Sharpener Advice

Buck_Fan · Dec 29, 2008

I am sure this is brought up often. But I want to ask about specific sharpeners.

I am going to Cabela's tomorrow with family, and I have a coupon

. I have not done much sharpening in the past, and I have mostly pocket knives. There are two I am considering.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20897&hasJS=true

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20897&hasJS=true

What are your thoughts on these? I know they are different. I feel I could do a good job with the three stone set freehand, but I ma hesitant. And wonder if I should go with the guided sharpener.

Or is there another one I should consider. Price is an issue.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...at20712&parentType=category&parentId=cat20712

Any advice would be appreciated.

Bill

gajinoz · Dec 29, 2008

First of all, you need to decide if you want to go freehand or have some sort of guided system that will maintain the angles for you.

If a system that will help you maintain angles is your choice, and you want to keep the price down, definitely go for the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20897&hasJS=true

If freehand seems like a good idea, the tri-hone in your second link would be a good starting point.

Hard H2O · Dec 29, 2008

I have the GATCO Professional that I bought from Cabela's. I am pretty sure that you get the stand when you buy it from Cabela's.

I would highly recommend the GATCO. It works great for me. I have sharpened everything from small pocket knives up to 10" chefs.

The only problem blade is the very narrow ones like on a Victorinox Classic.

I added the extra fine and the ultimate finishing hones. I bought those two direct from GATCO. If you like anykind of polished edge these will help you out.

I finish on leather strops but that is a whole 'nother can of worms.

I also have an Arkansas Tri-hone from Rapala. It works great as well. I use it mainly for fillet knives. The GATCO does 99% of my sharpening.

This one from Cabela's is highly regarded on Blade Forums and on other websites: Spyderco™ Sharpener It seems to me that it is a good tool for maintenance but not so good at sharpening a dull blade or at reprofiling a blade to a new edge angle.

Good luck and report back on what you buy.

gajinoz · Dec 29, 2008

Hard H2O said:
Spyderco Sharpener It seems to me that it is a good tool for maintenance but not so good at sharpening a dull blade or at reprofiling a blade to a new edge angle.

Good luck and report back on what you buy.

It is true that the Sharpmaker has some limitations if you want to sharpen very blunt knives or you want to reprofile them. It can be done, just takes a lot more effort. I use an Edgepro for that sort of thing. For regular maintenance though, the Sharpmaker is very easy to set up and use and the fact that you can sharpen all sorts of things on it makes it a great choice too.

Having said all that, you can get diamond rods for it which will make your reprofiling a breeze.

THE PUNISHER · Dec 29, 2008

Get a sharpmaker you will like it.......:thumbup:

SOLEIL · Dec 30, 2008

I would go with the Gatco. Unless you really enjoy free handing. Even with the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker you can still reprofile quicker with the Gatco. Once you get into harder or more resilient steels diamond stones will be needed for the Gatco to achieve the same results as the non-diamond. The sharp maker is great for touch ups maintaining and the edge, but for me it is too slow for reprofiling. And I generally reprofile every knife I purchase.

nozh2002 · Dec 30, 2008

From what I see on your links I can recommend only Sharpmaker.

Thanks, Vassili.

rlcanon · Dec 30, 2008

Spyderco Sharpmaker. The diamond sleeves make reprofiling a breeze.

Buck_Fan · Dec 30, 2008

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up with the Gatco Pro. The Sharpmaker was more than I could spend. And even though there was no sign about ti I got the handle free and they honered my expired coupon of $10.00 off any purchase. It was only one day expired. So for $32.00 I walked out with it. Now I am going to practice on some cheap knives before I break out anything good.

Bill

Hard H2O · Dec 30, 2008

Congratulations. I hope that you are happy with it. I am very happy with mine. I have used it to sharpen a few knives for guys at work and in the deer camp.

The extra fine and the ultimate finishing hones will refine your edges beyond what the standard stones will do.

One of the main reasons I like the GATCO compared to the Lansky is that there is mor options for the angle in the clamp. I run my kitchen cutlery as low as I can.

If a blade is not entirely dull you do not necessarily need to go all the way back to the extra coarse stone. For maintenance I often start at the medium or higher grit.

Stropping after the ultimate finishing hone rewards with a highly polished and refined edge.

A light stroke will reward you.

Buck_Fan · Dec 30, 2008

Thanks for the input. What degree level do you use for other knives? You mentioned kitchen. What about pocket knives, SAK's, ect...

I have mostly Case and they say 10-15 degrees. Gatco says for pocket knives to use 25 degrees. Who do I listene to?

Thanks,

Bill

gajinoz · Dec 30, 2008

Buck_Fan said:
Thanks for the input. What degree level do you use for other knives? You mentioned kitchen. What about pocket knives, SAK's, ect...

