Spydie Sharpmaker, Yes or No, and Why

Rob47

Rob47

Joined
May 4, 2013
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I’m 74 and I guess growing lazy in my senior years. I have good bench stones, and a Lansky kit with diamond stones, but I find myself using a DMT diafold with fine and xtra-fine sides for most of my sharpening needs. Admittedly, my sharpening needs aren’t very great anymore and I guess that’s why I’m wondering if a Spyderco Sharpmaker might answer my needs and wants. What do you folks think?
Thanks,
Rob
 
I have one it works great for knives that are already sharpened to that 20 day angle.
 
Rob47 said:
I’m 74 and
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Sorry to hear Rob47 Rob47 .
sharpmaker is for beginners . period .
i bought it, liked it, used it, doht use it anymore . there's no lazier sharpener than me . if you know what you're doing, namely the manipulation of the knife's edge, then you doht need the sharpmaker . unless you are bored with your 74 .
 
As a maintenane tool after an edge is set to good geometry, it's great.

For heavier work, like setting initial geometry, there are a lot of other, faster, more efficient options (like bench stones).

Considering most of us only need to set good geometry once, I'd say it's a very good tool for the light maintenance work after the fact, as long as you stay ahead of it and don't let your edges get too dull - I reach back to my bench stones to fix that. But for the lighter work, I use my SM regularly and like it. It's at its best at a light touch and with a minimum of passes on edges that need just that little bit more of refinement. Lighter touch and minimal passes are good for aging, sore hands. I'm 60 now and appreciating those things more than I used to. ;)
 
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It's a nice tool for keeping an already sharp edge sharp. Not so much for sharpening a dull knife.

I recently gifted mine to my father-in-law.
 
I'd say "no." If you already have DMT stones and need or like a guided system, make a ramp at the same angle as the dps you use on your EDC.

My EDC is 15 dps, so I made a wooden ramp that is 15 degrees. Rather than use the vertical orientation of the Sharpmaker, I use a horizontal orientation of the blade. Because the DMT stone is wider and more aggressive than the Sharpmaker stones, I can resharpen or touch up an edge quickly and easily.
 
I have and frequently use an older Spyderco Sharpmaker. It is dead simple to use and does a good job.
 
I appreciate the input fellows. Leaves me still undecided. I touched up the blades on about six small traditionals this afternoon using the DMT diafold and thought I could probably have done the job a good bit quicker using a Sharpmaker. Is the ease and time saved worth the price of admission? That is the question.
 
If you know how to use the sharpmaker, it’s all you’ll ever need. People might say “oh it’s for beginners”. Why? Because it’s easy? Is keeping things simple for “beginners”, and making things overly complicated for “experts”? The less time I need to spend sharpening knives, the better.. and the sharpmaker is a huge time-saver. They’ll all cut. They will all need sharpened again.
 
I personally don't care for the Sharpmaker. The stones are good quality but I don't like how you have the tendency to round off the tips of your knives. You need a steady hand and must not let the tip slide off. I mostly use the stones free-hand.

The one pictured above made by T tiguy7 alleviates this issue by having wider stones.
 
MolokaiRider said:
I personally don't care for the Sharpmaker. The stones are good quality but I don't like how you have the tendency to round off the tips of your knives. You need a steady hand and must not let the tip slide off. I mostly use the stones free-hand.

The one pictured above made by T tiguy7 alleviates this issue by having wider stones.
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If rounding off the tips is your problem, only use the flats and just “scrub”. Don’t ever let the tip slip off. I learned that from a YouTube video some guy who’s a good sharpener made about it. I don’t ever use the corners anymore.

I use my DMTs to set the bevel and the Sharpmaker for bringing the edge back. It will sharpen a knife from dull, but it’s very slow to reprofile an edge. I think the Sharpmaker’s great, and it’s fast, and definitely easy.
 
Rob47 said:
I appreciate the input fellows. Leaves me still undecided. I touched up the blades on about six small traditionals this afternoon using the DMT diafold and thought I could probably have done the job a good bit quicker using a Sharpmaker. Is the ease and time saved worth the price of admission? That is the question.
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If the SM is used in its ideal capacity, which is with maybe 3-5 passes per side to bring back a crisp apex, any touchup jobs using it won't take more than a couple minutes per blade, or less. This is essentially true with most any decent hone used for touching up, applied under the same criteria.

