Sharpmaker help

[mpgt12]

My first post here. I’ve been using a work sharp GSS with good results. All my knives get pretty sharp. I want a polished, hair whittling edge of course, and I have a new Crooked River mini from Benchmade. Love it and it’s super sharp from the factory. I want to maintain that edge and maybe polish it. I just got a sharpmaker. A few tries on a cheap knife? Results were underwhelming. Sharpie shows pretty good on the rt side but only edge shoulder on the left. Don’t know if its the grind or my grip. I will try some more.

My question is: Is the sharpmaker likely to work for me, or do I need a kme? I’d love to try one, or find a used one somewhere.

 

[Bill3152]

I never used that but what I think you will find is that they all work. Every system I've tried does. And getting proficient with any of them will deliver. Jmo.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

My first post here. I’ve been using a work sharp GSS with good results. All my knives get pretty sharp. I want a polished, hair whittling edge of course, and I have a new Crooked River mini from Benchmade. Love it and it’s super sharp from the factory. I want to maintain that edge and maybe polish it. I just got a sharpmaker. A few tries on a cheap knife? Results were underwhelming. Sharpie shows pretty good on the rt side but only edge shoulder on the left. Don’t know if its the grind or my grip. I will try some more.

My question is: Is the sharpmaker likely to work for me, or do I need a kme? I’d love to try one, or find a used one somewhere.

It's a common hiccup in getting acquainted with the SM, in finding that many knives' edge grinds are asymmetrical (what you're seeing, from your description) or just too wide in angle for the limits of the SM. Especially with 'cheap' knives, all bets are off in terms of the grind, the steel, heat treat, etc. Very hard to blame only the sharpening tool, with so many other questionable variables playing into results. It's better to test the SM's capability on a knife you already know will take a good edge, and has good edge symmetry and geometry (ideally for the SM, 30°-40° inclusive). The SM is designed to be a very good or excellent maintenance or touch-up tool for knives that are appropriately set up for it. It's not well-suited for the heavy grinding needed to get the proper geometry set up in the first place, however.

 

[bucketstove]

My first post here. I’ve been using a work sharp GSS with good results. All my knives get pretty sharp. I want a polished, hair whittling edge of course, and I have a new Crooked River mini from Benchmade. Love it and it’s super sharp from the factory. I want to maintain that edge and maybe polish it. I just got a sharpmaker. A few tries on a cheap knife? Results were underwhelming. Sharpie shows pretty good on the rt side but only edge shoulder on the left. Don’t know if its the grind or my grip. I will try some more. My question is: Is the sharpmaker likely to work for me, or do I need a kme? I’d love to try one, or find a used one somewhere

Hi,
Do you need more equipment?
If buying more equipment,
is the thing what gets you motivated
to do what is required for you to figure it out
(read howto, try, think, observe, ask questions, repeat, repeat, repeat until you succeed),
well you have your answer


Permanent marker will tell you where you're removing metal.
If you want to know why, you have to do some thinking/observation.
Look at your hands/blade.
Do a slow and careful super vertical stroke on the sharpmaker, use both hands if you have to.
One stroke, look at marker.
Figure out, if its the angles you got from the factory,
or the way you're holding it, then adjust your sharpening procedure
(higher angle for faster results, lower grit for faster metal removal...)

When i started sharpening with a guide wedge (worksharp gss style),
i would end up with lower angle as I came off angle guide
so marker was being removed from the shoulder of the bevel,
but then i'd do so many wobbly strokes i'd also get a burr ... took me a while to catch on how i'm supposed to hold an angle

Which worksharp gss angle guide are you using 17 or 20?

Think about this,
worksharp 17 angle guide + 4 benchmade primary grind angle = 21
worksharp 20 angle guide + 4 benchmade primary grind angle = 24

The sharpmaker angles settings are 15 and 20 degrees per side if you're vertical.


You can get lower higher angles by shimming sharpmaker turnbox, either under each side, or teeter totter style
You can also lean/rubberband your worksharp gss coarse diamond plate against sharpmaker stones for faster sharpening/reprofiling.
remember to keep the force on the diamonds low, under 1/2lb, cause they're easy to dislodge

For more detailed/advanced sharpmaker debugging steps see Sharpening Curriculum / Trouble sharpening super blue - Spyderco Forums

Efficient grinding reprofiling with sharpmaker 1-3 minutes * 10 steps = 10-30 minutes total to drop angle from 20 degrees per side to 15 degrees in half degree steps , Reprofiling/Sharpening CPM 3V? - Page 2 - Spyderco Forums

from Tilting the sharpmaker - Spyderco Forums

A karambit version , slight modification compared to spydercosharpmaker.pdf

 

[mpgt12]

Thanks for the help. I really think this first, cheap knife was ground unevenly. I’m really starting to like the sharpmaker.

 

[TRfromMT]

You will like it more if you add some coarse diamond rods, and ultra fine rods. The coarse diamond rods make a huge difference in profiling a blade the first time. Then the ultra fine rods will ultimately give you a very good, hair popping edge.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Ceramic rods are not composed of individual particles packed together like natural stone or artificial hone stones. Likewise they are not a metal structure with diamond particles attached to the surface. The ceramic rods are more of a fused mass of claylike material with irregular voids with sharp surfaces. Even medium grit ceramic rods give an unusually fine finish, but none of them abrade/cut edges as fast as other hones. I typically use a fine diamond plate hone to work blade bevels down to a lower angle than my final edge. Then I use the medium Sharpmaker rods in the back-bevel angle for establishing my primary edge. My early sharpening experience was with carbon steels (not stainless) and I could generally get a razor edge at the back-bevel angle. In later years I learned that many stainless alloys had too many large chrome carbides to finish the edge at the back-bevel angle. What they required was very few light-pressure stroke at the nominal 20-degree "sharpening angle". I hate that compromise and often take an extra step of then stropping with 50,000 or 100,000 grit diamond paste.

Anyway, for easier experiments work first on non-serrated kitchen knives. They are thinner, have lower bevel angles and are often softer than over-thick tactical knives.

 

[mpgt12]

So I reshaped the edge and did a quick sharpening on the Sharpmaker. I'm amazed at how simple and effective it is. In just a few minutes, the edge has a nice polish on it and it's pretty sharp. Now on to some other, hopefully better knives.