Sharpnaker question

TheEdge01 said:
I love my Sharpmaker, I've had it close to a year and have used it many times. I don't use the 30 and 40 degree angle slots any more though. Several knives I have tried to sharpen came with factory edges that didn't line up to the preset angles on the Sharpmaker. Instead of going through the trouble of reprofiling the edge, I use the slot on the end of the case, and it works much better for me.
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Might as well move to freehand
 
sharp_edge said:
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I wonder if it is a good idea to free hand for reprofiling and then move on to sharpmaker for further sharpening, i.e., making the knife sharper. I ask this because 1) I find free hand with a stone or diamond plate is the fastest to remove steel, but 2) it is difficult to keep as a consistent angle with free hand as with a guided system or as I imagine with SM (one can argue SM is more guiding than free hand), and a consistent sharpening angle usually translates to a higher degree of sharpness.
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I've been issuing a 204 Sharpmaker for nearly 15 years. I have found this to be exactly correct. It's fairly difficult to exactly match the Sharpmaker angles. Even going from something like the edge pro or wicked edge will show changes when transitioning to three Sharpmaker.

The way i get around that is to go a little lower than the 204 angles, so any sloppiness in my angle control is overcome by the angle increase. I use guide blocks about 3 degrees lower than the 204 angles, 12 or 17 degrees per side, and then step up and microbevel on the 204. I've done it free hand too. The angle just needs to be bellow the Sharpmaker angle enough that you're saying a microbevel on the 204 in 10 to 20 passes per side. The 3 degree increase is enough for me, but some people might be able to use less.

The ceramic stones tend to load up, so minimizing the amount of metal removed by using microbevels helps there too. I sometimes sharpen at 12 degrees per side all the way to 4000 grit, then go to 15 degrees per side on the Sharpmaker. That makes for a polished edge and 10 passes per side on the medium then fine triangle flats leaves a barely visible microbevel.
 
The very bottom of the sharpmaker has slots to put two rods in, back to back. For use in a freehand manner.
 
Cut slices of 3M Wet Dry sandpaper of the desired grit and double sided tape them to the SharpMaker sharpening stones. Re-profiling is a breeze.
 
sharp_edge said:
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I wonder if it is a good idea to free hand for reprofiling and then move on to sharpmaker for further sharpening, i.e., making the knife sharper. I ask this because 1) I find free hand with a stone or diamond plate is the fastest to remove steel, but 2) it is difficult to keep as a consistent angle with free hand as with a guided system or as I imagine with SM (one can argue SM is more guiding than free hand), and a consistent sharpening angle usually translates to a higher degree of sharpness.
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That's what I do, and it works well for me.
 
tiguy7 said:
View attachment 750837
He is talking about the scissor sharpening slot.
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I've had my Sharpmaker for years and my MIL asked me to sharpen a pair of Gingher scissors for her. First I had to find the Sharpmaker and then watch the video on how to use them for sissors. All I can say is, Sal made a beautiful product. They worked like a breeze.
 
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