Sharpmaker...whats so great?

Will'em

Will'em

Joined
Jul 12, 2002
Messages
523
Please enlighten me to the greatness of the sharpmaker...how is it superior to other sharpeners...such as the lansky system which i currently use?:D
 
I've sorta wondered same thing. NOt that I doubty those of you who claim it, just wanna hear some reasoning before I go get one. Spending entirelly too much of my income lately on knife stuff, so trying to make sure I have better reasons now. :)
 
I've used one for the past 10 to 12 years and never had it to not sharpen a knife. The rods are tough and don't warp like some of the round ceramic rods will. The triangle shape allows you to easily sharpen serrated blades and recurve blades. With the choice of medium rods and diamond sleeves there hasn't been a knife to leave my hand that wasn't popping hair! The best thing is set up. All you do is stick the rods in the hole and commence to sharpening.

Great system.
 
I think I can still get a bit sharper edge with benchstones, but I'll spend quite a bit more time doing it. Sharpmakers are easy and work really well on a variety of knives. I have a friend who has sworn by his for years, but he also likes their knives but has been a one knife guy (I've never found a Spydie I couldn't live without) so I took his enthusiasm with a grain of salt.

When I accidentally talked myself into a small Sebenza a year ago, and saw Chris Reeves recommendeds the Sharpmaker I took a little more notice. Then I found this place and read even more great reviews of the Sharpmaker. Thinking that perhaps my old buddy might be onto something after all, I started thinking about how much I spend on knives these days, and about how much I was thinking of spending on a nice set of 8x2 real Arkansas stones. Then I thought, hell, I can buy a Sharpmaker for under $50.00 and if I like it I just saved a lot of money. So I bought one. I still haven't bought the benchstones. The more I think about it, with all the harder steels these days, a set of 8" DMTs might make a whole lot more sense than real Arkansas stones if I really feel the need for a new set of benchstones.

Then again, after I added the diamond rods to my Sharpmaker, I haven't really felt the need for the DMTs. I still want a new set of benchstones, but I don't feel I need them yet.

The Sharpmaker does seem to sharpen just about everything but the lawnmower blade (except Cold Steel serrations, you need the little Lansky stone for them).

jmx
 
I think I can still get a bit sharper edge with benchstones, but I'll spend quite a bit more time doing it. Sharpmakers are easy and work really well on a variety of knives. I have a friend who has sworn by his for years, but he also likes their knives but has been a one knife guy (I've never found a Spydie I couldn't live without) so I took his enthusiasm with a grain of salt.

When I accidentally talked myself into a small Sebenza a year ago, and saw Chris Reeves recommendeds the Sharpmaker I took a little more notice. Then I found this place and read even more great reviews of the Sharpmaker. Thinking that perhaps my old buddy might be onto something after all, I started thinking about how much I spend on knives these days, and about how much I was thinking of spending on a nice set of 8x2 real Arkansas stones. Then I thought, hell, I can buy a Sharpmaker for under $50.00 and if I like it I just saved a lot of money. So I bought one. I still haven't bought the benchstones. The more I think about it, with all the harder steels these days, a set of 8" DMTs might make a whole lot more sense than real Arkansas stones if I really feel the need for a new set of benchstones.

Then again, after I added the diamond rods to my Sharpmaker, I haven't really felt the need for the DMTs. I still want a new set of benchstones, but I don't feel I need them yet.

The Sharpmaker does seem to sharpen just about everything but the lawnmower blade (except Cold Steel serrations, you need the little Lansky stone for them).

jmx
 
Ever seen a cheap commercial sharpening system that could take your dead serrated semi-sheepsfoot blade back to life to very workable levels, and at the same time you can fix up the kitchen knives, shears, scissors (my mom's sewing scissors, and they have to be sharp enough, and I brought it back sharp enough for her to use), razors, clothing "awl", needles, and your own knife collection regardless of shape as long as it's not too excessively big (like the lawmower blade ;))?
 
I dunno. Maybe I'm a moron, but I still can't get my sharpmaker to get the edge I desire. I've watched the Spyderco video a million times (alright, maybe 5 or 6 times) and I still don't get the desired results. I'm not looking for hair popping sharp, but damn, I cant even get paper slicing results, especially with my Benchmade AFCK. I'm no metallurgist, but I seem to have especially bad luck with ATS-34.

Al
 
Instead of following the Sharpmaker video exactly and taking alternating strokes, start with the dark stones and try taking 20 or more strokes on one side until you develop a bit of a burr, then take an equal number of strokes on the opposite side so you remove an equal amount of metal and remove the burr. Then repeat with the white stones.

This technique works the best for me (got the idea from some posts here and from viewing the Razor Edge video).

Now I need to learn to strop...hehehe..

jmx
 
dunno. Maybe I'm a moron, but I still can't get my sharpmaker to get the edge I desire. I've watched the Spyderco video a million times (alright, maybe 5 or 6 times) and I still don't get the desired results. I'm not looking for hair popping sharp, but damn, I cant even get paper slicing results, especially with my Benchmade AFCK. I'm no metallurgist, but I seem to have especially bad luck with ATS-34.
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I have had my Sharpmaker for less than a month, Every time I take a knife to it, I get scary sharp results. I can't seem to figure out what you could be doing wrong, And I don't think its reall possible that you got defective rods. :) You got me stumped
 
I use my sharpmakers every other day. it keeps my knives real sharp. I just hope using them all the time does not take too much steel off.

