Spyderco Diamond Rod Mileage?

fulloflead · Oct 14, 2003

I love my Sharpmaker but those smooth stones are going to drive me batty!

I want to buy the diamond rods for it. Is it worth it? How do they hold up? I'm particularly concerned about the grit wearing off the corners.

From my experience with other diamond stones, they seem to wear quickly at first as that excess (more coarse) surface coating wears off and then they level off to an acceptable (but a little less coarse) grit that's embeded in the vehicle material and stay that way pretty much forever.

But the Spyderco rods are just coated and the diamond grit isn't embeded in the rod right? So it seems to me that they'd wear out in a year or less. I don't know if I want to drop the $50 a year for the rods.

Has anyone "reprofiled" the bevel of MANY knives on their Sharpmaker with the diamond rods that can say something about their mileage?

Crayola · Oct 14, 2003

fulloflead,

for reprofiling, there are other methods that will be WAY faster. Since reprofiling is just "meat removal", you don't need too much precision and control. Get a DMT extra coarse hone, a 200 grit waterstone, or some such large, rough stone. Use firm, 2 handed pressure. I like to scrub in circles with the stone locked in at just above waist height, so that I can use my whole body. Reprofiling in this way won't take very long at all! Oh, when using diamonds, lighten up on the pressure, or you can tear the diamonds from their base plate.

Good luck!

Oh, you can always get a belt sander too

Jason Burns · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by fulloflead
How do they hold up?

I still have a pair of the original sleeves that I got in 1986! They are still going great! I picked up a pair of the new ones but figure I use the old till they wear out!

fulloflead · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by Crayola
fulloflead,

for reprofiling, there are other methods that will be WAY faster. Since reprofiling is just "meat removal"...

I totally agree and I usually prefer the Diamond Lansky and Gatco systems. However, the Spyderco is more "handy" and requires less set-up and I usually keep it out near where I'm working. Often times, the edge bevel is NEARLY but not quite the bevel of the Spyderco stones. During these times I don't really care to drag out the other system just to get it to the Spyderco angle. I would much prefer to work a bit with the Spyderco Diamond stones for a few minutes to get the SC angle.

It's a matter of loving the convience of the Sharpmaker but not loving the fact that many knives are factory sharpened at a slightly steeper angle than the Sharpmaker angle.

(Holding the knife at a different angle while using the Sharpmaker, I feel, defeats the purpose of the Sharpmaker. You're trying to hold the exact angle by hand.)

fulloflead · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by Jason Burns
I still have a pair of the original sleeves that I got in 1986! They are still going great! I picked up a pair of the new ones but figure I use the old till they wear out!

Great! That's what I wanted to know.

Now, if I can only find a set of diamond rods on Ebay again. I frequently see them there.

TheBadGuy · Oct 14, 2003

New Graham has them at a great price.

fulloflead · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by TheBadGuy
New Graham has them at a great price.

Thanks. I just looked. You're right. They do.
If a set doesn't turn up on Ebay this week for $50 I'll do that.