Sharpmaker Discovery

[SDMatteson]

The other day I broke out the Spyderco Sharpmaker to attend to the edges on an AFCK and Stryker that had dulled more then usual. I set it up with the brown medium sticks to reshape the
edge and went to work on the AFCK.I started with the tips of the triangle and worked untill
the blade would hang in my fingernail and then switched to the flat side for a few strokes.
I was ready to change to the fine sticks when I decided to see if it would hang in my arm hair.
To my surprise , the dang thing shaved like a straight razor. I ran the blade across the top
of my fingernail and could really feel it biting .What I had was , a blade that would bite like it
had been sharpened on a coarse stone yet still shave like a razor. I really didn't think you could
have it both ways but proved myself wrong .I wanted to try it on my MILITARY but heck , that
thing never gets dull enough to see anything but a leather strop .I hope someone else gives this a try
and reports back . As for me , the white sticks will stay in the case.

 

[Bob Litt]

Same sentiment here......I also obtained razor sharp results by using only the brown sticks. Infact, I tend to dull the edge when I step down to the fine grit (white sticks.

Bob

 

[Bob Litt]

Same sentiment here......I also obtained razor sharp results by using only the brown sticks. Infact, I tend to dull the edge when I step down to the fine grit (white sticks.

Bob

 

[Sal Glesser]

A coarse edge will generally cut more aggresively than a finely sharpened edge. The disadvantage is that the larger "particles" on the edge of the knife tend to break off more readily than the finely ground edge. Hence needing sharpening more often, hence using up the knife sooner.

We found that a well tuned (finely sharpened - white stones) serrated edge would have the aggressive cutting power of the coarse edge and the longevity of the fine edge.

We find that most of the ELU using the Sharpmaker prefer the coarser grit for plain edge knives and the finer grit for serrated edges.
sal