Japanese chef knives edge angles and the Spyderco Sharp Maker ???

[RayseM]

I've watched all 4 how to use the Sharp Maker segments hosted by Sal. Very informative and interesting too.
Seems like the Sharp Maker is a must have in my shop though I don't think I will be sharpening my woodworking edge tools with it -in time I might be persuaded .

BUT - my reason for the post is to ask how one might use the Sharp Maker to sharpen knives that have less than 20° angles like a few Japanese kitchen knives that I use. These have 10° to 17° bevels. I'm doing these by hand with my waterstones which can be more of a challenge on some days :yawn: -when I should have gotten more sleep, for example. Hmm - I probably shouldn't be handling sharp knives at all under those circumstances - but I digress…

Anyone have a suggestion how the Sharp Maker could be used for those low angles?

 

[Ankerson]

Well the easy thing to do is just use the 15 degree slots and do a very small micro bevel...

Use the brown stones and it will only take a few passes... And I mean literally like 2 or 3 passes on each side, then switch to the fine and one or two passes on each side....

Then you can use the fine stones, or ultra fine to touch up as you go..... Using very few passes..... You can go for a very long time that way...

Or you can just take one of the fine stones and free hand it..... Hold the stone straight up and down then take the knife at an angle and make one or 2 passes on each side to touch up... Use the corners, not the flats... It's very fast....

 

[RayseM]

I guess I need to get the Sharp Maker and see all the ways the angles can be set. I missed that there is a 15° option. That pretty much solves the problem. I just don't want to be restricted to using the stones flat - my waterstones are THAT option.

 

[Invective]

I use the 15 degree per side setting with a 19~ micro, I use the 20 dps slots but then push the stone as far as it'll go to get a steeper angle.