Sharpener said my Spiderco Delica VG10 is cheap steel & hard to sharpen

calldoug said:
UPDATE from the original poster:
Today I took the knife to the highest rated knife sharpener in the city
They sharpened The spyderco delica VG-10 and a benchmade
they just have some kind of double wheel sharpener in the back, I didnt see it.
( I wish I could find an old school sharpener who really knows his stuff ).

It is a good bit sharper than it was. I think the last to guys at the sharpening
place I went to before twice maybe should star in a dumb & dumber remake.
I still don't know if it is a real Spyderco Delica,
I bought it on Amazon October of 2011 ( found that on amazon )
Were - are fake spydercos sold on Amazon ? / on prime ?
Note; How can I upload pictures here to get an opinion of genuine or not.
Better yet please tell us what to look for in genuine and not genuine spyderco / & delica.
Thanks to all I appreciate the help and opinions here, they are very useful.
PS I am not and never was good at sharpening knives, I would pay someone to teach me
how to put a really good edge ( shave hairs, etc ) on knives
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Fakes aren't sold outright on Amazon. People buy fakes from Chinese wholesalers. Then they buy real ones from Amazon and abuse their return policy by returning the counterfeit rather than the real one they purchased.

I don't like posting an outline of the strategy, but it's such widespread knowledge at this point that I doubt its going to inspire any new criminals.

It's been a mantra on this site from some time: Don't buy knives from Amazon or Ebay.
 
Lapedog said:
Idk, I find it very hard to resharpen almost any steel from true dullness on the sharpmaker using the angled jigs. I have even had very little luck using it to reprofile with the coarse diamond rods.

Especially if the angle on the knife is wider than 40 degrees inclusive.

I essentially consider the sharpmaker to be a microbeveling machine when using the angled jig. I basically never use the preset angles and rather just freehand with the rod in one hand and blade in the other.
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every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
 
ponykid said:
every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
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It's a good system for ease of use, but not for consistency. I like the sticks for field sharpening, but never fell in love with the system overall.
 
ponykid said:
every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
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You mean to say that your opinion is that the sharpmaker is equivalent to a crappy pull through style "sharpener"?o_O
That's a little harsh!:eek:
 
P ponykid : you mean the Sharpmaker won't do (half or more) of the job for you ? That's right, it's very near to free hand sharpening. To reprofile an edge (and many factory edges need to be reprofiled, at least in my book) you are better off with a Lansky guided sharpener (at least for mid sized blades). Or a belt grinder, but this one will allow very few errors...
 
ponykid said:
every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
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Custom knife makers using a Sharpmaker? Gonna have to red flag that.

On a knife the edges are already set and with a Sharpmaker you are following that edge and maintaining it. It's snap to do.

Someone who says they're making knifes with it is either pulling your leg or worse.
 
JupiterPaladin said:
C calldoug if you can get us a decent pic of the blade we'll be able to tell you. Lots of experience here.
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UPDATE Delica 4 VG-10 ( I have photos now)
Someone said I have to be a paid member to post pictures here....
Im not a paid member
Could you or a few experts private message me an email and I will send out a few good pictures
I have very close up photos of the engraving also
Are you able to private message a non-paying member?
If not can a couple of experts give me their email please
Thanks, Doug
 
I can help if need be, won't be home from work for 3 more hours though and it is a hassle on a phone. If nobody helps until later I can help once I am home with the pictures.
You don't need to be a paid member to post pictures, just to attach them directly. You can upload them somewhere else for example www.imgur.com and then post the link here to the album.
 
Lapedog said:
First of all vg10 is an excellent steel and that sharpener is an idiot. I find vg10 will take an extremely agressive edge fairly easily and the steel has great properties. I would rank it around 154cm, n690 or 14c28n as a great steel without being a super steel.

Secondly the spyderco sharpmaker is imho not a good sharpener. First of all if the sides of your knives are more than 20 degrees per side there is no setting on the sharpmaker that will be able to sharpen the apex if you are holding the edge pointing straight down. Even then you have to keep a very steady hand in order to get angood edge and it is hard to keep the knife perfectly vertical floating in the air like that.

Also it really isn’t good for sharpening from dull. Rather it is more of a touch up tool. These are just my humble opinions. If the knife has become too dull good luck getting it sharp woth a sharpmaker.

Edit to add: oh also I notice vg10 starts to really shine when sharpened at a higher grit. Its possible that the sharpener was a lazy jackass who didn’t want to work with higher grit.

