Spyderco's ULTRAFINE Sharpening Rods

C

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I bought two of Spyderco's ultrafine sharpening rods along with a Sharpmaker. I'm a little confused as to whether I should use the ultrafine rods in addition to or instead of the fine grit. Is it worthwhile to buy the ultrafine rods and what do they do? I used them in addition to the fine grit rods and I got an astoundingly sharp knife. I'm not used to using the flat parts of the stones and I mucked up the tip of my Byrd Cara Cara a bit. It's still very sharp, but I must have come off the rods wrong.

My brother spent $300 on a stone sharpener system where you clamp the knife in and the stones are automatically set at the right angle. I don't want to go that far, as I got a hair popping sharp blade using my Sharpmaker. But I don't get a polished finish. (If I want that, I can use some Simichrome or Flitz and a Q-tip.)

Anyway, do I use the untrafine rods instead of the fine rods or in addition to the fine rods?

Thanks!

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To me, the included fine rods are PLENTY fine enough.

I'm going to order a set of the coarse diamond rods, as that will make fixing a poorly ground factory edge much easier/quicker.
 
Definitely use them after the fine stones. Personally I don't see the need for the UF rods for the most part, I free hand off a fine rod to finish most of my knives and its a mirror polish as is, the UFs took too much work for too little difference in application for me.

As for the tips, here a tip (hehe) for ya. Don't let the knife's tip leave the stone, you want to finish the stroke with the blade's tip still in contact. That will preserve the factory grind.
 
As a general rule, you want to use a lot of grits and work your way up. You can skip steps, but that means you have to grind a lot longer on the next step to complete it, or else you won't get a perfectly refined edge. You can get polished edges with the ultra-fine rods, although they won't be perfectly scratch free, and the grind won't be perfectly flat unless you have superhuman precision.
 
I've used them in the past, but they didn't do much for me. Mostly I end up just switching to a leather strop after the fine rods. But that's just me, and I'm far from an expert sharpener.
 
Confederate the grit sizes (if I recall correctly) for the Spyderco ceramics are as follows: coarse 15 microns, fine 6-7 microns, ultrafine 3 microns. I find that the ultrafine stones do make a significant difference if used properly.
 
After looking around, I realize this is not the proper forum, so apologies to the mods.

Not letting the blade leave the rods is a great suggestion. Thanks.

Some people love the Sharpmaker; others not so much. After doing some reading, I understand that eventually one will have to re-bevel their knives to their original configuration. I don't know if the Sharpmaker's medium grit rods will do that or whether diamond coated rods will have to be used. I don't know how long the medium grit and diamond grit rods will last. I have several diamond-coated stones, but I'm not skilled enough to use them.

Learning to sharpen knives is one of the most maddening things about knife ownership. Some people just give their knives a swipe or two every day on the fine rods. I got an amazingly sharp edge after using the ultrafine rods on the Sharpmaker and they will last forever, so what the heck.

Any more suggestions or observations will be appreciated.

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Cynic2701 said:
Confederate the grit sizes (if I recall correctly) for the Spyderco ceramics are as follows: coarse 15 microns, fine 6-7 microns, ultrafine 3 microns. I find that the ultrafine stones do make a significant difference if used properly.
Click to expand...
Any suggestions on how to use them properly?

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Use as light of pressure as possible. Keep your angles as consistent as possible. Make sure that you are hitting the actual edge--if you aren't then, assuming that you are using the Sharpmaker, you might need to re-profile your bevels.
 
While not "necessary", I use the ultra-fine rods after the fine rods for a noticeably keener edge.
 
love the Sharpmaker system (and my Spyderco Profile rods); i use the UF rods for my straight razors - but ONLY after stropping fails to smooth the edge (i do a 15X loupe exam about once a year on my 7-razor rotation); i put the UF rods in the 'flat' position and use them like a stone - a few passes, and my straight razors are generally as good as new (regularly use a 130-year-old American-made razor and many other antique razors; have been using 'em for nearly 25 years)

willie
on the Gulf of Mexico
 
I use mine from time to time also. And as mentioned above doing very light and slow strokes really is the key. I find that for what I use a knife for on a daily basis I just touch up with the fine rods only.
 
You can rubber band your smaller DMT "stones" to the Sharpmaker triangular prisms. Marking the edges of your blade with a Sharpie lets you know where material is being removed.
 
I use them after the fine rods and I can see a very noticeable difference in the edge. Worth the extra 20 strokes......lol
 
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