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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
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Lansky or Sharpmaker?
- Thread starter dylan_d
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2001
- Messages
- 32,359
Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, you can't beat learning to sharpen freehand, everything else is an assistance but, learning what sharp is, and what to look for as you achieve that near perfect edge, only comes from practice.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2002
- Messages
- 433
Dylan,
I have both sharpeners. Both do the job that they were intended for.
I use the Spyderco more then the lansky.
That is cause usually, I only have to touch up my knives.
I use the Lansky when the blade is really dead or non existant.
For example, I bought a knife kit at the Denver knife show. The blade bevels were not ground. After putting a bone handle on it, I used the Lansky to do the bevels. I started with a diamond hone.
Then I went to the medium stone.
Then I got out the spyderco and used the course and then the fine stones.
I am convinced nothing beats the lansky system for keeping the same angles
And Nothing beats the 204 for getting a really sharp blade.
After the 204 you can strop the blade if you want. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont.
Usually, I can get a blade hair poppin sharp when I finish up with the 204.
Good luck
Jack
I have both sharpeners. Both do the job that they were intended for.
I use the Spyderco more then the lansky.
That is cause usually, I only have to touch up my knives.
I use the Lansky when the blade is really dead or non existant.
For example, I bought a knife kit at the Denver knife show. The blade bevels were not ground. After putting a bone handle on it, I used the Lansky to do the bevels. I started with a diamond hone.
Then I went to the medium stone.
Then I got out the spyderco and used the course and then the fine stones.
I am convinced nothing beats the lansky system for keeping the same angles
And Nothing beats the 204 for getting a really sharp blade.
After the 204 you can strop the blade if you want. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont.
Usually, I can get a blade hair poppin sharp when I finish up with the 204.
Good luck
Jack
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2002
- Messages
- 433
Dylan,
I have both sharpeners. Both do the job that they were intended for.
I use the Spyderco more then the lansky.
That is cause usually, I only have to touch up my knives.
I use the Lansky when the blade is really dead or non existant.
For example, I bought a knife kit at the Denver knife show. The blade bevels were not ground. After putting a bone handle on it, I used the Lansky to do the bevels. I started with a diamond hone.
Then I went to the medium stone.
Then I got out the spyderco and used the course and then the fine stones.
I am convinced nothing beats the lansky system for keeping the same angles
And Nothing beats the 204 for getting a really sharp blade.
After the 204 you can strop the blade if you want. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont.
Usually, I can get a blade hair poppin sharp when I finish up with the 204.
Good luck
Jack
I have both sharpeners. Both do the job that they were intended for.
I use the Spyderco more then the lansky.
That is cause usually, I only have to touch up my knives.
I use the Lansky when the blade is really dead or non existant.
For example, I bought a knife kit at the Denver knife show. The blade bevels were not ground. After putting a bone handle on it, I used the Lansky to do the bevels. I started with a diamond hone.
Then I went to the medium stone.
Then I got out the spyderco and used the course and then the fine stones.
I am convinced nothing beats the lansky system for keeping the same angles
And Nothing beats the 204 for getting a really sharp blade.
After the 204 you can strop the blade if you want. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont.
Usually, I can get a blade hair poppin sharp when I finish up with the 204.
Good luck
Jack
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2003
- Messages
- 1,690
I just bought a DMT aligner kit...excellent...tried it on my old Buck 110 and it was shaving sharp...you can get a combination of stones extra fine, fine, coarse or extra coarse...extra fine to polish the edge, fine to put a sharp edge, coarse to restore a dull or damaged knife and extra coarse for those really f$c£"d up blades...but i think you can just go with the fine and extra fine...
it's easy to use...it has seven bevel adjustments and it's versatile enough to use it for kitchen knives or larger knives...
they're diamond stones so it'll put a razor sharp edge in seconds...
also...no messy oils...just water...
it's easy to use...it has seven bevel adjustments and it's versatile enough to use it for kitchen knives or larger knives...
they're diamond stones so it'll put a razor sharp edge in seconds...
also...no messy oils...just water...
