Sharpening – I got the Spyderco SharpMaker and a Paramilitary 2 in s30v. What’s next?

Sharpmaker works great, especially on a knife that is already back-bevelled well like all Spydercos are. Watch the DVD that they send with it, and have fun! That S30V will take quite a while to polish, it's an extremely hard metal. You will EASILY achieve hair-shaving sharp, no problem at all. Extra note that when they say "light pressure" on the final strokes on the fine stones, they mean it! The lighter you go, the better the edge will come out.

The Apex is tremendous, I have one and love it. I also have a WEPS on the way (ordered it last night), in the same price range. I don't own any of KSF's strops, but I have worked with them before and they don't sell junk! Agreat deal on a respectable strop is DLT's "Economy Strop". $25, and comes with a double-sided strop of decent quality, and three half-bars of Bark River's compounds. Same compounds that come with the KSF strop, incidentally.

http://www.dlttrading.com/sharpening-kit-economy-3.html
 
If you get the Sharpmaker, pay attention to the part of the DVD where Sal says to rub the sharpmaker triangles edges together so as to break their edges. It works and makes sharpening easier/faster.
 
Thanks for the tips, and I think I'll watch that dvd again. I'm still not too sure about a strop though, maybe s30v isn't the type of metal for it? I think I'll get an Apex eventually. I just need to find some more knives that have full flat grinds. Maybe I'll start a new thread asking advice on ffg knives and daggers...

Trail Edge
 
Well, bear in mind that the cutting particles in a stropping compound are going to be harder than just about ANY steel, S30V included. It's just a matter of how many strokes across the strop it takes. The Apex is really very nice, I've been using mine for several months now and have been getting great results right out of the box. I added a couple of Chosera stones to mine to increase the final polish beyond the stock 1K stone. I'm going to be doing some serious comparing of the WEPS and the EP Apex as soon as the WEPS shows up, they're back-ordered pretty good right now.

I've watched the DVD a number of times, there's chunks of it that you can blow past (Sharpening NAIL CLIPPERS? Really?) but the bulk of it is really good, solid advise.
 
I just saw a thread on Sharpmaker UF rods, I checked around and it looks like about $15 each. It’s a hard decision for the strop or not, I just don’t think I've used the Sharpmaker to its full potential. I would guess it’s just a matter of trial and error.
 
Trail Edge said:
I just saw a thread on Sharpmaker UF rods, I checked around and it looks like about $15 each. It’s a hard decision for the strop or not, I just don’t think I've used the Sharpmaker to its full potential. I would guess it’s just a matter of trial and error.
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I think it's really worth it to get your sharpening technique down pat on the stones before getting the strop. A strop will refine an already good edge to another level but it will never compensate for an improperly shaped edge. When you can consistently get a hair shaving edge on your knife from the stones or from the sharpmaker, IMHO, that's the time to try strops.

BTW, the UF rods work very well to take an edge finished on the white stones, to another level of sharpness.
 
singularity35 said:
I think it's really worth it to get your sharpening technique down pat on the stones before getting the strop. A strop will refine an already good edge to another level but it will never compensate for an improperly shaped edge. When you can consistently get a hair shaving edge on your knife from the stones or from the sharpmaker, IMHO, that's the time to try strops.

BTW, the UF rods work very well to take an edge finished on the white stones, to another level of sharpness.
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I had already orderd the strop, but it sounds like I may want to get the UF rods as well.
 
I believe that your technique needs to improve on the stones if you are only barely shaving hair. Are you reaching the sharpeness levels that Sal provides in the Sharpmaker video? One of the most common issues I see is people do not spend enough time on the corners of the gray/brown medium stones. A sharpie marker is a good companion tool to keep with your Sharpmaker so you can color the edge to help with visual confirmation that you have reached the edge with the entire bevel on both sides of the edge. Another issue I have noticed while training or retraining folks on the Spyderco Sharpmaker is that they use either way too much pressure or not enough pressure against the stones. Only press hard enough that you can feel the stone bit into the steel. Like Sal says in the video, "pressing harder does not make it sharpen faster".
 
You do not need more tools. You can get hairsplitting edges with the brown stones. What is takes is practice, attention, reading post here, and watching YouTube vids for ideas and inspiration. And, practice, practice, practice. You'll get there.

JD
 
The para 2 is still sharp, so I havnent tried it on the sharpmaker yet. I think I'm going to try to touch it up with the white rods, then when the strop gets in, I'll try my luck with the vic one hand trekker on the strop, then with the practice try the para 2. -just thinkin' about it.
 
The sharpmaker is an awesome tool. It is the only thing that I have been able to put an edge on a knife with. I have no sharpening skills to speak of. I have noticed that the key to my success has been regular maintenance. I never let my knife get too dull. The first time that I use it and the edge seems lacking I hit the sharpmaker with it and bring it right back to life.
 
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