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Sharpmaker cleaning
- Thread starter slices
- Start date
- Joined
- May 3, 2002
- Messages
- 6,192
I like to use that Gojo Orange Pumice cleaner and scotchbrite. It only take about a minute for me to do all of them.
I've never tried an eraser before. Guess I'll have to try that.
I've never tried an eraser before. Guess I'll have to try that.
- Joined
- May 3, 2002
- Messages
- 6,192
Hey, just out of curiosity, how often does everybody clean their Sharpmaker poles?
I usually go by feel when I'm sharpening. I can feel pretty well when I'm making my stokes whether it's cutting well or not and when it starts to feel like I'm not getting much friction; that's when I clean my poles.
I usually end up cleaning mine fairly often - probably every 3 knives.
I also hate the limited angles of the Sharpmaker. I find a lot of knives that have an edge too steep for the Sharpmaker and have to go to my Gatco instead fairly often. I know that I can buy diamond rods but they're SO expensive. My Gatco with Diamond stones cost less than JUST the Spyderco Diamond rods.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my Sharpmaker but it DOES have it's drawbacks and I'm glad I have diamond Gatco and Lansky sets as a backup for when I need to change angle.
I usually go by feel when I'm sharpening. I can feel pretty well when I'm making my stokes whether it's cutting well or not and when it starts to feel like I'm not getting much friction; that's when I clean my poles.
I usually end up cleaning mine fairly often - probably every 3 knives.
I also hate the limited angles of the Sharpmaker. I find a lot of knives that have an edge too steep for the Sharpmaker and have to go to my Gatco instead fairly often. I know that I can buy diamond rods but they're SO expensive. My Gatco with Diamond stones cost less than JUST the Spyderco Diamond rods.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my Sharpmaker but it DOES have it's drawbacks and I'm glad I have diamond Gatco and Lansky sets as a backup for when I need to change angle.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2002
- Messages
- 163
Yeah- I clean my rods about every three knives as well.
Great tip on the erasers- I'll try it!
As far as angles on the 204- the idea (seems to me) is that you WANT the knife to have those angles. You're establishing a new bevel with the 30 degree holes. Sometimes this means cutting/thinning the "shoulders" of the blade if they were ground (or have worn to) at a wider angle.
I have found that the 204 is best for all my knives, as it doesn't spoil any finish and I can have the edges I want.
I bought the diamond rods, and use them sparingly, as they were so expensive. I have found that my whole family doesn't sharpen their kitchen knives, so I've been taking them around with me as I visit and redoing a few knives at a time. The forget how well a sharp knife cuts!
Just remember, y'all, that the theory with the Sharpmaker is to never let your knives get so dull that its a pain to resharpen!
Great tip on the erasers- I'll try it!
As far as angles on the 204- the idea (seems to me) is that you WANT the knife to have those angles. You're establishing a new bevel with the 30 degree holes. Sometimes this means cutting/thinning the "shoulders" of the blade if they were ground (or have worn to) at a wider angle.
I have found that the 204 is best for all my knives, as it doesn't spoil any finish and I can have the edges I want.
I bought the diamond rods, and use them sparingly, as they were so expensive. I have found that my whole family doesn't sharpen their kitchen knives, so I've been taking them around with me as I visit and redoing a few knives at a time. The forget how well a sharp knife cuts!
Just remember, y'all, that the theory with the Sharpmaker is to never let your knives get so dull that its a pain to resharpen!
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
- Messages
- 42
i clean my sharpmaker when i notice it's not sharpening as good as it should. i just use dishsoap and warm water with the scrubby side of a sponge. then i just dry the rods off with paper towels.
I clean mine as soon as they quit cutting also. That's why I mentioned the eraser. The large ones the kids have at school , pencil/ink , work great & they're sooo fast, hehe. If a knife won't work on my Sharpmaker, it's time for the Edgepro Apex. That baby makes short work out of changing the primary bevel. It also can put an edge back on a knife with ANY angle. There are no preset angles to deal with.
Thats what I thought until I heard someone else recommend the SOS pad.Gave it a try and surprizingly the pad doesn't deposit any metal on the ceramic sticks and cleans them fast with little effort.I will try the eraser trick though,dry cleaning can be done anywhere.
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2003
- Messages
- 11,650
I've only just got my sharpmaker but I've doing a bit of work with it, a few knives around the house that needed some serious sharpening. I discovered that if I give the rods a few good wipes with a paper towel every now and then during the sharpening process you can wipe off some of the loose metal and they won't get clogged up so fast.
I found an old carving knife in the shed, the edge was about as sharp as your average bread and butter knife and it had lots of little nicks in it like somebody had been trying to chop up small nails. Strange. Anyway, I decided to have a go at it with the sharpmaker. After a lot of effort, and a lot of wiping with the towels, I finally got a bit of an edge on it. Didn't get the little nicks out, I'm going to need a good diamond stone or maybe even a file for that however the end result was sort of like a strange serrated blade, cut surprisingly well.
I found an old carving knife in the shed, the edge was about as sharp as your average bread and butter knife and it had lots of little nicks in it like somebody had been trying to chop up small nails. Strange. Anyway, I decided to have a go at it with the sharpmaker. After a lot of effort, and a lot of wiping with the towels, I finally got a bit of an edge on it. Didn't get the little nicks out, I'm going to need a good diamond stone or maybe even a file for that however the end result was sort of like a strange serrated blade, cut surprisingly well.