Sharpmaker Question

[beanbag]

I just read that Spyderco's edge angle is about 30 degrees inclusive (15 degrees per side).

Is this true for all Spydies?

Does this mean that when I touch up my Spyderco edges on the sharp maker I should only use the 30 degree "back bevel" slots?

 

[KNaB]

Spydies are usually between 30 and 40 degrees inclusive from my experience.

 

[bh49]

Edge angle is set by hands, so it is approximate and vary from knife to knife. Also it vary on different models. Angle on my navaja was more obtuse than any Spyderco I saw before.
Use 40 for touch ups, unless you reprofile to less than 30.

 

[Gadgetman7]

I've always used 40° as well. I wonder if Sal would speak to this though. It seems to come up from time to time. I know they are sharpened by hand but I wonder if there's a standard for each model. If so, I'd like to see it listed somewhere. The only problem is that some people would probably complain if the angle on their knife wasn't perfect....

 

[dalefuller]

Does this mean that when I touch up my Spyderco edges on the sharp maker I should only use the 30 degree "back bevel" slots?

I use the 40 degree setting for everything except my ZDP189 Caly 3. It gives me a great working edge with a lot of strength behind it. I use the 30 degree setting if I want to thin down the steel behind the edge a bit.

 

[Niles]

What I understand is that all the edges are sharpened to a goal of 30 degrees, but since this is done by hand it may not be perfect. The sharpmaker has the 30 and 40 degree angles. For a new spydie or one that I haven't sharpened I'll use the 30 side to clean up the back bevel and make it uniform relative to my technique. I'll do this on one side until I create a burr, then move to the other side. This way I know that the back bevel is [my] 30 degrees. Then I'll use the 40 degree side to create the micro bevel. This has worked well for me and I've now consistently been getting hair splitting edges on all my Spydies.

 

[ctk123]

What I understand is that all the edges are sharpened to a goal of 30 degrees, but since this is done by hand it may not be perfect. The sharpmaker has the 30 and 40 degree angles. For a new spydie or one that I haven't sharpened I'll use the 30 side to clean up the back bevel and make it uniform relative to my technique. I'll do this on one side until I create a burr, then move to the other side. This way I know that the back bevel is [my] 30 degrees. Then I'll use the 40 degree side to create the micro bevel. This has worked well for me and I've now consistently been getting hair splitting edges on all my Spydies.

The only problem I see with that, is that it can take forever and a day to reprofile some blades with the sharpmaker rods. S90v, you could be sitting there all day reprofiling, depending on how your edge came out of the factory.

 

[Niles]

The only problem I see with that, is that it can take forever and a day to reprofile some blades with the sharpmaker rods. S90v, you could be sitting there all day reprofiling, depending on how your edge came out of the factory.

Indeed, using the diamond stones help.

I should add, though, that on particularly tough steels I will adjust my angle to match the factory bevel if I'm not willing to commit the time to reprofiling. The back bevel matters less to me than the edge. If its close to 30 degrees and consistent, I'm happy enough.