- Joined
- May 18, 2000
- Messages
- 3,743
Yep, they are different systems and you need both. I like the sharpmaker for keeping the edge and for those knives that come from the factory with an angle that matches. But all too often a new knife has an edge grind that does not match the sharpmaker. A little work on the Lansky with diamond stones to set the angle and next time use the sharpmaker to keep her sharp.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2002
- Messages
- 1,242
I bought the sharpmaker on ebay becuase I can't find 'em around here. And hell, I'll probaly run down to the bass pro shop and pick up a Lansky when I need to use one. The 204 has 30 and 40 degree angles right? What angle does BM put on their mini AFCK's? I guess what I'm asking is, will I have to change the angle on my BM or will I be fine just using the 30 degree angle with the knife vertical? Thanks
I don't know what angle BM uses, but the Sharpmaker will sharpen any knife that has an angle of 30 degrees or more. It is true that many knives will not come with an angle that is exactly 30 or 40 degrees but as long as the Sharpmaker angle is less than the angle on the blade, they do not have to match exactly.
Hawaiian does have a point with the blade angle matching exctly the sharpening angle on the 204 and this method does have it's advantages, but it is not necessary to obtain a razor edge.
It would be extremely uncommon to buy a new knife with a blade angle less than 30 degrees. It would also be unwise to reprofile an edge any less than 30 degrees because it is just not stable.
I get most of my knives hair poppin sharp at 40 degrees with the sharpmaker, I have no need to try 30 degrees especially when it means I will just have to resharpen sooner anyway
Hawaiian does have a point with the blade angle matching exctly the sharpening angle on the 204 and this method does have it's advantages, but it is not necessary to obtain a razor edge.
It would be extremely uncommon to buy a new knife with a blade angle less than 30 degrees. It would also be unwise to reprofile an edge any less than 30 degrees because it is just not stable.
I get most of my knives hair poppin sharp at 40 degrees with the sharpmaker, I have no need to try 30 degrees especially when it means I will just have to resharpen sooner anyway
- Joined
- Sep 23, 1999
- Messages
- 3,831
dylan,
congrats on getting a sharpmaker!
A lot of the questions you have will be answered right away through use of your sharpmaker. To see if your benchmade is at 30 degrees, do the magic marker trick. If you don't know the magic marker trick, read the sharpening FAQ! That you must do anyways before trying to sharpen anything. Read from the book of Joe, and you'll do fine.
How do you know when to reprofile the edge? Again, with use you'll know. John Juranich of Razor Edge Systems fame says to do it every time you sharpen!! But you really don't need to. After sharpening your knife a bunch of times on the sharpmaker, you'll notice/feel that it is taking longer to get that edge on, and maybe it doesn't cut as well as it used to, even though you finally got an edge on your knife. This is reprofiling time. THis all depends on your usage and your knife geometry and such. But say you sharpmaker your knife once a month. I bet you'll need to reprofile maybe once a year! So don't sweat reprofiling. Enjoy sharpeing your Benchmade, and ask away any time you get more questions!
congrats on getting a sharpmaker!
A lot of the questions you have will be answered right away through use of your sharpmaker. To see if your benchmade is at 30 degrees, do the magic marker trick. If you don't know the magic marker trick, read the sharpening FAQ! That you must do anyways before trying to sharpen anything. Read from the book of Joe, and you'll do fine.
How do you know when to reprofile the edge? Again, with use you'll know. John Juranich of Razor Edge Systems fame says to do it every time you sharpen!! But you really don't need to. After sharpening your knife a bunch of times on the sharpmaker, you'll notice/feel that it is taking longer to get that edge on, and maybe it doesn't cut as well as it used to, even though you finally got an edge on your knife. This is reprofiling time. THis all depends on your usage and your knife geometry and such. But say you sharpmaker your knife once a month. I bet you'll need to reprofile maybe once a year! So don't sweat reprofiling. Enjoy sharpeing your Benchmade, and ask away any time you get more questions!