Ask yourself if vg10 is garbage that cannot get sharp then how did the knife come sharp out the box? If anything a professional sharpener should be able to put a WAY better edge on that delica than it came from the factory with.
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I agree with Lapedog. I do my own sharpening on a KME and have spent hundreds of hours sharpening for friends at no cost so that I could get familiar with the language that the steel talks with.
I have sharpened quite a few Spyderco VG-10 knives and discovered that they will not take a keen sharp edge until I use my 1500 grit KME diamond stone. Most sharpening guys stop at 600 grit and that will not do it. Depending on my mood I might take it up all the way to 12,000 Grit (not lapping). If you spend time at 1500 and then Strop you can get a nicely polished edge that is razor sharp

My favorite Chef's knife is VG-10 and the Cutco knives are VG-10. This knife has to go to a person that does high end pocket knives. It is not the same procedure as kitchen knifes and he obviously does not know High end pocket knives.pocket
 
I like VG-10 in the kitchen!!

I have a filet knife of unknown steel, marked Imperial USA, very thin and flexible, even my Shapton (sic) stones barely make a dent, lol ( my lowest grit is only 220, I must need Diamonds)

Must be a superSUPER steel. Maybe it's the partial tang that makes it hard to sharpen :) Currently it's DULL, lol
 
ponykid said:
every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
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I'd like to know which custom makers are setting there bevels with a sharpmaker so I can avoid buying from them. They probably put the primary grinds in with an angle grinder and shape the handles with a hatchet too.

My daily carry for the past ten years has been a Spyderco in VG10.

If every knife I owned was VG10, I would not be disappointed.
 
OP I'm curious did the original sharpening guy sharpen any other knives of yours, and if so what were they and did he get those sharp?
 
After 7 pages we still have no clue whether the said knife is a fake or not. BTW, fakes do not automatically mean soft.
 
If said "sharpener" is unable to get a nice edge on VG-10, then I would say he does not understand the fundamentals of sharpening. I can hear him now; "What in the name of southeast Asia is a burr?? All I know is American made 440A beats the drawls off of this Delicate 8 days a week."
 
ponykid said:
every knife I have bought from custom makers (not a lot Im talking maybe 6-7 over 10 years) has had an edge bevel that was different on both sides. when I asked 2 of them what they use to set their edges and sharpen they both said a Spyderco sharpmaker and that is why I had to reset the edges myself . I never understood why it is such a popular system . impossible it seems to me to duplicate the edge bevel on both sides . maybe others are good at it. to me its equivalent to those crappy things you buy at walmart or something
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My Custom Culinary knives have a asymmetrical edge. Most Japanese knives are sharpened this way and not on a sharp maker... I deliver and sharpen my own culinary knives with a 40-60 or 30-70 edge depending on the knife. You want the shorter side on the inside of the body. Chisel ground Sashimi knives are the same.. you want the tall side of the edge on the outside of the body. There are lefty & righty Chisel ground knives even if Ernie hasn’t figured this out yet!!
emjay4248 said:
I agree with Lapedog. I do my own sharpening on a KME and have spent hundreds of hours sharpening for friends at no cost so that I could get familiar with the language that the steel talks with.
I have sharpened quite a few Spyderco VG-10 knives and discovered that they will not take a keen sharp edge until I use my 1500 grit KME diamond stone. Most sharpening guys stop at 600 grit and that will not do it. Depending on my mood I might take it up all the way to 12,000 Grit (not lapping). If you spend time at 1500 and then Strop you can get a nicely polished edge that is razor sharp

My favorite Chef's knife is VG-10 and the Cutco knives are VG-10. This knife has to go to a person that does high end pocket knives. It is not the same procedure as kitchen knifes and he obviously does not know High end pocket knives.pocket
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You are incorrect! Cutco are 440A Steel, ———not VG-10.....
 
AlwaysTomboy said:
Regarding the bolded, source, please? I just did an advanced search on the Spyderco forum for posts by Sal that include the phrase "dirt cheap" and got 0 hits. A search for "vg-10" by Sal got 46 hits, none of which include the phrase "dirt cheap". The only hit for a post by Michael Janich that includes the words "dirt" and "cheap" is in reference to types of pants that aren't cheap but don't show dirt. If what you say is true, I'd like to read the full context; not just your interpretation. Thanks.
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I wouldn’t consider VG10 as dirt cheap either and I can’t imagine Sal Glesser openly announcing such a thing potentially harming his business and reputation. Not that I’m accusing Ganzofan of lying, more than likely he misinterpreted what he read.
 
fishface5 said:
OP I'm curious did the original sharpening guy sharpen any other knives of yours, and if so what were they and did he get those sharp?
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I think yes he did 1 or two knives before and they were fairly sharp.
I dont think he is any great sharpening guy and will not use him again...
But keep this in mind out of like 20++ knife sharpeners here using a search in Yelp for "best knife sharpeners"
I went to the best one ( according to the results of that search) and they have some double wheel machine that
got things sharper, but I could feel roughness and burs and even said something like it needs more, finishing, then leather strop etc.
I dont think the guy knows much about that. I wish I had here in my city and old time guy that takes it through different
levels of grit, etc, strop at the end. Note I had two offers on here for sharpening and may take them up on that.
 
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