Sharpmaker on VG-10 Spyderco endura

S

shwaycool

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Mar 13, 2013
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2
Hi all,
I'm a noob to sharpening. I just bought a spyderco sharpmaker and am trying to sharpen my endura. I've spent hours trying to sharpen my knife but for some reason it can't cut paper. I've tried the sharpie method to see if I'm getting the edge and have noticed that on the right side of the edge (with blade edge facing up) right at the peak the sharpie mark is still there. I cant see to touch it? Should I angle knife instead of making it perpendicular?

Thanks
 
You'll find that the Enduras are probably up in the 42 - 45 degree inclusive range...or 17.5 on one side and 22.5 on the other. They are not even. At that price point, I guess you shouldn't expect them to be. So what you'll have to do to make use of the Sharpmaker is use an aggressive whetstone of some sort and flatten that primary bevel out to about 12 degrees on each side. Then you can use the Sharpmaker to lay on a micrco bevel and touch it up.

I have about 10 Spydercos including Enduras and that's what I've done to them all (other brands too). Once you bevel is less than either 30 or 40 (or less than both) you can use the Sharpmaker as advertised. The problem is that with the stones provided, it'll take about 1000 strokes on each side to achieve that...or more. Once you have achieved that, 20 strokes on a side with each grit does exactly what the thing is advertised to do.
 
Well that is a great tool. That is very expensive...like about $250 with everything you need. It will achieve some fantastic results and is way better than the other jig tools in that the jig is not attached to the spine of the knife.

However, I suggest you learn freehanding. I went the medium expense route there and got a set of diamond plates...very aggressive. About half the price or even less on sale. You could just get good old fashion Norton Oil stones and that's gonna run you about $50.

Now here's the beauty part to that route. First you really do need to be able to freehand. It's just a skill any knife nut or outdoorsman needs. And yes it does take some practice to learn how to do it but so too does the Edge Pro. But you won't have to expend "Samurai Swordsmith" kind of time on the thing. Get down the basics, and then finish the job with you Sharpmaker. It's that final refinement of the edge that's the hardest part. Early on, you learn to get that bevel down to a workably acute angle (less than 30 ideally) and then you use the Sharpmaker, just as described in the DVD that comes with, to get that edge very, very sharp. After some practice I can now freehand the thing to as sharp as I want without the Sharpmaker but I do use the Sharpmaker for subsequent touch ups.

Now that's me (and a lot of other guys too). I don't think I have ever heard a bad word said about the Edge Pro in terms of how well it works and the kind of results you can achieve with it.

Do some searching. No sharpening project, regardless of your technology, is really done until you strop. There are thousands upon thousands of words written in this forum on the subject of stropping.

The Sharpmaker is a fantastic tool but it has its limits. Reprofiling an obtuse edge or touching up uneven bevels are beyond that limit without the preparatory work I described above. I believe that the Edge Pro comes with a phenomenal variety of grits and thus is suitable for re-profiling work.

I think you will find that just about all the factory knives below a price point, no matter how nice, no matter how sharp, will benefit from reprofiling. I reprofile everything eventually...most right out of the box.
 
Get a Spyderco Doublestuff if you want to learn freehanding basics or a Norton Econo stone about $5-6 at most orange big box home improvement stores and practice on some cheap carbon steel kitchen knives. For your Sharpmaker you could also just tilt the edge a bit to hit the apex if you don't want to reprofile it yet, a few degree difference won't affect performance.
 
jwolf90 said:
Get a Spyderco Doublestuff if you want to learn freehanding basics or a Norton Econo stone about $5-6 at most orange big box home improvement stores and practice on some cheap carbon steel kitchen knives. For your Sharpmaker you could also just tilt the edge a bit to hit the apex if you don't want to reprofile it yet, a few degree difference won't affect performance.
Click to expand...

^^That (bolded portion) was my first thought as well. Sounds like the Endura's edge needs rebevelling to a more acute and/or symmetrical edge bevel. That $6 Norton 'Economy' stone (double-sided C/F, in silicon carbide) would do it easily, with little money wasted in the process. Even the 'fine' side of the stone is very aggressive and removes metal quickly. If need be, you could even make a jig to support the stone at 15°/side, ala Sharpmaker-style, and use it just like the Sharpmaker ($12 spent on two stones would get you both sides; still a GREAT bargain ;)).

The DoubleStuff is a great finishing/maintenance hone (I have two), but it uses exactly the same medium & fine ceramics as does the Sharpmaker's rods. In rebevelling tasks such as is needed here, it wouldn't speed things up at all, compared to using the SM. This is why I'd recommend the MUCH coarser Norton SiC stone, which would work much faster in this case.

Rebevelling doesn't need anything expensive or fancy. It's all about heavy grinding and quick re-shaping of the edge bevels. All of the finishing tasks get MUCH easier on the Sharpmaker, once a good bevel is established with the coarser stone. Best working angle on an edge, with the SM, is 30° inclusive.


David
 
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