Need tips on using Sharpmaker

J

jscalia

Joined
Dec 11, 2006
Messages
126
First time using the sharpmaker and I am havin a little difficulty getting the razor sharp edge I am looking for. I am using the 40 and 30 degree edges that are pre set with the kit.
 
Follow the instruction manual.

Remember, the first time you sharpen on the sharpmaker, you will be establishing a new angle, so it might take a bit o time and effort. From then on it will be very easy and quick!
 
I'm a knifemaker (and user) and I've been using a Spyderco Sharpmaker for years. Those same rods have easily sharpened over 500 knives and are still going strong. I use light pressure, and wipe the rods (either set) with a rag soaked in Hoppes #9 gun solvent (avail at any Wal Mart) every 10 strokes or so. Use a clean part of the rag every time. Its unbelievable how much black junk comes off with each wipe-down. You can definately feel a huge difference in the cutting action of the stones after the wipe-down. After another ten or so strokes, you'll feel the cutting action start to diminish, and the knife blade will seem to glide rather than drag over the rod. Time for another wipedown.
Hope this helps,
Scott

p.s. For reprofiling, I use a GATCO diamond system on the 19 deg setting (coarse then med. hones only). It removes material much faster when you need to. After that I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker to finish the edge off.
 
Scott,

Thanks for the tip on the Hoppe's. I buy it by the quart for gun cleaning.:D

I've been using comet and water with a Scotchbrite pad. It works, but it's a PITA.:grumpy:

I think I'll try your method!:)
 
I'm also having problems with my Sharpmaker. I have been using a Smith's 3-in-1 with great luck. It only comes with one type of rod, but it gets my knives sharp fast. I'd like for my Sharpmaker to work that.

My med rods work ok. Once I use the white stones they seem to dull the blade.
 
Forgot to mention that my rods seem to have some chips along the edges. blade catches sometimes and stops on those places.
 
I'm having some difficulty too. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the strokes back and forth from the left stone to the right. It seems the stones are so far apart that I feel like I have to change my body position (arm) when moving to the right-hand stone. I'm constantly concerned that the knife blade isn;t vertical and I'm either micro-beveling or not getting the edge at all with that side of the stroke. The knife is sharper when I finish, but I still can;t get it shaving-hair sharp.

I'm sharpening D2, 154CM, and ATS-34. However, I was able to substantially improve the ATS-34 blade (BM-Emerson folder partially serrated), but not "scary sharp". I followed the instructions on the serrations, and they turned out very nice...dramatic improvement.

Oh yes, my blades will sometimes catch slightly too on the edges....
 
I have one chip out of the edge of one of my medium rods too. I've smoothed it out some by rubbing the edges of the other rod against it (kinda like rubbing two sticks together). This has helped, but usually I just avoid using that side now. To tell you the truth, I rarely go beyond the medium rods on edge anymore. I like the toothy edge they give the blade, and they'll shave hair.

I have a set of ceramic crock sticks in a similar (but wooden block) type of arrangement. They measure out at a ~56 deg angle. After sharpening on the Sharpmaker at 40 deg, I just swipe on the larger angled crock sticks 5 or 6 times each side lightly to remove the wire edge, and I'm done. The same thing could be done on the Sharpmaker by inserting the fine rods on edge, and tilting the knife slightly.

The only real trouble I've had with sharpening knives on the Sharpmaker is many knives need to be reprofiled to a thinner edge first, before the Sharpmaker will work. Some of the knives I've sharpened need a substantial amount of material removed. This seems to be particularly true with the thicker, military style knives such as KaBars, jet pilot survival knives (Camillus and Ontario), Cold Steel's stuff- an SRK comes to mind, an Anza Bodington, and knives like that. I even had a Randall Model 18 that needed reprofiling first. Like I said above, for reprofiling I use a GATCO coarse diamond stone. Its alot faster than the Sharpmaker.
 
The sharpmaker tricks I've learned about:

o The bevel angle must be less than or equal to the Sharpmaker pre-set angles. You'll need a coarse stone to fix this otherwise.

o Avoid or re-surface dings in the Sharpmaker stones. (Mine didn't come perfectly smooth.)

o Most utility and kitchen knives will only need the medium stones to reach ample, working level sharpness.

o To advance to higher levels of sharpness, you need a consistent way to test sharpness. (I like the paper push-cut test frequently discussed on this forum.)

o To push the limits on your sharpmaker abilities, experiment with burr removal strategies (super-clean rods, light strokes, raised angles) and experiment with fine and ultra-fine rods, stropping on leather, etc.

o I have had good luck cleaning with Hoppes solvent, but have recently started using Cerama Bryte glass-ceramic cooptop cleaner. Water and comet work fine at the sink, but if you want to clean repeatedly during sharpening sessions you need a waterless method.
 
With a few exceptions, I only use the grey rods. My BM 710 D2 will take a puchcutting edge with the grey rods only. It's a "toothy" edge and slices like a "sonofabeech" but it will still push cut newsprint one inch out. And the edge lasts forever. 15 degree per side bevel with 20 degree microbevel.

