Some advice would be appreciated

DarrylS

DarrylS

Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
3,309
:cool: ...I know this has been beaten to death in a lot of threads but I just have to ask the folks I've been sharing this particular forum with about the "Sharpmaker"...I've never had trouble free-handing it with any of my knives and grew up using bench stones for knives, chisels, truing up screw-driver tips and that sort of thing. I've free-handed drill bits for years and have made them cut longer and truer than most factory sharpened drills. But I've reached a unique point in my "do it yerselfer" life...my eyes are going to hell and it's tough to see what the heck I'm doing. The Lansky works okay but I've heard great things anbout that "Spyderco" gizmo...How in the world does it work and DOES IT WORK???...LOL...I just seems that from what I see you can vary the angle by a mere "tip" of the wrist while using it, and holding angles is quite important when doing a knife right. Am I wrong here??...Thanks guys.:confused: :confused:
 
...My $.02...

I'm ordering a sharpener that clamps the blade and positions the sharpening stones at a pre-determined angle...

I've heard names, but not many recommendations...I have an ad for the Gatco Edgemate here, and it looks tempting...

I dismissed the Sharpmaker as soon as I saw it...
 
...Thanks Trax... The Gatco looks a lot like my Lansky in that it has the clamp and the hone follows a predetermined angle determined by holes in different positions in the clamp itself. It's not a bad system...
 
The Sharpmaker works amazingly well at keeping knives sharp if they have a good edge or at least a good edge grind to begin with. The rods are too fine to do any major steel removal. There are optional diamond rods but they cost more than the standard system.

I love freehand sharpening, but I love my Sharpmaker too. I keep the Sharpmaker set up all the time for quick touchups when a knife needs it and I don't have time to get out the benchstones.

Get it, and get the optional ultra fine rods. Keep your benchstones and other stuff for major steel removal and use the Sharpmaker to keep them sharp and get a very polished final edge.
 
...Hey psycho...I'm assuming that you're merely holding the blade in a vertical position and running it down the side of the angled rods...Am I right??...Seems you could drill some holes in a board at set angles , insert some dowels wrapped in emory cloth of various grits and duplicate the sharpmaker???...:confused: :confused:
 
I'll second what Psychopomp said.

Like you DarrylS, I sharpened freehand and still do and can get most any edge to shave hair...I got a Sharpmaker about two-three months ago and use it to final finish an edge.

I think that it takes your edge to the next level and well worth the fifty or so dollars, easy to use. It's not removing much metal so if you happen to "tip" your wrist it's really no big deal.

It's not for serious edge profiling. Preston
 
I use a 8 X 1 inch sewn muslin wheel on a buffer with white compound and "polish" my edges sharp. They stay sharp enough to shave with a minimum amount of time and effort. Keeps the blades looking good too.
 
...I do have to replace my buffer Jake...Someone needed it more than me...I was hoping the Sharpmaker would take some of the visual guess work outa sharpening but it seems the Lansky or Gatco would do that a bit better. The Gatco looks like it has bigger stones and that would be a plus for anyone looking for one or the other...I'm still a bit torn tho...I might have to wait til I see one of those sharpmakers in operation somewhere...Thanks for all the help guys...:)
 
DarrylS said:
...Hey psycho...I'm assuming that you're merely holding the blade in a vertical position and running it down the side of the angled rods...Am I right??...Seems you could drill some holes in a board at set angles , insert some dowels wrapped in emory cloth of various grits and duplicate the sharpmaker???...:confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

Yup, that's pretty much all there is to it.

You could achieve the same results with some dowels, but the triangular rods offer some advantages to round surfaces (the corners exert more force on a smaller surface area and align the edge better than a wider surface). I incorporated this idea into my Sharpmaker actually. For reprofilling edges for use with the sharpmaker, I cut the ends of a dowel to fit in the Sharpmaker base and wrap them with differing grits of coarse sandpaper. Works very well.

The ceramic rods are very fine and you will not be able to reprofile an edge with the Sharpmaker, but the system should outlast you, especially the fine and ultra fine rods (they should last forever unless you drop and break one).
 