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,801
Hey, guess what, they carry the Sharpmaker 204 at Bass Pro, at least the one in Concord, NC, where I got mine.
Actually the Sharpmaker angle needs to be just a bit more than the actual angle of the knife. If it is less, then you would only be back beveling, or removing metal from the shoulder of the bevel. If the angle is a bit more than the edge angle, then you are removing metal only from the very edge. It is even more difficult if the knife is exactly the same angle as the sharpmaker because the sharpmaker is rather slow, and if you had to remove metal along the entire edge bevel, as opposed to just on the edge, it would take forever. That is when they recommend back bevelling, so you can speed things up by only removing metal from the very edge itself.
Mike
- Joined
- Nov 25, 1999
- Messages
- 1,499
I would go with Sharpmaker for pretty simple reason. When you will be tired with guided sharpening and will want to learn free hand one (earlier or later you certainly will do it) Sharpmaker can serve you as bench stone for firs times and Lansky cant.
I suppose you have Lansky clamp-n-rod system in your mind, they make also V-style sharpeners, btw excellent for big kitchen knives and very cost efficient for such purposes. I have this one in my kitchen and prefer it over Sharpmaker due to longer rods.
I do not have Lansky system but I have GATCO clamp-n-rod one what works very similarly. In fact I use it very (but really very!) rarely, mostly explaining how it works. I use the Sharpmaker somewhat more frequently, however close to 90% of my sharpening work I perform free hand.
I suppose you have Lansky clamp-n-rod system in your mind, they make also V-style sharpeners, btw excellent for big kitchen knives and very cost efficient for such purposes. I have this one in my kitchen and prefer it over Sharpmaker due to longer rods.
I do not have Lansky system but I have GATCO clamp-n-rod one what works very similarly. In fact I use it very (but really very!) rarely, mostly explaining how it works. I use the Sharpmaker somewhat more frequently, however close to 90% of my sharpening work I perform free hand.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2002
- Messages
- 1,242
Well, I FINALLY got my sharpmaker toaday. I'm very glad I picked this over the Lansky. I can't imagine sharpening being any easier than this. It's amazing. My mini AFCK is scary sharp and I only used the 40 degree angle. I can't imagine what the 30 is like. Only thing I've had trouble with is keeping the blade flush when using the flat side of the stone. So, I'll just use the corners, they seem to work just fine. 
I originally had the same problem with the flat side of the stones.
I found that if I aplied a little less pressure and concentrated on keeping the blade flush, it worked much better.
Look closely at the instructional video......during the demonstrations there is not much pressure applied to the stones at all.
I found that if I aplied a little less pressure and concentrated on keeping the blade flush, it worked much better.
Look closely at the instructional video......during the demonstrations there is not much pressure applied to the stones at all.
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2002
- Messages
- 9,948
dylan_d,
It's probably a moot point now as you're getting your 812 scary sharp, but Benchmade generally grinds their blades to about 40-50 degrees combined. If your blade is ATS-34 or 154CM, it will sharpen down to the 30 degrees combined angle in under an hour. If you bought the M2 blade (Mmm... M2....), it will take just under four hours with the Sharpmaker and its optional diamond hones if you don't know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing and that's how long it took for me to grind down my 710HS Benchmade.
It's probably a moot point now as you're getting your 812 scary sharp, but Benchmade generally grinds their blades to about 40-50 degrees combined. If your blade is ATS-34 or 154CM, it will sharpen down to the 30 degrees combined angle in under an hour. If you bought the M2 blade (Mmm... M2....), it will take just under four hours with the Sharpmaker and its optional diamond hones if you don't know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing and that's how long it took for me to grind down my 710HS Benchmade.