Newbie sharpening a Spyderco Manix 2 XL in S30V

[AUpharmD]

Hey everyone. I'm a newbie when it comes to sharpening. I've had this knife for a year and I've never sharpened it myself. I've always had it sharpened for me by a friend of mine who is a custom knife maker. Recently, I was unable to have my friend sharpen my knife due to school, so I took it to a local knife store and left it for sharpening. I received it, and it honestly held an edge for about two days and it has become quite dull. I decided to buy a sharpener and I purchased the spyderco sharpmaker. I'm curious what stone that I should start with. I also purchased the diamond stones and the extra fine stones. I'll be using the knife for every day use and I want to sharpen it so that it will hold an edge without becoming dull if I cut one piece of paper.

Thanks everyone. I can take more pictures if need be. I'm not actually sure if the pictures will help, but I figured I would take them anyway.

 

[Jason B.]

You should start with the diamond rods.

The edge as it is now looks to be in good shape except at the heel. I see you have a slight slope from the edge transition to the ricasso, focus a little more pressure here to get that leveled with the rest of the edge when using the diamond rods. I would finish wth the medium (brown) rods for that steel, it likes to be a little toothy.

 

[bdmicarta]

There are plenty of youtube videos on how to use the Sharpmaker with the basic brown and white stones.

You also need to get a sharpie pen and a good magnifier. Put some ink on the edge bevel, run it over the brown stone a few strokes and then check to see if it is removing the ink at the edge. If not then you will need to use the diamond stones to cut a new bevel all the way down to the edge, then switch to the brown stones and continue that way.