Problems with my Sharpmaker - need advise

A

AG

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Jan 2, 1999
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Hi,

I have been using my 204 Sharpmaker for a long time now with no problems. Recently I have noticed that the grey sticks do not have much resistance to the sharpened blade as before. Obviously I cleaned them as I always do till they where clean.

But they never got back to what they used to be - no matter what angle or what force do I use it seems they have lost their grip/"bite" and do not remove steel as before - I feel like the sharpened blade is slipping over these grey sticks instead of grinding & rubbing against them.

I would appreciate any suggestions other then cleaning them as I did that 2 times in a row but with no improvement what so ever.

Thanks
 
The course stones will need to be replaced after considerable use.

I have sharpened perhaps in excess of 10,000 knives for others on mine and last year replaced the course stones for the same reason you mentioned above.

The fine stones seem to never wear out but the course stones need replacing after being used for years. In all honesty, I liked the older stones a lot more than the newer set I got to replace them. Seems the new course stones [ mine anyway ] have a problem where the edge/corner of both don't cut as well as they should and sound very gritty.

It's not really a problem as I use the flats anyway for the course stones most of the time. I've been able to work around the issue, I'm sure they will break in nicely with more use.

Hope that helps'

Brownie
 
I used them for about 100 sharpening sessions - that's why I found it strange- sal maybe you can tell me what's wrong ?
 
Try cleaning by rubbng rubber ink eraser.
If that doesnt work, get a very rough diamond file and cross hatch the flats slowly. I crosshatched both of mine and like it better than the non crosshatched spare grey.
 
Put one grey triangle into back flat slot
use diamond to rub the triangle at 45deg

|\\\\\\\\\\|
|\\\\\\\\\\|
|\\\\\\\\\\|

turn the triangle up side down and do the same until yo get

|XXXXXXX|
|XXXXXXX|
|XXXXXXX|

HTH
 
one would actually want to flip the direction of the file 90 degrees-a 180 degree flip of any angle is basically pointing in the same direction.
 
Agreed, my bad. Well you get the idea, right?

Oh, you can lightly score the corners using the same crosshatched patterns. Remember to have a light touch.

Try on the bottom corners and see if you like it before going the whole triangle.
 
i have same prob with the fine sticks.. i must pass a rubber eraser on them at any knife i'm sharpening.. sometimes even during a single session... and i 'm about 100 knives sharpened too.

maybe the cleaning with water/soap and scotchbrite works better ..
 
Comet cleaner, scotchbrite pad, brillo pad all work to the best effect of cleaning the ceramics.

Not much else I've seen works anywhere near as good at it over the last 15 years or so.

My stones get dirty on 10 knives using all of the available surface area including the corners and flats, then they are cleaned with any of the above.

They have always come clean but remember that the dirtier they are when you start, the longer it takes to scrub them clean. Completely nasty, I can get them [ all 4 ceramics ] in about 10 minutes of scrubbing.

Brownie
 
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