Sharpmaker - No Fun

T

TedGamble

Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
431
I've been using a combination of DMT diamond coarse and fine stones and finishing with Arkansas Hard and Hard-Black stones to hand sharpen my knives. I'm getting pretty good at free-handing, although I often resort to the Razor-Edge clamp when I want it really fine.

Today, my shiny new Sharpmaker (with extra UltraFine stones) showed up on the front porch. Since I had already downloaded the manual and read a gazillion posts about using this thing, I simply watched Sal's demo to see the proper stroke, and away I went with my Old Timer 8OT. (The knife was already sharp, but that 1095 steel is such a joy to work with, I figured this would be a good one to use to de-flower the virgin Sharpmaker.)

Since the knife was already sharp, I only did 10 strokes with each of the configurations (brown edge, brown flat, white edge, white flat, ultrafine edge, ultrafine flat). The whole process only took about 7 or 8 minutes and the knife is extremely sharp.

So, I gotta ask you folks - What's the fun in that? No muss, no fuss, no oil to clean up, no having to be careful with angles, no having to go slow and be patient. What's a fella to do to relax in his spare time if he's got one of these? :)
 
... sharpen all the kitchen knives... then buy more knives to sharpen...
 
Never thought about it like that. But it's fun to lend that ultra sharp knife to some knucklehead and wait for the blood to start spurtin.
 
Lmao :D

But if he used the rule, Cut towards your buddy,not your body.

You might be in for some blood letting yourself.


WR
 
Well I have the lansky version of the sharpmaker....I know not the same, not as good, but it was a gift and is of the same principle. So my question is...How do you prevent rounding the tip of the blade? When you pull the blade down and it comes off the stone it seems to remove metal from the sharp tip of the blade. I never really noticed it until I started trying to remove some metal (sort-of reprofiling) to take out some chips in a blade. I keep my blades sharp and usually I just have to make a few passes to get it back to scary sharp...but if I had to sharpen a dull blade, or reprofile an edge, I could see where this would become a problem. So is there a trick to it? It seems like if the blade was being pulled toward you across the stone it wouldnt be as much of a problem as when slicing downward like is suppose to be done. So...any words of wisdom? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Ryan
 
TedGamble said:
So, I gotta ask you folks - What's the fun in that? No muss, no fuss, no oil to clean up, no having to be careful with angles, no having to go slow and be patient. What's a fella to do to relax in his spare time if he's got one of these? :)
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like you need more knives to sharpen. :D

Oh, and also get a good leather strop and load it with Chromium Oxide. Then you can take your blades from really sharp to atom-splitting, tree-topping sharp.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
How do you prevent rounding the tip of the blade?
Click to expand...

Don't pull it through the tip, rotate the blade down to keep the edge perpendicular to the hone. The stroke should end with the tip on the hone.

-Cliff
 
You can always watch the video of Sal again and practice on all the other things he sharpens like scissors, fishing hooks, wood planes, etc. etc. etc., heh heh!
 
I'll be more than happy to introduce you to some of my friends and relatives. :D

Everywhere I go from work, to neighborhood, to home town the question is the same - Mind sharpening a few of my knives? :)

For a tool that is used so often by a vast majority of people, I am amazed that dull edges are put up with as much as they are.
 
Hi Ted, it's kinda like fast food vs a nice dinner.

When I want to "play" with an edge, I have many mediums from many parts of the world. I labor over each stroke, watch the edge "grow" with my lupe, even a strop with abrasives.....great fun.

Sometimes I just want to sharpen the knife to use it. ;)

sal
 
At least you noticed that the extra fine stones are sold in sets of one instead of in pairs like I was expecting:P.

Looks like I'll need to add another one to my next order to new graham.
 
Hello Sal,

I noticed that you just mentioned that you use a lupe sometimes to check
the knife edge. Could you recommend one...? brand and power. I have a Sharpmaker 204, but I am new to the sharpening game and would like to be able
to check my sharpening as I go.

Thank You, William

Happy owner of a Manix PE, Native III PE, Lil" Temp PE SV30, and Bryd Crossbill PE :D
 
Hi William. Thanx for the support.

Any 8X - 12X will work well.

I particularly like Edmund's scientific products. I normally have a 10X in my pocket and a 20X and 50X in my briefcase.

"He who sees the closest sees the best" Laotse

sal
 
My 204 is in the mail and on its way, and i hope its as easy as you make it out. I have all thumbs~

The fact it had a video sold me. I dont know any other knife fans atm where i am =(

Where do you get these "strop" with the oxide? Any Links?

Does the 204 come with everything I need or what other rods etc will I be looking to order?

Thanks..and my dull knives thank you...
 
TedGamble said:
I've been using a combination of DMT diamond coarse and fine stones and finishing with Arkansas Hard and Hard-Black stones to hand sharpen my knives. I'm getting pretty good at free-handing...
Click to expand...

Well, you can kiss that goodbye. :rolleyes:
I used to be good at freehanding too, but after years of using nice tools like the Sharpmaker and others I found I'd lost the skill. Now I'm having to relearn. Freehand sharpening is a good skill to have.
 
TedGamble said:
So, I gotta ask you folks - What's the fun in that? No muss, no fuss, no oil to clean up, no having to be careful with angles, no having to go slow and be patient. What's a fella to do to relax in his spare time if he's got one of these? :)
Click to expand...

No doubt about it, the Sharpmaker is the go for quick, accurate knife sharpening. A few short minutes and that dull butter knife is now a scary scalpel sharp slicer. Like you say, where's the fun in that.

This is my remedy for a more satisfying sharpening experience. In fact, I intend to do this today. There is a thunderstorm outside so I have a good excuse to stay indoors.

First of all you need to select a relatively dull knife or, better still, one you'd like to reprofile a little. For me, on this occasion, it's my first generation Spyderco Native.

Next, you pour yourself a nice glass of good red wine. I will be using a good Oz Cabernat Shiraz for this exercise.

Now you get out the Edgepro Sharpener. I have the one with all the extra stones. This has many more parts that the Sharpmaker and takes longer to set up thereby prolonging the pleasure.

I now spend some time looking for the magnifying glass which the wife has, once again, cleverly hidden. Maybe it's in the dog kennel .....

After getting all the Edgepro parts set up, the cloth dampened, it's little bottle filled with water, etc., you get to decide what angle you'd like the edge to be and set that.

Now you spend some quality time sipping your fine red wine and slowly and carefully sharpening your knife, going through all the different grit stones until the 3000 polishing tape where you get to put a nice shiny finish on your edge.

If desired the experience can be prolonged by getting out the strop .....


Of course, if you're one of those quick fix junkies, get the Sharpmaker out ....
 
One thing you can do to bring the fun back into it is to do like I did: sharpen other people's knives, and make them pay for it ;)

The coolest part: watching a 50 year-old lady walk right by a building security guard and hand me 3 8in knives :D I actually feel shy when I pull out a 3in folder to show them a properly sharpened blade!

Guy
 
TedGamble said:
So, I gotta ask you folks - What's the fun in that? No muss, no fuss, no oil to clean up, no having to be careful with angles, no having to go slow and be patient. What's a fella to do to relax in his spare time if he's got one of these? :)
Click to expand...

Finf a really dull knife and decide you need to reprofile it to 30 degrees. That'll fill your afternoon for ya.
 
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