keeping the spyderco sharp

J

jrhoyt84

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Feb 12, 2015
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over the last few months I've gotten into this whole spyderco knife thing. now that my collection has grown to a 4 I've come to the realization that if I'm going to have some bucks invested in these things, i should be able to keep them sharp on my own. I've got a couple cheapo passthrough sharpeners that I've used on knives other than my spydercos and kershaws, but they just don't do the trick for me... i know everyone is going to have a different answer as far as what to get but... where do i start? i think id rather get stones and learn how to do it that way vs say like a wicked edge. ( just have a hard time shelling out that kind of cash, plus i think it would be cool to say hey, i can make em sharp on my own.). Any opinion is welcome. thanks in advance!!
 
I'm learning on the KME system. You can watch "Dean O" on you-tube. Very nice system I think. I'm budget minded too for a noob at sharpening.
 
I think the sharpmaker with the additional diamond rods is a great place to start. Not a fully "guided" system but easier to be accurate than free handing. I can put a pretty mean edge on a knife freehand but I still use the sm 90% of the time because it's quick, simple and efficient. It's the simplest way I have found to keep my knives at a very high level of sharpness.
 
I'll second the Sharpmaker with the addition of the Diamond rods. I've had no trouble keeping knives sharp, or re-profiling a bevel on a wide range of steels. A leather strop is handy, too. I use the pouch that came with the Spyderco Double Stuff stones with a little green compound.
 
Another vote for a SM with diamond rods, it works perfectly to maintain a sharp edge. Diamond rods are important, because they are coarser (400 grit) than the fine (1000 grit) and med (600 grit) stones that comes standard. I use them more often than the other stones combined to be honest.

I would also suggest an even coarser benchstone (100-200 grit), for when you need to reprofile or remove metal quicker than what can be achieved on the SM diamonds. Indespensible when you reprofile a bevel and do not want to spend hours.
 
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So a sharp maker. That itself comes with medium and fine stones. Then purchase the coarse and ultra fine rods too? Also grab at some point an ultra coarse bench stone. And a strop. Haha. Got it. I'll probably pick up a sharp maker and ultra fine stones and the strop for now.
 
Be sure to order two ultrafine stones. They're sold individually, which is weird. So if you want two, you have to double-check to make sure you're getting two. :)

And you can honestly make a strop out of just about anything. If you want to save money, you can always look at YouTube for DIY strops.
 
Ugh. Good point I forgot about that. I'll have to see what I can find around the net. I see Amazon has everything is be looking for. Now to run it by the boss haha. Thanks guys
 
corey.lively said:
What strops/compounds are you guys using?
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I use two strops. One is a length of smooth-side leather against a wood backing. There's a little give with how I have it set up, so I don't have to worry as much about exact stropping angles.

The other, like I said, is the pouch for my Spyderco Double Stuff on which I have green (Chromium-oxide) compound. The "rough" side of the leather is great for taking compounds in general.
 
jrhoyt84 said:
So a sharp maker. That itself comes with medium and fine stones. Then purchase the coarse and ultra fine rods too? Also grab at some point an ultra coarse bench stone. And a strop. Haha. Got it. I'll probably pick up a sharp maker and ultra fine stones and the strop for now.
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Hi jrhoy, you will be doing yourself a disservice if you choose the uf stones over the diamond stones for the sm. The uf stones are fun to play with but the diamonds are essential to getting the most out of the sm. If you can get both then go for it, but if you are going to only start with one of the two then the diamonds are about 10x more useful than the uf stones.

As far as strops go, sure, grab one if you want but any steel can easily be taken to hair whittling sharp with the regular fine stones...even with the medium stones.
 
Surfingringo said:
Hi jrhoy, you will be doing yourself a disservice if you choose the uf stones over the diamond stones for the sm. The uf stones are fun to play with but the diamonds are essential to getting the most out of the sm. If you can get both then go for it, but if you are going to only start with one of the two then the diamonds are about 10x more useful than the uf stones.

As far as strops go, sure, grab one if you want but any steel can easily be taken to hair whittling sharp with the regular fine stones...even with the medium stones.
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I got to actually see a sm tonight and yea you guys are right. I can see how buying the diamond stones is a must. Those stones that come with it are not very aggressive at all.
I figure I'll pick one up and try it out on some of my others knifes. On a side note, how do you guys dare carry and use these spendy knifes on a daily basis? Lol. I'm to worried about jacking up a blade on my pm2 or any of the others to take them to work with me. Although I would say I am probably harder on a knife than the average person. At work the tenacious is just about perfect! So far been super easy to get an edge back after abusing it. Not so sure it would be the same on some s30v or zdp189 lol
 
I just got a SM and am really liking it so far. Looking to get the diamond or CBN stones. What is the difference? Also how many strokes do you guys do on the diamond stones? Thanks for any info.
 
The Sharpmaker is excellent but I also recommend a Spyderco Double Stuff to practice your free handing as well. I had a Lansky for my first sharpening system that worked ok but once I got my Double Stuff, that's pretty much all I use along with a strop. I can't reprofile but I think it's more enjoyable to maintain your knives by free hand sharpening. I don't own a knife that won't shave arm hair.
 
The sharp maker is great, you can actually free hand on it by turning the case over and laying the rods in the flats on the back, free hand away. I started out with just the SM but ended up getting a Edge Pro Apex for serious work like reprofiling and repairs to edges then mostly just use my SM for touch ups and quick maintenance. I like all the other stones that are available for the Edge Pro also, just picked up a 400 Chosera for faster reprofiling.
 
I have a Wicked Edge but I end up using the Sharpmaker more often. I also have a couple Norton bench stones that get used a fair bit. The WE is pretty slow if a lot of metal needs to get removed. A Norton Crystolon stone is better for that IMO. I like to finish on the Sharpmaker with the ultra fine stones.
 
Surfingringo said:
Hi jrhoy, you will be doing yourself a disservice if you choose the uf stones over the diamond stones for the sm. The uf stones are fun to play with but the diamonds are essential to getting the most out of the sm. If you can get both then go for it, but if you are going to only start with one of the two then the diamonds are about 10x more useful than the uf stones.

As far as strops go, sure, grab one if you want but any steel can easily be taken to hair whittling sharp with the regular fine stones...even with the medium stones.
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I agree 100% with our ocean surfing friend :)
 
I have a Sharpmaker, and have used it a lot over the years, but lately I find it a little slow and tedious compared to freehand sharpening with Shapton Pro stones (especially on the more wear resistant steels) I have a 1k and a 5k, plan to add more in the future, but these two can get my 204P Para 2 from rather dull to extremely sharp in about 5 minutes. Takes slightly longer to do the same on my S90V South Fork. I was intimidated by freehand sharpening until I actually tried it. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube, practiced on a couple of kitchen knives I didn't care too much about and was achieving very satisfactory results almost from the start. I use a strop between sharpenings to maintain the edge.

For someone totally new to sharpening the Sharpmaker is probably the way to go, especially with the diamond rods. You eventually get great results, though I do find that the tip can get rounded if you are not careful. If you stick to the flats of the rods this seems to protect the tip more, but it also slows the sharpening process down somewhat.
 
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