In terms of real grinding capacity, the SM's standard ceramic rods will never work as quickly as something like a diamond hone. This is just due to the difference in cutting speed of the two abrasive types at their rated grit. So, if an edge is substantially dull, it'll take much, much longer to correct on the SM's ceramic rods than it will if using something like a diamond hone. Even a 1200-grit (EF) DMT would work faster by comparison. A 'Fine' DMT Diafold (600) is a pretty handy tool for doing things like rebevelling the small, thin blades on traditional knives and can do that job pretty fast. And then the SM's ceramic rods are very good at refining and cleaning up the edge after the DMT. The SM is excellent for applying a 'barely there', almost invisible, microbevel atop the coarser apex created on the diamond hone. This is how I use my SM to its best, with my traditional pocketknife blades (pic added for selfish embellishment, below ;) ). I use the corners of the triangular rods to do that, BTW.
5HVj3Xf.jpg


Even at it's limited grinding capacity, the thing that makes the SM still worth it for many touchup jobs is the simplicity of the V-crock setup. Just that little bit of extra assist with angle control can make a touchup task almost intuitively simple.

I'd also say that the SM isn't a tool just for beginners. Nice thing about learning freehand sharpening is, literally any tool in practiced hands can then become that much easier and better at its designed job. Freehand is all about the right touch applied, i.e., appropriate use of pressure and protecting the apex from rounding. So that same 'expert' touch will make any tool work better, whether it was made to be 'simple' or not.
 
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I have found a Sharpmaker of use for decades. It's a great tool for the sharpening gear arsenal...and plays well with others.
 
Rob47, I see you have asked twice " is the SM "worth it." It has been around so long there is usually used ones you can pick up, either the 203MF or newer 204MF works. Or make one out of wood or plastic if you like, tigy7's build is sweet! I have gifted a couple factory SM's to family to maintain edges set on our KME.
The Sharpmaker is really a sharp maintainer, and as such fast to use. No clamps to tighten and little set up. You can extend it's use to setting bevel's by getting coarser stones. You have options. Both of Idahone's equidistant triangular 1/2"x7" medium and coarse stones are 1 to 200 grit, plenty coarser then SM's medium stones, Spyderco's has diamonds, or you could get some Congress triangular Mold Maker SIC 1/2"x6" from 80 to um-like 6 or 800. Thingyverse has 3D printing files for the Sharpmaker if you can find someone to print them, like a bunch of 777 Edge's SM inserts or two blocks, to change angles 1 degree per slot for 20 to 60 inclusive. For any form factor of diamond's, no thicker then about 3/8th-ish, like your DMT Diafold's, just figure a way to attach to rod, paper clips, 3M 2 sided tape etc. I have plenty of stones.
 
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My answer is
1. It works on most steel and it's dead simple.
2. If you already know how to find your angle without having to rely on presets, you are probably better off spending the money on the Spyderco ceramic bench stones if you are looking for a simple, dry touch up sharpener.
3. The ceramic is nice, the size is convenient, but they are never going to out-cut diamond and the size even broken down is not really that much bigger than two 8inch diamond plates. One at 300 grit one at 800 grit and you are probably going to be able to do all you need to do and more provided you have experience sharpening which it sounds like you do.
 
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another project had me looking at both Sharpmaker and Idahone medium rods, I noticed my reporting error above and changed text- I apologize. I think Idahone medium is clearly coarser then 3 sets of Sharpmaker rods we have on hand, recognizing SM rods have seen many more sharpenings then Idahone's.
from notes multiple reporting on Sal for Sharpmaker, and Idahone webpage-
Sharpmaker medium= 12-15 microns, Idahone = 500 grit;
 
Rob47 said:
I appreciate the input fellows. Leaves me still undecided. I touched up the blades on about six small traditionals this afternoon using the DMT diafold and thought I could probably have done the job a good bit quicker using a Sharpmaker. Is the ease and time saved worth the price of admission? That is the question.
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Probably not is my answer. If you didn't already have the Diafold then I would recommend the Sharpmaker but if you are getting good results now then save the money for your next knife.
It is easy to get all wrapped up with the next piece of sharpening gear but remember, a sharp knife is a sharp knife regardless of the equipment used to get it there. Just use the gear that works for you.
 
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