Some of my knives get the white rods, and then several strops loaded with abrasives from 4 microns down to .8 microns, and a highly polished edge. But these polished edges, while "God-awful scary sharp," don't seem to cut through rope or vines as well as the grey rod "toothy" edge on the 710.:confused:

I guess there's place for both. :)
 
These tips are helpful. I have been obsessig over my edges lately.
I had a few of the "gadget" type sharpeners for years, and they do OK for a workable edge, but I want my kitchen knives and my good knives all scary sharp. I bought the spyderco, and though they get sharper, they do not get shaving sharp. If I strop on the fine stones, I can get shaving sharp, but I think it is a false edge (a burr) that will not stand up to any use. I think I need to get a leather strop and some ultra-fine stones.
I want my edges to be hair-popping mirrors tat still can be a usable, workable edge. Well, except my big choppers (CGFBM)...those just need to be very sharp....not hair popping.
 
roknjs said:
Forgot to mention that my rods seem to have some chips along the edges. blade catches sometimes and stops on those places.
Click to expand...

I've got the same problem. Not that big of a deal, since I don't sharpen a high volume of knives, but I don't know why there are chips out of one of the corners on the med. stones and one of the white ones. I just don't use those sides. I haven't really tried to smooth them out, can you do it?
 
I have used the Sharpmaker as my primary sharpener since I have gotten serious about knives. I have an old version, single-angle model Sharpmaker and a current version. As matt321 eluded to, you need to make sure that the bevel on the knife you are sharpening is equal to or less than the angles on the Sharpmaker. if the bevel is greater than the angles on the Sharpmaker, you'll be polishing the shoulder of the edge, and you'll never get a sharp edge. I have reprofiled a number of my knives to my knives so that they a) can be sharpened with the Sharpmaker, and b) cut better. Enjoy!
 
These posts are very good. I'd like to hear more. Smokelaw1 took the exact words out of my mouth.... that's what I'm after too.

Ben Dover: mine didn;t come with grey rods, just brown and white. Am I missing something, or... do you buy them seperately?
 
Another Sharpmaker tip I learned from this forum. When all else fails...follow this method:
Lean a coarse stone against one of the Sharpmaker stones. Work the blade against the coarse stone in a circular motion and just stay on that same side. Do this until you can feel a pronounced burr along the entire opposite edge with your finger tips. It may take a long while to get a burr, but forming the burr is proof-positive that you have milled down to the cutting edge. Then flip the coarse stone over against the other Sharpmaker stone and continue with the circular motion until a continuous burr has been formed again. Now remove the coarse stone and continue with the sharpmaker in the conventional way.

The coarse stone can be a DMT or a corborundum; something that cuts aggresively and is small enough to lean against the Sharpmaker stones. Caution: It takes both hands, so this leaning method is not totally safe. The Sharpmaker diamond stones would be the safe alternative.
 
When I first started using a Sharpmaker, I would get a sharp edge that would grab against the back surface of a thumbnail but would fail that test from the opposite side. This, I learned indicated, a wire edge. I could flip that wire edge by working that side on the Sharpmaker a few strokes. It would still be there, just flipped to the other side now. With a little effort I could ease it over so it pointed straight and would grab thumbnail equally well from either side. However, it was still there, and was an inferior edge since it would tend to fold over when cutting. I would get that same type edge on every knife I sharpened. Several months ago I finally learned to avoid this by keeping the Sharpmaker stones very clean and using gradually lighter strokes.
 
Stretch,
The standard stones are the white ones and the dark ones (grey or brown colored). The optional stones are the white ulta-fines (the ends are colored red) and the coarse diamond sleeves. I think I paid roughly $9 apiece for ultra-fines. The diamond sleeves are expensive. I don't have those.

I didn't order the ultra-fines until I thought I had advanced to the point where I would be able to benefit from them. My latest edges will push-cut printer paper about 2+ inches from the hold point. Six months ago I was only able to do that at one inch with standard stones. Plenty of folks on this forum can do far better.
 
Just read another post that reminded me of another one. Some folks have had luck wrapping coarse sandpaper around the Sharpmaker rods to create a faster cutting alternative. I haven't done this, so I don't know exactly what kind of sandpaper to use or how to best attach it. Maybe someone will chime in on this.
 
StretchNM said:
These posts are very good. I'd like to hear more. Smokelaw1 took the exact words out of my mouth.... that's what I'm after too.

Ben Dover: mine didn;t come with grey rods, just brown and white. Am I missing something, or... do you buy them seperately?
Click to expand...


Mine came with grey rods as the "coarse" rods. The White are the fine rods. I've never seen brown rods, but apparently they are out there!
 
I just use the stick corners and start of with 40 normal strokes ( 20 each side) followed by 20 light strokes followed by 10 very light strokes first with the coarse ...then fine ...then ultra fine stones. I then hone on a peice of 16" by 8" leather on my thigh 3 strokes each side with 9 micron paste then hone 3 strokes each side with 0.25 micron paste, the hone strokes are light and away from the edge at an angle the same or slightly less than the secondary bevel.
I make alot of hawkbills so thats why I started using the corners and my thigh for honing but found that this method was just as good for straight blades
 
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