spyderco sharpmaker vs freehanding

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TheGrailKnife

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Jun 5, 2014
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Hey guys I'm going to invest in a sharpening system. Should I get the spyderco sharpmaker or invest time into freehanding. The free handing I will buy a dmt diamond coarse and fine, ceramics fine and ultra fine, and a leather strop. What do you think
 
Freehand if you are willing to learn, it's an especially useful skill if you buy a new knife or a heavily used one that needs to be reprofiled, that's very time consuming to do on the sharpmaker but pretty quick and easy on a coarse bench stone.

I use the sharpmaker as the final touch on knives I want screaming sharp, but primarily sharpen freehand.
 
Soyderco sharpmaker is a form of freehanding.
If you are willing to learn free hand sharpening stones will be better, although there's a steeper learning curve.
Overall, stones will provide more surface and support to work with, i.e. faster metal removal and more precise edge control too, once you've practiced enough.
 
Basically what others have said, sharp maker is a good starting place, however free handing is how you end up achieving proffesional edges
 
What if I buy the sharpmaker and use the bottom part for a stone to practice. And I can buy the other stuff later
 
I learned freehand as a little boy. My Dad taught me and this is what I did for decades. But the Sharpmaker is easier, does just as good a job, and (IMHO) is faster. I no longer freehand. Sharpening is not a fun task to me, it is more of a necessity if I want sharp knives. So the Sharpmaker gets it done well and fast. No more freehand for me. :)

That said, learning freehand is a good idea. A person needs to know the process of sharpening if knives are their thing. Freehand almost requires that you learn why you do what you do. Then, once you get that down pat, move on to something like the Sharpmaker if you find the process of freehand to be bothersome.

Best of luck. :)
 
I've had great success with the Sharpmaker and a leather strop. Gets my blades plenty sharp and the strop keeps them that way for a good while.
 
I've got both recently. Sharp maker works and is easier and faster. I got it for my recurves where I couldn't figure out a good way to do them on the stones. Freehand gets you a pretty mirror edge though on your blades.
 
Like jprime, I want both.

I have many stones but stones cannot sharpen a recurve as well, so I'm thinking of a guided system for my recurves.
 
I started with a Lansky 5 Stone. Now I've moved to a Spyderco Double Stuff stone and a strop. I still have a lot to learn though but I do enjoy free handing much more.
 
I started with the sharpmaker and got good results if you spend a lot of time on them. In order for it to be effective, you have to clean them often and do may repetitions. This gets old fast.
I have moved on to stones and now I am ready to go to DMT stones and a strop. I still use the sharpmaker fine stones to finish but do it with them freehand on the bottom off the sharpmaker case.
Either way you will not go wrong. The sharpmaker is good to keep semi sharp blades sharp. To sharpen something like the becker Bk2 or Bk11 (what i own) i have to use the DMT unless i have a few hours to kill.
 
Get whichever, just move to freehand eventually. Freehand gives a good tactile experience with how each stroke affects the edge.
 
I've never used any kind of sharpening system like the Sharpmaker or Edge Pro. I learned to freehand when I was 18 and it's a very valuable skill. Anywhere I am, as long as I have a small stone I can maintain my knives.
 
SaintlyBrees said:
I learned freehand as a little boy. My Dad taught me and this is what I did for decades. But the Sharpmaker is easier, does just as good a job, and (IMHO) is faster. I no longer freehand.
Click to expand...

+1

I only sharpened free hand for years and got pretty good. Then I got a SharpMaker. I found the edges more refined and found the SharpMaker faster and easier. I eventually traded up to a Wicked Edge (wanted to reprofile and wanted unlimited flexibility in choosing angles) but still have and still use the SM for quick touch ups. For the money, you cannot beat the accuracy and speed of the SM.

Go with the SM unless you find sharpening enjoying. For me it's more of a means to an end.
 
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SpydrMan said:
I've had great success with the Sharpmaker and a leather strop. Gets my blades plenty sharp and the strop keeps them that way for a good while.
Click to expand...

I agree with this... It takes very little skill, with great results.
 
Learning free hand.

Buy swapmeet knives.

They will never hold and edge but you will eventually get the angles.
 
TheGrailKnife said:
What if I buy the sharpmaker and use the bottom part for a stone to practice. And I can buy the other stuff later
Click to expand...

This actually doesn't work well... the stones sit in the middle of the base (on the bottom), so the base ends up getting in the way of most knives you sharpen (handle hits, your hand hits, etc.). Better off getting a stone to practice.... for example an inexpensive King two-sided waterstone is good to practice on.
 
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