Sharpmaker disappoints

The Sharpmaker answers the most common problems the average person has in sharpening a knife, keeping consistent angles. By adding the triangle shape, it allows for upkeeping serrations and it let's you go through 4 grits. The learning curve on the Sharpmaker is much less than (in my opinion) than most other methods.

We on this forum are very much exceptions to the rule. We can have endless discussions on blade steels, heat treatment, edge grinds, bevel angles, etc. Most other people would be completely disinterested in these topics. Likewise, our interests in different sharpening systems are as diverse.

I have 4 complete sets of sharpening systems and I use all of them depending on the knife and what's needed. I don't think any one of them is "wrong." They all have their place.

And for the average person that wants a "good" edge on the average knife, the Sharpmaker is a good choice. As long as they start with a decent edge, it's all they need. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't start thinking about sharpening a knife until the edge is so dull or damaged that it needs major work.
 
I think you just got a Dud.

I freakin love my sharpmaker, the stones dont wiggle at all on mine. the best for putting a razor edge on tactical knives/weird shaped blades.

they are mostly for honing though, i had to buy a rough diamond stone, i start with that and then refine the edge with the sharpmaker
 
I had the exact opposite experience. I could sharpen free hand, holding the stone in one hand and the knife in the other. Then I got a Sharpmaker and my edges got even better. The SM204 has one downfall. It needs a coarse companion stone to go with it. The 400 grit diamond sleeves/rods are not coarse enough to remove metal quickly. As a final honing tool, it works great. As an edge maintenance tool, it works even better. I use it for the kitchen and pocket knives between trips to the belt sander and for serrated knives. I could get by without it, but I'd probably end up getting the bench stones from Spyderco. The Sharpmaker really shines with microbevels. Backbevel at a couple of degrees less than the desired slot, say 10-12 or 15-17, then you can use the Sharpmaker for months before going back to the coarse stone.
 
if your rods wiggle you can put a rubber band across the top of the two rods holding them together in their slots. this way you can have a consistent angle
 
The SM is great for touchups, think of it as an oil change on your car. You change the oil (use the SM) frequently to keep your car (knife edge) in good condition, but every once in awhile you need a full tune up (stones or sandpaper to reset the edge) to restore it to its original performance.
It's a great tool for keeping knives sharp but for abused knives it's too slow to be effective. That's when I use wet dry to do the heavy cutting.
 
I went to a hammer-in and took a class in blade grinding. The advice from the master smith: don't try to grind on a polishing belt. This is the problem with the Sharpmaker. The grit size on the brown stick is about 800. This is a polishing stone not a grinding stone. Trying to establish a basic taper on a blade with a fine stone is like cutting the lawn with a scissors (especially if your blade is S-90V). The diamond rods don't last very long because the relatively soft steel of the blade grabs the diamond bits and pulls them out of the Nickel.
Leaning a coarse stone against the fine one might solve your problem
 
Funny you mention the fit of your stones to the base. Mine have always been pretty wobbly, too. Not only that, a couple of my stones came with bit chips in them (at the ends so it really just decreased my sharpening rod usable length) but since I got them many years ago I didn't realize that I should have just returned them. Oh well, live and learn.

Yea, them Sharpmakers are NOT what you want for anything but touch ups unless you don't have a day job.
 
I gave up on all the sharpening systems I have really ever messed with

nearly all of the non jig systems are just plain horrible.

if you are serious about sharpening and want a system get an edgepro or just learn to freehand.

I dont mess with anything other than freehanding with waterstones and dmt 8inch plates.
 
I have bought the diamond stones and the ultra fine stones. Mine works like a champ.

For speed though, give me the DMT aligner as far as guides systems go. I usually just use the diafolds without a guide. Best thing that I have ever found. That and the edge pro.
 
First of all if your stones are not fitting tightly and they wobble at all then you definitely got a bad base and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to send it back. They will want to look at it and then they will send you a brand new.

Once when they first put out the 204 Diamond stones for that kit back in 2002 I got one of the very first sets of those 204 Diamond stones. The diamonds came off of the rods so quickly that I really made me angry. But I knew in my gut that was not right. I waited till the next knife show which was the 2003 BLADE Show in Atlanta and I took the defective diamond stones to Mr. Sal Glesser himself. He wanted to take the stones to his research lab and it wasn't even a week I had a new set of diamond stones sent to me via UPS.

They will definitely want to determine what the problem is. I got my first Sharpmaker back in late 1999 when they first hit the market. I've got 2 more of them since and all of mine fit the stones perfectly. Now I've had other stones turn out not to be right and they replaced those quickly as well. I had one set of fine stones that were warped and I had a set of ultra-fine stones that had rough inperfections in them. All were replaced quickly. I would go directly to Spyderco. It would take a longer time to go through the dealer.
 
JD Spydo said:
First of all if your stones are not fitting tightly and they wobble at all then you definitely got a bad base and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to send it back. They will want to look at it and then they will send you a brand new.

Once when they first put out the 204 Diamond stones for that kit back in 2002 I got one of the very first sets of those 204 Diamond stones. The diamonds came off of the rods so quickly that I really made me angry. But I knew in my gut that was not right. I waited till the next knife show which was the 2003 BLADE Show in Atlanta and I took the defective diamond stones to Mr. Sal Glesser himself. He wanted to take the stones to his research lab and it wasn't even a week I had a new set of diamond stones sent to me via UPS.

They will definitely want to determine what the problem is. I got my first Sharpmaker back in late 1999 when they first hit the market. I've got 2 more of them since and all of mine fit the stones perfectly. Now I've had other stones turn out not to be right and they replaced those quickly as well. I had one set of fine stones that were warped and I had a set of ultra-fine stones that had rough inperfections in them. All were replaced quickly. I would go directly to Spyderco. It would take a longer time to go through the dealer.
Click to expand...

thanks for posting, I'll look into that
 
Thanks everyone. I will send the sharpmaker back, get a diafold and some benchstones for freehand. I dont need scalpel sharp and wont spend hours sharpening a tool. I save that kind of neuroticism for reloading for my precision rifle...I dont have time for another addiction! thanks again for your replies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top