Sharpmaker reprofiling question.

Pyromancer · Jan 21, 2006

First, I hope this isn't sacrilegious but I am interested in the Sharpmaker BUT, I would like to reprofile in a convenient amount of time. I'm often handed dull as butterknife kitchen knives, SAKS, Multitools, and asked to sharpen them, cause I'm "the knife guy" - a predicament I'm sure y'all know too well. I realize there are diamond stones for the SM but I am trying to save money for knives!

I read that some people were buying small diamond stones, and attaching them onto the regular stones for reprofiling on the cheap. Can anyone help me out with a source?

Thanks
Desmond

Rick in KY · Jan 21, 2006

Pyromancer,

An inexpensive alternative to buying the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker is to wrap the existing rods in sandpaper with binder clips. This greatly accelerates the metal removal while maintaining the proper angle.

Pyromancer · Jan 21, 2006

Sweet, that sounds like just the ticket. What sandpaper grit are you using for the reprofile?

thanks
Desmond

Andy_L · Jan 21, 2006

240

It shouldn't take a huge amount of time to reprofile SAKs with the 40degree set up on the sharpmaker anyway. They use soft steel that wears quickly. It's the good knives that some idiot used on a glass board that takes the time

JD Spydo · Jan 21, 2006

Now keep one variable in mind. I am a very devout Spyder-head

But I do most of my main reprofiling with a NORTON Diamond Benchstone 325 grit coarse. The rapid stock removal is great. Nothing at all against the 204 Sharpmaker but I have talked until I'm blue in the face about the fact that the 204 comes a little short in that area. And I mean nothing at all derogatory by saying that.

I have the diamond triangles that you can buy for the 204 but I still think they are just not quite aggressive enough to remove stock for a really dinged up blade. With some of the super alloys we have in blade steel now a days you need all of the abrasion power you can get.

roknjs · Jan 21, 2006

I got some steel strips from www.leevalley.com and bought some wet/dry sandpaper. Cut the sanpaper to fit the strips and use double sided tape to stick it to the strips. Rubber-band the strips to the SM rods. Reprofile, take off the strips and use the SM to finish. You can lay the sanpaper out on a table and use it like a bench stone if you want.

Psychopomp · Jan 21, 2006

I've been thinking about getting some dowel rods and cutting them down to the size and shape of the sharpmaker rods and epoxy-ing some different grits of sandpaper to them. Cheap and should be easy to make.

EDIT: Actually, just for stock removal, you really wouldn't even need flats or corners, you could just cut the bottom of the rod to the shape of one of the sharpmaker stones and leave the rest round.

JD Spydo · Jan 22, 2006

Hello Guys>> Great thread>> Is there any preference as to what type of sandpaper to use. For instance I have heard that Silicon Carbide cuts a little smoother and more uniform than like Aluminum Oxide. Also what grit range is ideal? My Norton Diamond stone that I previously mentioned is 325 grit which is coarse but it seems to take off the stock in a very uniform and smooth fashion.

I tried some very coarse ( 90 Grit) Aluminum Oxide sandpaper and it was hard to control and I scratched the crap out of a good fixed blade doing it. There are so many new types of sandpaper out there and I was just wondering if you all had a consensus as to which type might be most preferential.

Crayola · Jan 22, 2006

I prefer Silocon Carbide for reprofiling, as it is harder than Aluminum Oxide and does the job quicker.

I also agree that for reprofiling by hand a coarse benchstone is the way to go. You don't have to be that acurate with angles when thinning out an edge. The sharpmaker will set in a perfect microbevel everytime.

roknjs · Jan 22, 2006

Silicon Carbide seems to work the best. I have paper ranging from 100-1500 grit. I haven't used anything coarser than 220 yet. For me 220 or 340 seems to remove steel fairly quickly. Look at the scary sharp system from www.handamerican.com You can get extra sandpaper there.

stevetexas · Jan 22, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The angles in the Sharpmaker are not Magic.

The fine angles are 30 (15 per side). The angles they call Profile are 40 (20 per side). This is in normal English degrees.

In fact these angles are just something they came up with to be average and take care of most cases. They do that. I kiss them.

In my case, I use a diamond sharpener to lay back the profile until a 10 degree edge can be laid on.

If you are an American Soldier, going into combat here is what I recommend...

1) Make sure that you have a good knife on your belt.

2) Make sure that you can use your rifle to kill the enemy at 5 to 500 yards.

3) Always carry extra ammo and water. Both will be needed in the end.

Sorry, I am aware that young men will not want to hear from anyone like me

Denix · Jan 22, 2006

A little variant on the sandpaper-on-the-sharpmaker-rod trick:

Cut a strip of sandpaper about 4 inches by about 1.75in (40mm to be exact, I'm used to metric up here).

Then cut a 4in strip of scotch tape. You tape the back of the sandpaper lengthwise, using half of the width of the scotch tape.

Now, wrap the sandpaper around the rod. When complete, simply use the remaining half of the scotch tape width to tape the other end (tuck the tape behind the strip to tape the back).

No clips, works like a charm and you can use all 3 sides of the sandpaper. With a single 8 1/2 X 11 sheet you can do a heck of a lot of knives. A single strip is usually good for 5-6 knives easy. I wrap one around each rod and use the sharpmaker as normal.

For heavy reprofiling though, I'll use a coarse DMT diamond benchstone with a DMT honing guide that I got at Lee Valley. I set it up for about 30%. When the blade is properly reprofiled, I finish with the sharpmaker.

Guy