DOes using the white rods every other day run the risk of reducing my knives life?
 
You have to realise also with the Sharpmaker that you have to touch your knives up very regularly for it to be effective (unless you have the diamond rods).

I have the same problem with my AFCK. Just cannot get a good edge on it. The problem with that knife is that I left it way too long so now it's due for some re-profiling which I probably won't do on my 204...too time consuming...

Everything else can take a very good edge with my 204. Just have to do it regularly and not leave it for too long.

But it seems that sharpening even with a system like the 204 is a bit of an art form. I can only achieve meidocre results on mine but I have a friend who is able to get much better results than me on his one. Patience and a better understanding of edge geometry on his part is what makes him a much better sharpener than me.
 
The sharpmaker makes every Tom, Dick and Harry capable of doing what in the past took a very skilled person, lots of manpower, or an entire army to accomplish.
 
Sorry folks, but I just didn't get the same performance out of my sharpmaker. In fact I ended up going back to India bench stones to get a sharp edge on my knives. Only thing I use my sharpmaker for now is to sharpen scissors. Mostly, I don't like the sharpmaker's preset angles, and having to guesstimate in order to hone a custom edge angle.
I bought a Lansky which worked better than the sharpmaker for small blades -- but couldn't handle bigger blades very well (say >4").
Finally, I found the supreme sharpening system, the EdgePro. I plunked down the bucks and got myself an EdgePro Apex. I must have sharpened about 15 knives that first day. You can adjust the Apex to whatever the edge angle on the blade. This means you get a sharp edge with minimum effort and time, and remove a minimum amount of steel (so naturally your knives last longer). This also means you can keep the original edge angles intended for the knife by the designer. For me, the big bonus was finishing off each blade with the EdgePro 3000x polishing hone, and putting a mirror finish on these atom splitting edges.
The only downside was I had to relearn how to handle my knives - - because I kept cutting myself after sharpening them on the Apex.

TT2Toes
 
I have and own the Gatco system, DMT stones, Spyderco Ultra fine Benchstone, jewlers stones and both the Profiles as well as a 203 and 204 sharpmaker.

I started with the Gatco:o

I got very good results with free hand use, but after the sharpmaker was tried in a shop by myself I never looked back!

I know of no sharpening system at that price point that is so easy to use and amazingly adaptable. All I need is some diamond sleaves and it is complete! The DMT are cool, but won't give an edge like the Sharpmaker.

Love it!:D
 
i was going to get a sharp maker now that i have some nice knives. but, i literally destroyed one knife on a medium arkansas stone. you are welcome to call me an idiot, i am! the sharpmaker is real cool, but i am so dumb i don't want to risk any damage. if i get over zealous with the sharpmaker will it shave off a foot(slight exageration) of metal as did the stones? is the sharpmaker just regular rods with a base that holds them? i guess the trick is the base provides the correct geometry for you. i assume a "pro" does this feehand? my knives are pretty much all 154cm/ats-34 one is s30v one is 440a. how often do i need to sharpen these? (under moderate use). come to think of it, that store i went into that had the big scary wheel also had about 6 sharpmakers and a bunch of rod's on the table. although, he refused to use these. maybe, my pos knife wasn't worth him wasting his time with the good stuff?


holdanedge.
 
SpecialK,
Mark your edge with black marker and do some strokes – then you will see what you are really grinding. Greatly probably your edge is sharpened to more obtuse angle than Sharpmaker forces and you are grinding its back side even not touching the very edge.

SPYDERCO manual delivered with Sharpmaker is great but only if your factory sharpening angle matches Sharpmaker’s preset one or if it is sharper. If it is more obtuse this method will not work. Grind one side on dark rod edge until you will rise burr on the whole length of another side. Then do the same on the opposite side. Then change rods to white (fine) and do the same. Then remove the burr with light alternating strokes – one stroke per side. Your edge should shave after you will complete.

BTW, diamond rods can make entire job much easier and more pleasant. In fact Sharpmaker completed with additional diamond rods could fulfil practically of needs of home sharpening.
 
You may very well sharpen your edge properly, but it won't shave hair if you don't strop the edge. I have had several knives that I sharpened only using a stone, and couldn't get the edge to pop hair like I wanted. When I took those same knives and stropped them, they would then pop hair. So, for all you guys who haven't gotten the edge you thought you should, strop your blade before giving up. You don't need to get real fancy by using a professional leather strop with jewlers rouge to get a real sharp knife. You can use the cardboard back of a legal pad and get comparable results. You can even add some rouge to the cardboard for better results. I have even used the denim from my jeans that I was wearing to strop my edge in a hurry (granted not as good a result, but acceptable for the situation). All I did was grab the knee section to pull the denim tight, and proceeded to strop the blade on the thigh area. Be sure to read Joe Talmadge's sharpening FAQ, as it has excellent info on sharpening and stropping. Read it here. http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/sharpen/instruct3.html

YMMV

Mike
 
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