I am fairly to to knives, brand new to sharpening. I just bought a KME with diamond stones and have been practicing on some cheaper knives I have. I have 3 new Spydercos and a couple Benchmades. Is there reference info available to know the factory angle Spyderco puts on the flat ground blades? It will be a while before they need sharpening as they came scary sharp by my standards. I have a Manix 2 Cruwear, Sage 1, and PM2 and I don't want to screw up these beautiful knives. I used a sharpie to get what I thought was the right angle on the older knives I have but still a little uncomfortable when it comes time to sharpen my better knives.
You could use the same technique with your better knives. Just use your least-aggressive hone (a high-grit ceramic polishing hone, if you have it), perhaps with a piece of thin paper tightly wrapped around it, or better yet, lightly adhered or glued to the hone, to keep it flush (very important). It takes very little abrasion or pressure to remove the Sharpie ink from the bevels when testing it this way, and this method won't significantly change or damage your existing edges, if at all. If bare paper won't quite do it, a minimally-aggressive stropping compound on the paper can help; something like green compound can be used for this. You might also consider using a simple piece of fabric/paper tape (maybe even masking/painter's tape) instead of wrapped or glued paper, which is easy to stick to the hone and easy to remove. With paper or tape, use an edge-trailing stroke when testing, so there's no chance of cutting it with your edge. When you get a little more comfortable with this method for setting up the angle, even the bare high-grit polishing stone can be used in this way,
with a very light touch. That's how tested my setup with my Lansky guided system, when I was using it.
As far as knowing the existing factory angles in advance, that likely won't be accurate anyway. Manufacturers 'aim' for a given ballpark angle (I think Spyderco aims for 30° inclusive), but seldom hit it exactly, and sometimes will be way off. And with clamped/guided sharpening rigs like the KME, Lansky and others, the actual angle depends completely on the setup and how far from the clamp's front edge the blade's edge is positioned (blade width, for the most part). The marked or spec'd 'angle settings' on the clamps will only be valid to a very specific reference point, relative to the clamp's front edge; and no two systems establish that reference point in the same place (my Lansky's most 'accurate' angle was as referenced to the immediate front edge of the clamp, which would be unusable anyway, because the blade's edge will be blocked by the clamp itself, if set up in that position).
David