I have mostly Case and they say 10-15 degrees. Gatco says for pocket knives to use 25 degrees. Who do I listene to?

Thanks,

Bill

This question is more complex than you might think. What angle to sharpen depends on a whole bunch of things.

Steel type
Type/size of knife
Intended purpose

Stuff like that.

Generally speaking, a smaller angle, let's say 15 per side, will make for a better slicing knife. A larger angle, let's say 20 per side will make for a more robust edge but maybe not as good a slicer. There are other factors that affect this but that's a reasonable rule of thumb.

So, if you are going to get yourself a smallish folder that you will use for stuff like cutting up fruit or other light tasks, a 30 degree (15 per side) angle will work quite nicely. If you are getting a larger, heavier fixed blade knife and you will be doing some serious chopping through heavier materials you will probably want to put a 40 degree edge on it.

That's the simple answer. It can, as I said, get more complicated. Wait till we start talking about micro bevels.

.

SOLEIL · Dec 31, 2008

Buck_Fan said:
Thanks for the input. What degree level do you use for other knives? You mentioned kitchen. What about pocket knives, SAK's, ect...

I have mostly Case and they say 10-15 degrees. Gatco says for pocket knives to use 25 degrees. Who do I listene to?

Thanks,

Bill

Case is probably referring to 10 to 15 per side which will equal 20 or 30 inclusive. Gatco is referring to the 25 degree slot which equals 12.5 +/- degrees per side. They are both about the same and a good range to make a pocket knife a great slicer. As Gajinoz stated the fun of micro bevels is in the future

.
Good luck!!

Hard H2O · Dec 31, 2008

I go as low as the steel, heat treat, blade grind, intended use will let me go and still maintain edge retention, cutting and slicing ability, with no rolling or chipping.

I seldom stick with the factory angle. I have yet to find a blade that did no benefit from a shallower angle. Sometimes it is not a drastic change in angle. Often it is just the next slot lower on the GATCO from where the factory is.

The nice thing about having your GATCO is that if an angle doesn't work you can always change it.

JD Spydo · Dec 31, 2008

rlcanon said:
Spyderco Sharpmaker. The diamond sleeves make reprofiling a breeze.

"ricanon" I completely agree with you that the 204 diamond Sharpmaker rods were a great improvement to that system. I got my first set of the diamond 204 rods back in 2002 and I've used both sets of mine for many sharpening jobs.

However I must say that as much as I cherish my Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker ( both of them) I still think the other brother is correct in his observation that the 204 Sharpmaker has a bit to be desired. Because personally I think they ought to make a very aggressive aluminum oxide stone like maybe a 120 to 200 grit>> or a more coarse diamond stone to do serious reprofiling.

Because when I take mine traveling I always have to take along my coarse, 3M diamond benchstone to do serious reprofiling and blade repair. It really baffles me why Spyderco hasn't addressed this. And I don't mean this to be hyper-critical but it does seem like they would make a lot of extra revenue offering a very coarse 204 Stone for serious work. I just don't get it unless they have so many pots on the stove ( so to speak) that they just don't have time to address the problem>> or maybe they think they wouldn't recoop their costs on it.

Spyderco's sharpening equipment is of such an excellent quality that I just can't figure that one out at all

Buck_Fan · Dec 31, 2008

SOLEIL said:
Case is probably referring to 10 to 15 per side which will equal 20 or 30 inclusive. Gatco is referring to the 25 degree slot which equals 12.5 +/- degrees per side. They are both about the same and a good range to make a pocket knife a great slicer. As Gajinoz stated the fun of micro bevels is in the future.
Good luck!!

OK. Now it makes sense. I could not understand why Case would say 10-15 and Gatco was so much more. Thanks so much for clearing that up for me. :thumbup:

Bill

Hard H2O · Dec 31, 2008

One thing I like about the GATCO versus what I have heard about the Sharpmaker is the amount of angle options.

With the GATCO I have the options of doing 11°, 15°, 19°, 22°, 25°, and 30° per side. That equates to 22°, 30°, 38°, 44°, 50°, and 60° total just to match apples to apples with the Sharpmaker.

The Sharpmaker can do 30° and 40°.

gajinoz · Dec 31, 2008

Hard H2O said:
One thing I like about the GATCO versus what I have heard about the Sharpmaker is the amount of angle options.

With the GATCO I have the options of doing 11°, 15°, 19°, 22°, 25°, and 30° per side. That equates to 22°, 30°, 38°, 44°, 50°, and 60° total just to match apples to apples with the Sharpmaker.

The Sharpmaker can do 30° and 40°.

It can also do 12 and you can, in a limited way, also lay the stones flat and do freehand.