Sharpmaker

J

Jpalmer1988

Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
615
I"ll just go ahead and admit I can't sharpen a knife myself, so is the Spyderco Sharpmaker worth it ?
 
Absolutely! I saw one in action, person with no arms could use it.
 
Jpalmer1988 said:
I"ll just go ahead and admit I can't sharpen a knife myself, so is the Spyderco Sharpmaker worth it ?
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Yes. That being said, this isn't some magic sharpener that will make your knife sharp just by rubbing on it. It does take some getting used to and a little time an effort.

It's worth the money IMO, it's the best sharpener I've owned to date.

My sharpening skills are "fair" at best.
 
Ozy said:
Absolutely! I saw one in action, person with no arms could use it.
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No that would be something I have to see.
But in all seriousness, yes the sharpmaker is completely worth it. I bought one a while ago and it sharpens knives great and is absolutely fool proof. I like it so much i bought the ultra-fine hones for it.
 
Very worth it for the sharpening-challenged knife lover. I love mine, had it for several years now.
 
Jpalmer1988 said:
I"ll just go ahead and admit I can't sharpen a knife myself, so is the Spyderco Sharpmaker worth it ?
Click to expand...

I couldn't sharpen knife until I bought Sharpmaker three years ago. The best $45 I ever spent.
Search youtube for sharpmaker video, you will get some ideas.
good luck
 
As long you try to buy knives with one of the two preset angles, which isn't difficult in the least, it's great. Very easy to get your knives to EASILY shave hair.
 
Brutus013 said:
As long you try to buy knives with one of the two preset angles, which isn't difficult in the least, it's great. Very easy to get your knives to EASILY shave hair.
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It is not THAT hard to change the edge bevel.

But, the Sharpmaker does function only with two preset angles. 15° per side or 20° per side. Use a sharpie to mark the edge, take a couple of swipes on the Sharpmaker, then look and see where you are hitting. Once the sharpie is being removed from the very edge, you have matched the Sharpmaker angle and are good to go from there.

It is definitely worth the money.
 
knarfeng said:
It is not THAT hard to change the edge bevel.

But, the Sharpmaker does function only with two preset angles. 15° per side or 20° per side. Use a sharpie to mark the edge, take a couple of swipes on the Sharpmaker, then look and see where you are hitting. Once the sharpie is being removed from the very edge, you have matched the Sharpmaker angle and are good to go from there.

It is definitely worth the money.
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Yeah, it doesn't have to be exactly. Often times I've found they use 18 degrees or 21 degrees per side, but at those differences you can still use the Sharpmaker with good results, and eventually, those few degrees will be ground away. If there's more significant differences, I'd buy a couple of DMT diamond stones and rubber band them to your sharpmaker rods to make it go a bit faster.
 
For many years, I could sharpen a wood chisel on waterstones to a fine, polished, wicked sharp edge, but I couldn;t sharpen a v-grind knife. I was afraid of "messing up" the edge, so I never did it.

Two years ago, I bought a Sharpmaker. You can rebevel an edge with a few modifications, and you can handle the almost always edge that is not exactly 30 or 40 degrees. It will sharpen any steel I've encountered (except D2.... or maybe that's my nemesis). The world is now new and I fear no edge. :thumbup:
 
One of the single best knife purchases I've ever made- keeps all my knives sharp.
 
I have never been able to get a knife sharp on a Sharpmaker, despite many many tries, cleaning the stones, and watching the video more than once. I recognize that it must be a user error issue, even though I keep the blade vertical and apply the amount of pressure Sal recommends.

I do just fine with Dia-Sharp stones freehand, so thats what I stick with.

I'm the only person here thats too stupid to use a Sharpmaker. :thumbup:
 
I bought one to keep in the kitchen. For the first time in our marriage I don't have to sharpen my wife's knives. She does it, isn't afraid of messing up, and keeps her tools sharp. We have different preferences in our kitchen knives and it was always my job to see that hers were up to snuff. The SharpMaker changed all that. We probably oversharpen our kitchen knive... using a steel would make them last longer as less metal is removed. But if the knife lasts only 30 years instead of 50 I figure we still got our money's worth. The SharpMaker is a very handy, easy to use sharpener.

Stitchawl
 
I have a love my Sharpmaker, but I have a follow-up question: Are the coarse diamond rods worth getting?
 
Yes. If you have a knife that has gone dull and is made of hard steel, it will take forever to sharpen using the grey and white stones. The diamonds will give you a head start and cut down your sharpening time.

Be careful to follow instructions and use the diamonds very gently. Too much pressure will knock off the diamond pieces and you will be left with a very expensive sharpening steel.
 
If you find yourself wishing the gray rods would work faster, they are. They are 325 grit, which is not all that coarse, but the diamonds cut fast and greatly speed up the work. You can get a hair shaving edge with the diamond rods, then quickly put on the final edge with the ceramics. I routinely touch up my knives and rarely need to use the diamond rods, but am quite pleased with them when I do need them.

(Note: If you find the diamond rods are still too slow, there are several tricks you can use to get the Sharpmaker to work, but at that point it is probably better to use a large coarse bench stone or coarse SiC sandpaper on a glass plate, etc.)
 
In leu of getting the grey diamond stones, I'd suggest a couple of small DMT coarse diamond stones, and just rubber band them to the sharpmaker stones.
 
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