I know, I know another shapmaker question.

[aceofblades]

Hi everyone I have a quick question about the sharpmaker. Is easy to use> because I have a couple nice knives that Im afraid of using so I dont have to sharpen them. So is the sharpmaker easy to use and does it leave marks/scratches on the blades???

 

[yablanowitz]

IF you follow directions and exercise some care, it will not leave scratches on your blades. It comes with an instructional DVD. WATCH THE DVD! In fact, watch it two or three times before you ever set up the Sharpmaker, as you will doubtless miss things the first time or two. Watch it again after you set up and use it a little.

It is pretty simple to use, but there are a few tricks to getting the best results out of it. The two biggest that I know of are:
1) End each stroke with the blade tip still in contact with the stone. Dragging the tip off the stone will round it off very quickly.
2) Use VERY light pressure. Most of the problems I read about here are probably a result of using too much pressure on the rods in an attempt to hurry the process. It doesn't work. Just let the abrasive do its job.

 

[Ludwig]

Definitely practice on some cheaper kitchen knives before moving on to those nice ones.

But like yablanowitz said, watch the DVD several times and when you first start, I recommend working in front of a mirror so you can make sure you're keeping your knife straight on the rods.

After some practice though, yes, the SM is very easy to use.

 

[Hard H2O]

If you are worried about scratches try masking the blade with 3M blue tape. Leave the edge exposed.

 

[GregY]

I just got one last week. It's very easy to use, all it requires is consistency and a bit of patience. Very little physical effort involved.