sharpening Question

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Parker77

Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Messages
191
Hello Everyone,
First off, let me admit that I'm the kind of guy who can't hammer a nail without smashing his thumb, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler and I've always felt that I need to hand off skilled tasks to skilled people.

That being said I really would like to sharpen my own knives. I've seen some cool looking products online but they look complicated. Is there a way that is idot proof?

Thanks and Happy Holidays
 
Any clamp system, best probablly being the wicked edge, others being gatco, lansky, DMT aligner, etc...
 
Ditto on Sharpmaker. Foolproof, incredibly easy to set up and use, takes no space, and very effective.
 
+1 more on the sharpmaker. I have damaged nerves in my fists so they tend to shake, yet with that thing i can get pretty much anything shaving sharp. and to prove my point i actually shaved with a knife
 
Sharpmaker, gets blades hair popping and its so simple a child could do it.

If your going to sharpen very dull or damaged blades, you will need the diamond rods too.
 
The Sharpmaker is a fantastic choice, but you can find slightly less expensive choices if you try. I bought a Smith's clamp system with diamond hones on sale at Lowe's for $25 around Christmas time last year and I feel like I got my money's worth, especially for reprofiling blades with a lot of chips and wear that require removing a lot of material.

The Sharpmaker won't remove material very quickly unless you pay extra and get the diamond rods. That's not a bad thing, since nobody wants to wear out their knives by sharpening them, but I wouldn't make it my first choice if I had a lot of heavy work to do. Maybe a Sharpmaker + a coarse diamond stone would be the ideal combo?

But don't worry if you buy one and don't like it: if you stay interested in knives long enough you'll eventually buy them all! :D Next on my list: Edge Pro! Then I'll have them all!
 
I love my new Spyderco Sharpmaker; it's the best sharpener of the three I bought. Very easy to use and gives good results.
 
The Sharpmaker is hardly foolproof, you still have to make sure you keep the knife completely straight otherwise you'll be doing different angles all the time. The only foolproof method is a guided system in my opinion.
 
jfindon said:
The Sharpmaker is hardly foolproof, you still have to make sure you keep the knife completely straight otherwise you'll be doing different angles all the time. The only foolproof method is a guided system in my opinion.
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True, but for me the Sharpmaker had the fastest learning curve. I also don't think any system is foolproof.
 
jfindon said:
The Sharpmaker is hardly foolproof, you still have to make sure you keep the knife completely straight otherwise you'll be doing different angles all the time. The only foolproof method is a guided system in my opinion.
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If you can't keep an object vertical you probably shouldn't carry a knife. :p
 
Hard to justify the cost if you only own one or two knives but having just received my Wicked Edge system I can report that it is virtually foolproof out of the box. Go to their site and watch ALL their videos, read here about angles as they relate to various edges & uses & you will have very sharp knives with minimal practice. Having said that, I also contend that you will be doing yourself a huge disservice not learning the basics of sharpening a knife edge on a stone by hand. It is easy to say you can't but worth the effort & satisfaction of knowing that you can. Good luck!
 
You learned to walk, you learned to talk, you learned to drive a car and use a computer, sharpening will be a breeze.

Norton combo india stone and a practice knife.
 
The SharpMaker is an excellent tool, and it was my first sharpening tool, but ....

You will find many, many posts here to the effect of "Hey, I just bought a SharpMaker like everyone said to do, but I can't get my knife sharp!" Typically, the reason is that the angle of the edge on the knife does not match the angle of the SharpMaker. And you can't get the angle of the edge on the knife to match the angle of the SharpMaker unless you remove material from the edge (it's not usually the case that the angle is more acute than the 30° or 40° of the SharpMaker).

The SharpMaker can not re-profile an edge without an ungodly amount of time and effort. I didn't find the diamond rods that Sypderco sells (which I bought) to be that useful for serious removal of material.

For reprofiling, I bought a DMT 6" double-sided diamond stone (extra-coarse and coarse), which I lay on top of one of the SharpMaker rods and switch it back and forth between the rods.

Once the knife has an edge angle that matches the angles of the SharpMaker, you're in good shape. I took a bread knife that had been knocking around in the drawer, one that had been bought years ago very cheaply at a supermarket, and with the SharpMaker, I put a very sharp edge on it. To maintain the sharp edge, I touch it up very easily with a handful of passes on the coarse stone and the fine.

As an alternative to the SharpMaker, consider the DMT aligner system. On my 4" blades, it's the best. For really small blades (say a pen knife blade), the DMT aligner system won't work. For such small blades, I use the SharpMaker.

So, you see, you should consider whatever sharpening equipment you purchase to be the first of a number of purchases.
 
all the above is good advice. whichever product you choose, stick to it and it you will get better at sharpening. (I use the DMT aliner;))
 
mat_890 said:
Sharpmaker, gets blades hair popping and its so simple a child could do it.

If your going to sharpen very dull or damaged blades, you will need the diamond rods too.
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Hair popping? I must be doing something wrong then.
 
I can recommend two sharpeners: the Spyderco Sharpmaker and the Edge Pro Apex.

As has been mentioned, the Sharpmaker works very well, but has only two angles that it sharpens at because of design. It is initially hard to work with because the blade must be held on the stone at exactly the same angle (vertically), however, this can be overcome with practice.

The Apex can be set for many different angles, and eliminates the problem of the user having to hold the angle. It is by far and away the best system I have used, including the clamping ones. (I did not like the clamping ones because the clamp was ackward to use). I have had great success with the Apex, and it will take an edge as sharp as you want to go as long as you keep changing the stones to a finer and finer grit.

However, the Edge Pro is very expensive initially. It does have a variety of stones so you can easily reset an edge if you chose to do so.

You can find the Sharpmaker almost anywhere, and the Edge Pro can be found here
http://www.edgeproinc.com/Apex-Model-Edge-Pro-System-c3/
 
Noctis3880 said:
Hair popping? I must be doing something wrong then.
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Yeah, the old "hair popping sharp" is a little, uhm, overused, isn't it?

For the OP: The Sharpmaker won;t make your knives "hair-popping sharp", ever.......until you learn to use it, and on certain knives, even then. Admittedly, the learning curve for the Sharpmaker is small, but it still takes practice and a knowledge of your blade's steel and geometry. Stropping, in my case anyway, is always required before any of my knives will "pop" hair, and I can only get 3 maybe 4 of them to do it with any degree of consistency. Most will never pop hair, at least sharpened by my hand anyway, and I'm a pretty fair sharpener.

Nuthin's easy...........
 
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