, lol. Much easier to just touch them up than get out big dings and rolls, lol.
 
You might think of using a couple of diamond "Paddles" or a bench stone freehand to start off with. The angle at that stage isn't super critical as what you're trying to do is remove excess thickness before forming the actual edge with the Sharpmaker.
 
vanslem6 said:
Was trying to put a good edge on my brothers Zancudo last night. One side looked to be about 15˚, while the other is/was much steeper. Still didn't get both sides to match 100%, but my right thumb has been numb for 12 hours now, lol. I need to get those CBN rods, asap. Trying to bring these folders back to life is proving far more time consuming that I had imagined. I like doing it, but just need to cut down on the time, lol. I have noticed that the mini-grip that I worked on last week is easily touched up like everyone mentioned. I'd like to get all of my brothers knives like that, lol. Much easier to just touch them up than get out big dings and rolls, lol.
Click to expand...

Sharpmaker is great for keeping an edge sharp IMHO. To re profile or remove nicks from edge of blade master this skill, http://youtu.be/ZsLaTtrSEj0 you will be very happy after you do!
 
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