Sharpmaker help

[BD_01]

Hey all,

Noob to the Sharpmaker, but have used the similar concept Smith's with good results, mostly on knives with thin blade stock or reasonably thin behind the edge.

The edge on my ZT 0450 needed a touch-up, so I broke out my previously unused Sharpmaker. Using the standard technique (hold the blade flat and level all the way through) I've gotten the flats screaming sharp. However, the belly through tip...not so much.

Should I be using a bit of wrist to keep the blade belly and tip perpendicular to the stone on the way down?

Any other ideas would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WValtakis]

Yup, you have to elevate the butt of the knife as you come around the belly to the point.

~Chip

 

[bucketstove]

Hi,
Yes, rotate/pivot, keep it 90 (green square), and don't come off the stone with the tip

You can also mark up the blade like this to help you keep perpendicular

 

[Sergeua]

Get closer to SM to get a better visual. You can lean the blade into the rods a bit to make sure you are getting the belly and tip area.
Keep same perpendicular angle while doing it. Rotate it like stated above.

 

[CPP]

Practice on a cheap knife!

 

[BD_01]

Thanks everyone. It's kinda what I figured.
-bucketstove, awesome graphic!
-Sergeua, I tried leaning...a bit. It's kinda hard for me to keep symmetric from side to side.
-CPP, been doing cheep knives on my Smith's for a while. The geometry on the 0450 is quite a bit different (& steel better) or it probably would be less of an issue.

 

[Sergeua]

I reprofiled one of these 450s before because 20 degrees wouldn't even touch it. The bevel you see ( the primary angle ) was more than 20 from factory.
You can put paper tightly to the rods and hold it. Start swiping the blade slowly and see at what angle it catches. If it slides on a 20 degree angle you tilt it a bit until it catches and that roughly tells you the angles.

 

[WValtakis]

I reprofiled one of these 450s before because 20 degrees wouldn't even touch it. The bevel you see ( the primary angle ) was more than 20 from factory.
You can put paper tightly to the rods and hold it. Start swiping the blade slowly and see at what angle it catches. If it slides on a 20 degree angle you tilt it a bit until it catches and that roughly tells you the angles.

That's brilliantly simple, I'm totally going to use that at some point

~Chip

 

[TickTock]

Should I be using a bit of wrist to keep the blade belly and tip perpendicular to the stone on the way down?

You can either do this or move the handle in towards the other stone when you get to the belly/tip.

 

[BD_01]

I reprofiled one of these 450s before because 20 degrees wouldn't even touch it. The bevel you see ( the primary angle ) was more than 20 from factory.

I think that's part of my problem. At some point I probably will reprofile, to 15 degrees, but I didn't want to jump to that yet. For as much as I love the knife, my one (and only) complaint is how thick it gets behind the edge. I imagine a 15 degree secondary would extend the bevel quite a bit.

Anyhow, I went back and worked it for a while (learning curve). The flat is screaming, the belly is as new (or a tad better) and the last quarter inch towards the tip not quite where it should be--though definitely better than before.