Sharpmaker 204 question

C

Cackmandu

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Aug 24, 2015
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This system looks pretty dummy proof for a newbie, price looks reasonable! My question is are the stones that come with the system adequate enough to maintain a better than factory edge or should you also look into purchasing the ultra fine stones? Most of the knives I am purchasing seem to have a great edge out of the box, but I can feel a little roughness to them, will the fine stone take that off or should I be looking to go with the ultra fine stone for that job?

Thanks, CAD
 
Ultra fines are not required but diamond or cbn rods are highly recommended as they allow you to reprofile the blade to the proper angle to use the system far quicker. All the higher grit stones is change the cutting characteristic, not make it sharper. A coarser stone will make it easier to slice, a higher grit stone makes it easier to push cut. And just a heads up I own the sharpmaker and bought the diamond and UF rods too, it's really a no contest between the two the diamonds are far more practical and useful.
 
Depends on what you want. I have the ultra fine rods but find I rarely use them. The stock fine ceramic is sufficient for a nice edge. If you are not using anything else other than a Sharpmaker, I would recommend the diamond or CBN rods for reprofiling or fixing a blade nick before purchasing the ultra fine rods.
 
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So the Sharpmaker angles are 30d and 40d and the angle of most production blades are what? When you guys say re-profiling what angle are you re-profiling to, that's back bevel and edge, right?

Also, if I were interested in strops, what makers and on-line sites would you look at and is there a certain stropping compound that you use?
 
Cackmandu said:
This system looks pretty dummy proof for a newbie, price looks reasonable! My question is are the stones that come with the system adequate enough to maintain a better than factory edge or should you also look into purchasing the ultra fine stones? Most of the knives I am purchasing seem to have a great edge out of the box, but I can feel a little roughness to them, will the fine stone take that off or should I be looking to go with the ultra fine stone for that job?

Thanks, CAD
Click to expand...

Even the medium (brown) rods on the SM are excellent for maintaining such an edge (better or much better than factory, most of the time). I've rarely felt the need to use more than that. If the factory edge has good geometry (</= 30° inclusive) and it's already pretty sharp, the SM is a great maintenance tool, even with only the standard rods. If needing to thin/rebevel an edge, the SM's optional diamond or CBN rods would usually be necessary, as the ceramic rods will be much too slow for those tasks.


David
 
Agree with the others - the standard SM rods are excellent at maintaining an edge razor sharp but need the Diamond/CBN rods for a dull or damaged edge.

I got the CBN rods. They supposedly hold up better than the Diamonds (manufacturing process?).

FYI ...
Dia/CBN ~37 micron, ~400 grit
Medium ~15 micron, ~1000 grit
Fine ~6 micron, ~2400 grit
Ultra ~3 micron, ~4800 grit


For a strop, green compound is ubiquitous. But I'd recommend you go with Diamond paste in either 1 micron or .5 micron.
 
The ultra fine rods aren't needed you're better off spending the money on the coarse diamond or CBN rods in case you have too reprofile a blade to match the angle of the Sharpmaker.
 
Cackmandu said:
So the Sharpmaker angles are 30d and 40d and the angle of most production blades are what? When you guys say re-profiling what angle are you re-profiling to, that's back bevel and edge, right?

Also, if I were interested in strops, what makers and on-line sites would you look at and is there a certain stropping compound that you use?
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert, I'm just a knife owner and user for over 60 years. So take my advice for what it's worth.

Production blades can have any edge angle the maker decides to use, many times not very well applied. We sometimes forget how versatile the Sharpmaker system really is. The rods can be used freehand at any angle. The 30 and 40 degree angles are the only preset angles but the range of angles is infinite. As for reprofiling, I think of it as thinning the edge which can be a single angle with the back bevel or include a micro bevel with the back bevel. For years, I used only the medium and fine rods. The diamond rods make thinning the edges faster and easier. I seldom use the ultrafine rods.

I no longer strop as a part of my normal routine. I usually just freehand with the Double Stuff or the rods from the Sharpmaker and go with the toothier edge. When I do strop, I use a Strop Block from Knives Plus. It's preloaded with compound, made of good leather solidly mounted on a nice piece of wood and it is reasonably priced.
 
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