Ordered a sharpmaker

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rmeron

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Sep 28, 2011
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Ordered a sharpmaker from Amazon, will be here Monday. I have a bunch of old knives that I can practice on after I watch the DVD and read the book.
I'm not looking for anything fancy just a sharp edge.
 
rmeron said:
Ordered a sharpmaker from Amazon, will be here Monday. I have a bunch of old knives that I can practice on after I watch the DVD and read the book.
I'm not looking for anything fancy just a sharp edge.
Click to expand...

excellent! just keep in mind no pressure! just let the edge glide on the surface of the stone, let the abrasion do the cutting, not force. Took me about a year to get it well lol. But that may have been a case of slow Learning.

I had gotten the ultrafine, but now I find those are good for a straight razor if you shave like that. The diamonds rods are excellent! I don't know how the cubic boron ones compare, but they may be similar. These coarse ones are a must to work on the bevel, and even the edge. With high carbide steels all you need is the coarse diamonds rods, even for the micro bevel, super steels perform best at the level of grit.
 
Good purchase rmeron. Go ahead and pick up the diamond rods when you have a chance. I used the system without the diamond rods for the first few months, and once I added them it was a total game changer...especially for knives that had gotten very dull or were in need of having the edge bevel reprofiled. Enjoy.
 
You're going to be happy with your purchase. The biggest suggestion is along with what Mael333ca mentioned above, don't use pressure. Let the weight of the blade and the downward pull back to the work. No need to push down into the rods at all. If you do that, you'll be getting great results.

I also 2nd and/or 3rd the Diamond rods. They are not that cheap but make sharpening really dull knives and harder steels much much easier. It can be done with the medium and fine rods it will just take a lot longer. On well maintained edges, I typically just do touch ups with the medium rods. Just takes a couple minutes.
 
Or you could wrap the rods with sandpaper and pretty much get the same thing as the diamond rods. Cheap too. I reprofiled many Spydies that way before I got my paper wheels.
 
besides my knifes,this was the best investment i ever made!start slowly,take your time,and reed the book!and your golden.:thumbup:
 
rmeron said:
Ordered a sharpmaker from Amazon, will be here Monday. I have a bunch of old knives that I can practice on after I watch the DVD and read the book.
I'm not looking for anything fancy just a sharp edge.
Click to expand...

Then he SM will serve you fine. Good idea to practice on cheaper knives first.
 
rmeron said:
Ordered a sharpmaker from Amazon, will be here Monday. I have a bunch of old knives that I can practice on after I watch the DVD and read the book.
I'm not looking for anything fancy just a sharp edge.
Click to expand...

Hey glad to hear that you got you a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. Now when you get some more funds together I highly recommend that you also get the 204 Diamond rods and the 204 Ultra-Fine stones. Because to me without those extra stones you can buy the kit just isn't complete.

Myself I'm at this time trying to scrape up the change to get the CBN stones you can get for the Sharpmaker. But you will love the kit>> just watch the video at least 2 to 3 times before attempting to use the unit. Do keep us posted on your progress. I'm sure you'll catch on quickly.
 
With not much practice and a little guidance from the helpful folks here, I am now getting really good results. It's a great tool.
 
mael333ca said:
excellent! just keep in mind no pressure! just let the edge glide on the surface of the stone, let the abrasion do the cutting, not force. Took me about a year to get it well lol. But that may have been a case of slow Learning.

I had gotten the ultrafine, but now I find those are good for a straight razor if you shave like that. The diamonds rods are excellent! I don't know how the cubic boron ones compare, but they may be similar. These coarse ones are a must to work on the bevel, and even the edge. With high carbide steels all you need is the coarse diamonds rods, even for the micro bevel, super steels perform best at the level of grit.
Click to expand...
No pressure? How many time am I supposed to run my Sage 1 over the included stones? I'm getting results, its sharper, but I cant quite shave my arm without slitting my wrists, lol.
 
Sharpmaker is outstanding as long as you're physically able to use it. The onslaught of arthritis in my right hand has made me employ other sharpening methods as I can no longer
keep a constant angle on the rods.
 
ribstabsheart said:
No pressure? How many time am I supposed to run my Sage 1 over the included stones? I'm getting results, its sharper, but I cant quite shave my arm without slitting my wrists, lol.
Click to expand...

I think mael333's point is slightly overstated. Light pressure does indeed work well, but it requires some pressure. More than the weight of the knife. Also, the amount of pressure used depends on whether you are sharpening the entire edge bevel or simply micro beveling. When micro beveling it is more important to keep the pressure light because you are in contact with such a small area of metal and the force is magnified greatly. When you are sharpening the entire bevel and have a lot of steel to remove, you can be a bit more cavalier with the amount of pressure you are using but you still don't want to go over board. It's also important to go progressively lighter on the pressure when finishing as this will make it possible to reach higher levels of sharpness. On the last 5 or 6 strokes, I am using no more than the the weight of the blade like mael333 said. If you try to do that from the get go on a reprofile though you'll be there for days.
 
Thank you, surfinggringo. Could you elaborate a little more on the beveling process? I'm honestly not sure WHAT i'm doing, aside from using a sharpie and trying to keep my blade perpendicular.
 
Some of the older pocket knives I have are military, Camillus and Imperial, no idea what kind of steel. So would I start on the 40 degree or the 30 degree? Should I just pick one and go until it's where I want it?
I have never been any good at sharpening, hopefully this will change.
 
rmeron said:
Some of the older pocket knives I have are military, Camillus and Imperial, no idea what kind of steel. So would I start on the 40 degree or the 30 degree? Should I just pick one and go until it's where I want it?
I have never been any good at sharpening, hopefully this will change.
Click to expand...

If you have an older knife and don't know what angle the edge bevels are, it can be very informative to use a sharpie. Color in the entire edge bevel on both sides and then take a few precise strokes on the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. Look at where the marker is being removed and that will give you a good idea of whats going on. If the marker is gone only right at the edge then you should be good to go. If you are hitting the entire edge bevel at 40 degrees than you might want to consider a reprofile. Again though, you'll need the diamond rods in order to reprofile.
 
Diamond rods are definitely next month. Where would be a good place to order from and all I need to look for are diamond rods or is there another name or number?
 
Just go to any of the trusted online outfits and search for spyderco diamond rods or CBN rods. They are essentially the same.

-Edit: and it won't hurt you to go a month without them. That will give you that much more practice with the SM and make you appreciate them even more once you get them. :)
 
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