Sharpmaker Question

[red05]

I just received a Spyderco Sharpmaker and noticed one of the course stones has small chips out of 2 of the edges. This makes for a small bump when you are sharpening a knife. Is this normal or do I have a defective stone?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

If the rod is chipped, I'd say it's defective. On the edges especially, this is where a lot of the sharpening would ordinarily be done. It'll only cause problems, if the chips get in the way.

I'd get in touch with the vendor who sold it to you, OR, if they aren't willing to replace it, call Spyderco directly. They should at least replace the chipped rod.

 

[red05]

That's what I thought. That's a bad place for a chip. I have sent Spyderco an email so I am just waiting to hear back form them.

 

[presz]

The corners on the med. stones seem to chip easily. I wouldn't call it a defect though, more like normal wear and tear. I have fixed mine before using 180 grit wet dry sand paper on a flat surface. They work better as they get opened up a little. I just sanded the corners until the chip was gone.

I have a fine stone with same problem, but sand paper didn't do much. Anyone know how to fix small nicks in the fine stones?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'll stick with my original advice. These shouldn't chip that easily under normal use. If you're able and willing to sand it to fix it, that's fine. But I'd still call it defective. I'd be willing to bet Spyderco would replace it, if it's chipping that easily. I've been using a Spyderco Double Stuff hone for 10+ years now (made with the same brown/white ceramic), and I've never seen any chipping issues with it. I could see, if they are frequently rattled/bumped against one another, or dropped on a hard surface, that could crack them and lead to chipping issues. They do need to be handled with some care.

The ceramic hones are made with aluminum oxide, if I'm not mistaken. I think most wet/dry sandpaper is also aluminum oxide. Relatively same hardness between the two, so I'm not surprised that the sanding hasn't had much effect on the fine hones. I think most who've been able to sand/lap ceramics successfully, have done so using diamond abrasives.