Knifenerd is right about the the secondary point being affected by sharpening on a Sharpmaker if you aren't careful. One of my EDC is a CS 34LT that has seen lots of sessions on a Sharpmaker 203. Since the blade is a user, I've never been particularly cautious about maintaining precise linearity or constantly even pressure as the secondary point slid off the sticks. As Knifenerd says, treat a tanto like two seperate edges. When I sharpen the front edge I point the tip of the knife down to get the front edge about parallel with the tabletop where the Sharpmaker is sitting, then try to maintain that tip-down angle while sliding the the front edge down along the sticks.
While my sharpening did round the secondary point a bit, the majority of change to it is that the secondary point now has a much lower angle and thinner edge than the primary edge or front edge on either side of it. So, while the secondary point is not as pointy as it used to be, the thinner edge makes it a cuttin' fool in terms of slicing. I just held up a sheet of printer paper and gave the middle of the sheet a glancing stroke, striking with the secondary point of the CS. (i.e. not cutting in from the edge of the sheet and not using the primary point to penetrate the sheet of paper) The secondary point makes nice neat slices in the paper.
So if you sharpen tantos on the Sharpmaker and want to maintain the secondary point, be careful about not putting much downward pressure on the blade as the secondary point comes off the sticks.
Greg
[This message has been edited by RokJok (edited 06-28-2001).]
