Sharpmaker Help

Fuzillade

Fuzillade

Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
148
Hey there BF, I need some help.

I bought a Spyderco Sharpmaker a few weeks ago.

I have tried to sharpen my knives on several occasions, but no matter how carefully I try to keep the knife straight, do smooth strokes, etc...I cannot for the life of me get a knife sharp!!

I am using the 40 degree side, done many strokes on each stone, yet at the end, I still have trouble slicing through index cards for goodness sake :mad:

I have tried knives with 154CM and S30V.
I am about to give up and send my knives to be sharpened by someone.

I've looked through videos, read the manual, the whole getdown.

Can anyone help? PLEASE!
 
The standard advice for this problem usually works... sharpie the edge to make sure you're actually removing metal from it and not just from the bevel. Some other advice that I found useful when starting with the SM:

-- light strokes
-- slow down to ensure straight and consistent passes
-- conversely I found that going too slow and getting too focused made it worse, kinda like beginner drivers focusing on the median line directly in front of the car instead relaxing and looking at the horizon
-- if you're not on the edge initially then use the diamond rods to get there in a reasonable amount of time... the ceramics are darn slow
-- clean the rods often as they load up quickly and slow down progress
-- double or triple the amount of passes/strokes you'll think you need to get where you want to go with your edge... like I said, ceramics can be s... l... o... w...
-- keep at it... it really is one of the easiest sharpening gizmos out there... YOU WILL SUCCEED!:)
 
KarlMaldensNose said:
The standard advice for this problem usually works... sharpie the edge to make sure you're actually removing metal from it and not just from the bevel. Some other advice that I found useful when starting with the SM:

-- light strokes
-- slow down to ensure straight and consistent passes
-- conversely I found that going too slow and getting too focused made it worse, kinda like beginner drivers focusing on the median line directly in front of the car instead relaxing and looking at the horizon
-- if you're not on the edge initially then use the diamond rods to get there in a reasonable amount of time... the ceramics are darn slow
-- clean the rods often as they load up quickly and slow down progress
-- double or triple the amount of passes/strokes you'll think you need to get where you want to go with your edge... like I said, ceramics can be s... l... o... w...
-- keep at it... it really is one of the easiest sharpening gizmos out there... YOU WILL SUCCEED!:)
Click to expand...


Thanks man, I found that really useful as well :thumbup:
 
Thank you for the advice.

To be honest, I am a little embarrassed to say that this thing was giving me trouble.

It's supposed to be fool-proof...
 
Sharpmaker will only sharpen at its own designed angles. If the knives you are trying to sharpen don't happen to match those same angles, you must, in effect, re-profile the blade. This, depending upon the steels, can take several hundred strokes, not just 40-60. AFTER the edge has been re-profiled to match the angles of the sharpener, THEN you will begin to see some amazing results! And you'll be able to duplicate those results easily in the future with no more re-profiling required!

Stitchawl
 
KarlMaldensNose said:
The standard advice for this problem usually works... sharpie the edge to make sure you're actually removing metal from it and not just from the bevel. Some other advice that I found useful when starting with the SM:

-- light strokes
-- slow down to ensure straight and consistent passes
-- conversely I found that going too slow and getting too focused made it worse, kinda like beginner drivers focusing on the median line directly in front of the car instead relaxing and looking at the horizon
-- if you're not on the edge initially then use the diamond rods to get there in a reasonable amount of time... the ceramics are darn slow
-- clean the rods often as they load up quickly and slow down progress
-- double or triple the amount of passes/strokes you'll think you need to get where you want to go with your edge... like I said, ceramics can be s... l... o... w...
-- keep at it... it really is one of the easiest sharpening gizmos out there... YOU WILL SUCCEED!:)
Click to expand...

stitchawl said:
Sharpmaker will only sharpen at its own designed angles. If the knives you are trying to sharpen don't happen to match those same angles, you must, in effect, re-profile the blade. This, depending upon the steels, can take several hundred strokes, not just 40-60. AFTER the edge has been re-profiled to match the angles of the sharpener, THEN you will begin to see some amazing results! And you'll be able to duplicate those results easily in the future with no more re-profiling required!

Stitchawl
Click to expand...

Very Good Points..........The sharpie trick works great and is a must when reprofiling. I reprofiled my SMF. It took me about 2 hours and a few hundred strokes on each side of the brown stones. After I got it to where I wanted, I then went to the white stones and finally to the ultra fine which polished the edge.
 
If you don't want to reprofile, you can elevate one side of the Sharpmaker so it is at the right angle for your blade. The tricky part is duplicating that angle on the other side. ;) I now use my Sharpmaker rods solely for freehand sharpening.
 
jayinhk said:
If you don't want to reprofile, you can elevate one side of the Sharpmaker so it is at the right angle for your blade. The tricky part is duplicating that angle on the other side. ;) I now use my Sharpmaker rods solely for freehand sharpening.
Click to expand...

I used to do that with a few knives before I went Edge Pro, and let me tell you, I was prepping and taking notes almost as much as sharpening (in order to get repeatable results). I had to test and record what item I used to elevate the base, measure and record where I put it under the base, etc. Fun for a while, but it got old fast. However it is a good alternative to reprofiling to match the two preset SM angles, which is itself another great piece of general advice to consider when figuring out what the heck is going wrong. Markering the edge will only tell you if you're on the edge or not; if you're not you still have to do something about it so that you are on the edge... and that's where reprofiling or elevating the base comes in.
 
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The best advice you'll get about the 204 is you need to get a coarse stone to go with it, so you can rebevel the edges to an angle that is less than the stock angles of 30 (15/side) or 40 (20/side). I typically will bevel to 17 degrees/side for the 20/side slots or 12/side for the 15/side slots. You don't have to be that picky; as long as the angle is less it will work. A coarse India stone from Norton works well and will give a good finish for going straight to the brown 204 stones. You can rebevel on the 204, but depending on the knife, you could be looking at several hours of work. Also, don't forget that the 204's base can be flipped over and used like a bench stone.

Clean the stones often, rotate them to a new surface more often, use moderate pressure, and use the 204 for applying the final edge and for maintaining that edge after use of a coarse stone to rebevel to less than the desired 204 setting. That about sums it up.
 
Thank you for all the input.

Sounds like I was a little impatient with my technique.
I will probably have to spend some time re-profiling the edge.

Can someone comment on the edge retention of the 30 degree angle
compared to the 40 degree? I will probably only to some light cutting for
this edc so I am leaning towards 30 degree, which will probably take some more time.

Thanks.
 
It could also depend on the depth of the serrations. Some of my serrated knives I hit the top of the serration grind on the 30 degree and therefore I switch to the 40 degree setting. I would suggest using a sharpie to verify where your stones are hitting before you finalize your choice.

As for actual edge holding of the two steels you listed, in my experience, S30V will hold 30 degree edge longer than 154CM. Either will do just fine at 40 degrees, but they will not feel as sharp?
 
The main problems I have with the Sharpmaker are the fineness of the grit (800 on the brown) and the smallness of the surface (1/2" X6"). If I need to establish a pair of tapers on a large wear resistant blade, I move to large coarse stones jigged up to he same angle as the Sharpmaker. Once the tapers are established all the way to the edge, I move to the Sharpmaker and shine them up. Trying to do the whole job on the S/M is like cutting the lawn with a scissors.
 
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