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What angles to use on Sharpmaker for touching up a blade?
- Thread starter Mtty22
- Start date
- Joined
- May 14, 2010
- Messages
- 461
20 for a quick touch up job
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
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- 10,844
The CD that comes with it, explains it very well.
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2009
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- 1,538
20...
If you don't have the disc.. There plenty on of instructional videos on U tube..
If you don't have the disc.. There plenty on of instructional videos on U tube..
- Joined
- May 7, 2013
- Messages
- 2,072
I'll agree with this. I'm not much on watching included DVD's with stuff I buy (they usually wind up in a drawer somewhere), but this one is well done and very instructional. Definitely worth watching.
You need more information to make your decision. If your edge is 20 degrees per side or less, you can use the 40-degree stone angle. If both sides of the edge are 20 degrees, you'll sharpen the edge easily and cleanly.
However, if either side of the edge is less than 20 degrees, you'll be making a microbevel. If either side is more than 20 degrees, you'll have to reprofile.
If your edge is 15 degrees per side, you can use the 30-degree stone setting and it will sharpen the edge. Or you can use the 40-degree stone setting to create a microbevel, which is easier and faster to sharpen, although cutting performance suffers a small bit compared to a clean, 30-degree inclusive edge.
The key is to know what your edge angles are at the moment. If one side is 24 degrees and the other is 14 degrees, you'll have a hard time getting any edge.
You can estimate your edge profile by painting both sides with a Sharpie and making one dry pass with the stones at the 30- and 40-degree settings. Depending on where the ink is scraped off, you'll have a good idea what the edge angles are. What you want is for the stone angle to match the edge angle of your blade, in which case one pass of the stone will scrape off the ink across the entire edge.
But in any case, you have to be able to raise a burr along both sides of the entire edge to sharpen your knife. In many cases, you'll have to reprofile, which can require quite an effort to remove enough metal to get to an appropriate edge angle. Diamond stones will help a lot.
I have a very old Sharpmaker, and the video that came with it is not very good. It's designed for someone with almost no understanding of the sharpening process and who also has an edge that is perfectly matched to one of the stone angles and is already sharp.
However, if either side of the edge is less than 20 degrees, you'll be making a microbevel. If either side is more than 20 degrees, you'll have to reprofile.
If your edge is 15 degrees per side, you can use the 30-degree stone setting and it will sharpen the edge. Or you can use the 40-degree stone setting to create a microbevel, which is easier and faster to sharpen, although cutting performance suffers a small bit compared to a clean, 30-degree inclusive edge.
The key is to know what your edge angles are at the moment. If one side is 24 degrees and the other is 14 degrees, you'll have a hard time getting any edge.
You can estimate your edge profile by painting both sides with a Sharpie and making one dry pass with the stones at the 30- and 40-degree settings. Depending on where the ink is scraped off, you'll have a good idea what the edge angles are. What you want is for the stone angle to match the edge angle of your blade, in which case one pass of the stone will scrape off the ink across the entire edge.
But in any case, you have to be able to raise a burr along both sides of the entire edge to sharpen your knife. In many cases, you'll have to reprofile, which can require quite an effort to remove enough metal to get to an appropriate edge angle. Diamond stones will help a lot.
I have a very old Sharpmaker, and the video that came with it is not very good. It's designed for someone with almost no understanding of the sharpening process and who also has an edge that is perfectly matched to one of the stone angles and is already sharp.
