Need help with sharpeners

Nah. Just stick with the Sharpmaker for now. Stroping only enhances established apexs. I think you'll be surprised how sharp a knife can get with a brown stone and a white stone.
 
Well everyone, I bought the sharpmaker and the ultra fine rods. Diamond rods will come at some point in the future. I figure this should be pretty good for a start! It'll be here Tuesday and I'll commence sharpening everything in the house!
 
Congrats on the SM.

BUT ...the Diamond/CBN rods are much more useful than the Ultra Fine rods. If anything in your house is dull or damaged, you will quickly discover the truth of that. ;)
 
I played around with it and sharpened my rat 2. It's much sharper. I went with the 40 degree like they recommend. I shoulda used sharpie. It shaves hair now at least!
 
firefighterguy said:
I played around with it and sharpened my rat 2. It's much sharper. I went with the 40 degree like they recommend. I shoulda used sharpie. It shaves hair now at least!
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Good work.

TravisH said:
Congrats on the SM.

BUT ...the Diamond/CBN rods are much more useful than the Ultra Fine rods. If anything in your house is dull or damaged, you will quickly discover the truth of that. ;)
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I agree. I have the UF rods and never use them anymore. I barely even use the fine rods. I mostly use brown rods if I use the SM.
 
So after reading up and watching some videos I think I didn't hit each stone enough. I did 20 per step like the instructions say. When I flip it to the flat side I noticed daylight between the blade and stone when pushing down. I'm not getting it straight. It's going to take some practice. But it still got them sharper than they were. People on videos make it look super simple.

http://youtu.be/-MHe_8wTHmg

I know he's a professional. But it shows me I can get to hair whittling with the sharpmaker. I probably need a strop in the future.

I tried to sharpen a super dull blade last night and I needed the diamond rods. I'll get them soon. Thanks for all your tips! Keep em coming if you use the sharpmaker and can get hair whittling edges!
 
Cool man, your sharpening :)

The strop is not needed
Save some cash bro.

Heck you could even tape a piece of paper to the rods to strop the edge.

It's a new movement. You'll adapt with practice. Remember when finishing off the the stones reduce the pressure to the weight of the knife for better results.

Enjoy brother.
 
Good for you Man! Pretty satisfying to sharpen a dull knife isn't it? As dead box hero said practice will make this almost second nature to you. Go gettem firefighterguy.
Russ
 
OP, have you read the stickies up at the top of this subforum regarding sharpening? I highly recommend it.

Also, one thing I learned from someone here about the sharpmaker is to not bear down or put much pressure as you run the knife edge down the rod. For me, it was counterintuitive in that I thought I had to put some pressure but the less pressure I found gets the knife sharper.

I use the sharpmaker for maintaining the sharpness of my knives. When I have to resharpen, I use diamond flat stones.
 
Rey HRH said:
OP, have you read the stickies up at the top of this subforum regarding sharpening? I highly recommend it.

Also, one thing I learned from someone here about the sharpmaker is to not bear down or put much pressure as you run the knife edge down the rod. For me, it was counterintuitive in that I thought I had to put some pressure but the less pressure I found gets the knife sharper.

I use the sharpmaker for maintaining the sharpness of my knives. When I have to resharpen, I use diamond flat stones.
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Interesting. Less pressure is counterintuitive, but it makes sense. I think that's another thing I'll need to work on. I've been reading through them slowly. There's so much good info to soak up on here.
 
I was severely underwelmed by the OEM brown rods. Cut nice at first then lose their bite and you rub rub rub without much effect.

firefighterguy said:
Well everyone, I bought the sharpmaker and the ultra fine rods. Diamond rods will come at some point in the future. I figure this should be pretty good for a start! It'll be here Tuesday and I'll commence sharpening everything in the house!
Click to expand...
 
SM rod grits ...

Dia/CBN - 37 micron , 400 mesh
Medium - 15 micron , 1000 mesh
Fine - 6 micron, 2400 mesh
Ultra - 3 micron, 4800 mesh
 
firefighterguy said:
Interesting. Less pressure is counterintuitive, but it makes sense.
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Light pressure is good to use at the end. You'll want to reduce your pressure in stages as you get towards that perfect edge. But I use plenty of pressure when I have a sort of dull blade that I'm working on the sharpmaker. After I get a burr on both sides, *then* I reduce the pressure, cut off the burr, and do back and forth strokes (one, ,two, or three per side). As I get towards the end I reduce the pressure more and more until it's very light.

This takes practice, because it's entirely possible to do light strokes FOREVER and never reduce a burr that's still present. Or you can do light strokes FOREVER on a dull blade and never grind off enough metal to form a burr or otherwise form a sharp edge. Use Sharpening Secret number 4, OBSERVATION to check your progress as you go. This might be looking for reflected light at the edge. This might be checking for a burr with finger tips, fingernail, microfiber cloth, bright light, or some other method. The key point of secret #4 is to observe often, adjust, grind, and observe again. It's a feedback loop.

Brian.
 
Nomo4me said:
I was severely underwelmed by the OEM brown rods. Cut nice at first then lose their bite and you rub rub rub without much effect.
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They do get loaded up with metal, that's for sure. You're not the first person to "complain" that they load quickly. I think it's a consequence of their construction. But they do clean up relatively easily. Bar Keeper's Friend is particularly effective on them. Why? BKF is a powdered cleanser that contains oxalic acid, which "eats" rust and other metal residue. BKF works great on the gray and white rods. I clean mine any time I notice that the metal streaks on the rods are getting to be too prominent.

The SharpMaker isn't intended for a lot of grinding. It's more of a touchup and minor grinding tool.

Brian.
 
i started with the sharpmaker, and i think its a must have for just proper maint.in keeping ones blades always sharp,this and a good strop,i added the edge pro for my re-bevel's.
 
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