I recently purchased a Lansky. It was returned to Gander Mountain the next day. They have changed the clamp since my last purchase. The clamp is a real piece of junk. The clamp would not hold the knife secure. The knife kept falling out of the clamp. I don't think it was related to the new and improved red plastic tensioning knob. I found an old school Lansky NIB and now I am back in business. At some point they have replaced the fine ceramic stone with something really wimpy. The stones in general do not hold a candle to the old one's. Going to try a Gatco next.
 
Deep6Osama said:
I recently purchased a Lansky...They have changed the clamp since my last purchase...
Click to expand...

...???...You had one and now you have need for a new one??? :confused:

What happened to the first one???
 
chickentrax said:
...???...You had one and now you have need for a new one??? :confused:

What happened to the first one???
Click to expand...

I wore the stones out I guess 16 years of use took it's toll. The X course, course and medium eventually were so worn there was an 1/16th to an 1/8th inch valley in the middle of the stones.
 
My brother has a Lansky. I have a Gatco. I much prefer the Gatco. The clamp holds the knife better and I don’t have to put black electric tape on the blade with my Gatco but he always uses tape on his Lansky to protect the blade. I have more stone on steel. I also really like the bench mount for my Gatco. I have to say though neither of them is really good at doing small blades like pen blades. There I would think the Sharpmaker would have a distinct advantage.
 
Darryl,

I have Both the Lansky systems. The one where you clamp the blade into a bracket and run the stones across it using the angle guides, and the one that uses the crock sticks.

I use the clamp system and the diamond or other stones depending on the condition of the blade.

If the blade just needs a slight tune up, the crock sticks are fast, easy and as effective as the stones.

The crock sticks come in two grades Medium/Fine on the pro system and is the only one I considered.

The crock sticks have 20 and 25 degree angle settings that match the angle setting on the clamp system.

What swayed me to go Lansky crock sticks over the sharpmaker is that the Lansky crock sticks are 9 inches. I believe the shapmaker sticks are 5 inches. In addition to the Lansky angles matching the clamp system I already had.

If you look at the Lansky website be sure and compare them. The better one comes with the two pair of sticks. I think the Lansky system is slightly cheaper than the Sharpmaker, but that didn't matter in my decision.

Yes, you hold the blade vertical and run it down the crock sticks. A stroke on one side and then a stroke on the other side. The 9 inch sticks gives me more comfort factor in that I won't raise up too high and glance the blade off the top of the stick and down onto the back of my left hand that is holding the board it is mounted on. It does have a hand guard.

When the crock sticks first came out back in the mid 70's, I had a set that were shorter with no hand guard. There is this thin 2 inch scar on the back of my left hand. I tell everyone that asks, that I was attacked by a knife and the knife won. 8 stitches.

I messed up with those crock sticks back then. A buddy at work commented about trashing his 110 because it wouldn't take an edge. I put it on those sticks and it didn't take much to make it like a razor. Well, I suddenly became the sharpening guy. What a pain.

my two centavos worth....
 
I haven't used the Lansky or Gatco but do have a
Sharpmaker. If you are used to freehanding, the Sharpmaker will probably suit you well as it contains two pairs of triangle shaped stones. Medium brown and fine ceramic. I like the triangles as you can use the flats, the corners and grooves for various applications. The grooves are good for points such as steel tip darts. The corners work well for serrated blades. The stand merely provides two common angles to mount the stones. 30 and 40 degrees. If you want a device that holds the knife edge at a specific angle the Sharpmaker isn't a good choice.
 
...Thanks for all the great advice. This has cleared up a lot of wondering that I had been doing about the Sharpmaker. I think I'll just pick up a coarse diamond stone for the Lansky and use it for the heavily worn blades and continue to do the touch-ups and finer work with the bench stones like I have been doing. I've used the 2000 grit trick with the glass plate to put fine edges on them for quite a while and it's always worked fine so I'll continue that as well. Thanks for all the information fellas. As usual, you've all proved what a terrific group we have here. :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
It seems to me it would be very easy to make a jig to set a stone into at a give angle for sharpening accuracy. I think I'm going to try it and I'll let you guys know.
 
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