What am I doing wrong? V sharpening.

B

BLM4L

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Jan 19, 2006
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I got a Spyderco Sharpmaker a couple of months ago. Have read, and re-read the instructions, watched the video multiple times. Here is my problem:
Although steel is definitely being removed (have cleaned the rods plenty of times), and I think keeping a pretty steady angle, yet my knives I have used this system on are not at all what I would think of as being sharp. I have now gone as far as 200 strokes on both sides of the blade. The knives I have used for this test are the Kershaw Whirlwind, and a CRKT M21.

Any suggestions?

Would I be better off getting one of the more complicated guide systems and using a series of soft and hard Arkansas stones?

Would appreciate suggestions.
 
I have good luck with my Sharpmaker. It does a great job finishing the edge with the black rods first, and then the harder white rods. If the blade is very, very dull, or chipped, or you are reprofiling the edge, you would be better off using a diamond stone first (or a soft Arkansas) to do the preliminary sharpening before moving to the Sharpmaker because it is more aggressive.
 
You may be removing metal from the blade but it may not be from the very edge. Take a Sharpie marker and color the edge of your knives. When you run it through the Sharpmaker you can see where the stones are making contact by where the marker was removed. Are you using 40 degrees or 30 degrees as your final edge?
 
stevekt said:
You may be removing metal from the blade but it may not be from the very edge. Take a Sharpie marker and color the edge of your knives. When you run it through the Sharpmaker you can see where the stones are making contact by where the marker was removed. Are you using 40 degrees or 30 degrees as your final edge?
Click to expand...

I was using the 30 for the final. Trying to get the super sharpest possible edge.
My knives are mostly used for very light work such as opening boxes, cutting through a little silicone, etc. A major use for most of my knives is just riding in my pocket too :)

Will try the magic marker approach.
 
Use the 40 degree for final.
Every knife I have sharpened so far comes out real sharp.
I only use the 30 degree on my CRKT's with a bevel edge.
 
A CRKT M-16CF I had was so close to a match on the 40 degree slots that I couldnt tell I was missing w/o the magic marker technique (it used to be a trick, but its been around long enough that it deserves an upgrade in classification). The other thing to watch out for is burr formation. The sharpmaker will form a burr on softer knives that can be difficult to detect due to the alternating nature of the strokes used, and difficult to remove with anything but the lightest of pressure. Also, try clamping the sharpmaker to whatever and using both hands on the knife. This gave me fits until I realized that holding the base and sharpening w/ the other hand was giving me slightly different angles than what I thought, due to my perspective of what "holding the knife vertical" was.
 
Very few knives will sharpen on the 15 degree settings without some major effort to reshape the bevel. Yout 200 strokes are likely doing nothing except grinding along the top of the edge.

If you want to use the 15 degree slots, take an x-coarse hone and reduce the primary edge grind down to 10-12 degrees per side. This should take 2-3 minutes. Now the blade will sharpen on the Sharpmaker in under a minute.

-Cliff
 
are you alternating sides every stroke, or doing a bunch on one side, then doing the other ?
 
vinny72xx said:
are you alternating sides every stroke, or doing a bunch on one side, then doing the other ?
Click to expand...

I tried both ways, but did not seem to be getting much result either way.
 
Probably too much pressure, and clean the sticks regulary. The metal parts can embed themself in the stones (white stones) so you have to remove the black stuff (metal parts).
Watch out for rolled edges and burrs. Alternate between the sticks because softer steel will roll over and ruin the edge.

Then strop the knife on an old belt.
 
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