What is your preferred way of maintaining the edge on your spydercos?

Mostly freehand on Paper Wheels with diamond compound, somewhere in the 30 degrees inclusive region, no microbevels.
An example is this Paramilitary in Elmax:







More pics in the Paper Wheel thread (stickied in the MT & E forum)
 
for just maintaining sharpness i'll always go to my sharpmaker and then strop as needed,changing bevels i'' pull out the edge pro and strop again! as im not one of those people that needs a mirror polish on my knifes!just keep them user friendly that will be able to slice phone book paper is fine by me.
 
I treat every blade differently. I use Arkansas stones alot, almost like a.meditation, as well as ceramic rods, diamond stones and a strop. My go to as of late is a micro bevel convex with my KO Worksharp followed by stropping for maintenance. It's not as soothing but its extremely efficient and by far the simplistic system I've ever used. It has retired almost all of my sharpening gear, Lansky/Gatco systems and the sharpmaker.
 
kwackster said:
Mostly freehand on Paper Wheels with diamond compound, somewhere in the 30 degrees inclusive region, no microbevels.
An example is this Paramilitary in Elmax:







More pics in the Paper Wheel thread (stickied in the MT & E forum)
Click to expand...

I use paper wheels as well, but my edges don't look as pretty as that! What kind of diamond compound do you use? Does that replace the SiC grit or do you apply to the slotted wheel?
 
For EDC use, which is light use slicing type tasks, I like them thin behind the edge with a coarse micro bevel.

One method is to use the Edge Pro to reprofile to around 26 deg incl with 120, 320 and maybe 600 grits. Then Sharpmaker diamonds to add a 30 deg incl micro. I like to keep it coarse and usually do not even go further than this.

This Manix is probably my 2nd thickest behind the edge knife, the Tuff being the thickest...

20141103_074756_zpscc5d90f0.jpg


Alternatively, DMT XC, C and F freehand to create a flat convex, and again SM diamonds to create a micro @ 30. DMT's are not necessarily ideal for this, but I use them because I have them! :) Much thinner and not as robust, but it cuts with much less force than the one above. Much preferred for EDC.

20150307_143302_zpsdd0upqq9.jpg
 
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I don't do anything special these days. Mostly freehand with a Double Stuff. Sometimes I'll strop on a Strop Block. If a lot of extra attention is needed, I have DMT diamond stones and the Sharpmaker with diamond through ultrafine rods.
 
Actually just got into sharpening. Started off buying a green paste strop but that didn't do enough for my knives, so I bought smiths 3 stone sharpening set from Home Depot. It was only 30 bucks and has a coarse, medium and fine stone, so I'm able to freehand a hair shaving sharp edge. It's not razor sharp like I'm sure you get on a better system, but it makes my knives sharp enough to eat through cardboard without any trouble. I plan on buying a spyderco Sage 1 next month, then probably buy a better sharpening set down the line. I think I'm sharpening at about 25-30 degrees on the freehand stones, and for some reason it seems a lot sharper if I just stop at the medium stone and strop instead of trying to hone it on the fine one??
 
Wicked Edge. My PM2's/S30V @ 14°/side are among the sharpest knives I own, top 3 or 4. Whisper-quiet slicers through phone book paper.
 
dkblade said:
Actually just got into sharpening. Started off buying a green paste strop but that didn't do enough for my knives, so I bought smiths 3 stone sharpening set from Home Depot. It was only 30 bucks and has a coarse, medium and fine stone, so I'm able to freehand a hair shaving sharp edge. It's not razor sharp like I'm sure you get on a better system, but it makes my knives sharp enough to eat through cardboard without any trouble. I plan on buying a spyderco Sage 1 next month, then probably buy a better sharpening set down the line. I think I'm sharpening at about 25-30 degrees on the freehand stones, and for some reason it seems a lot sharper if I just stop at the medium stone and strop instead of trying to hone it on the fine one??
Click to expand...

I used to have this same problem on the Sharpmaker. I don't know the ins and outs of what's happening (maybe some sharpening gurus can chime in), but it's definitely a technique problem. I was able to overcome this by spending more time on the medium stones and using very, very light pressure for the last several strokes. I've never used the Smith's system, but if I can't push cut magazine paper at 90 degrees then I know I'm not where I should be to move past the medium stones up to fine.
 
ejames13 said:
I used to have this same problem on the Sharpmaker. I don't know the ins and outs of what's happening (maybe some sharpening gurus can chime in), but it's definitely a technique problem. I was able to overcome this by spending more time on the medium stones and using very, very light pressure for the last several strokes. I've never used the Smith's system, but if I can't push cut magazine paper at 90 degrees then I know I'm not where I should be to move past the medium stones up to fine.
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Smiths kit seems like a decent entry level kit but the stones seem like they're pretty cheap compared to some of the nicer ones. I use pretty hard pressure with the medium stone and it is a somewhat gritty but very sharp edge when it's done this way. I'm thinking next time I'll try going straight from medium stone to strop with green compound and see how it cuts paper. Sharpening stones seem like the way to go unless you want to spend the money on a full kit, but I like the idea of using technique to get an edge instead of just relying on a machine to do it for me...maybe I'll eat those words if/when I buy one of the awesome kits people use on the forum.
 
When knives get really dull i am setting bevel with WE. Sometimes will go all way to ceramics, sometimes stop at 1000. Depends on knife and if i have time. Than microbevel on sharpmaker at 40 using only mediums for EDCs. For kitchen knives i use fine as well. I didnot use my UF for several years already
 
Depends on the steel. I start with DMT Diamond plates, usually the extra fine, but I have fine and coarse if needed. From there i go to a 5k Shapton water stone, and if I really want to go fine, on appropriate steel, I move to the Shapton 12k. Yesterday I cleanly cut some toilet paper to one of my employees to show how sharp my knife was. He pulled out his Ambitious and was like, that stuff is easy to cut. That was promptly followed with "that didn't go nearly how I expected it to. LOL
 
I use a strop. Mostly green and white and the a few swipes over some clean leather, if it's real dull or beat up I use black,green.ect
 
Usually Sharpmaker and strop. I'm over polished edges and 2 hours to sharpen a knife. Except for those who pay for them of course.
 
Well , my serrated ATS-55 Harpy gets sharpened with the ceramic rods on my sharpmaker. My VG-10 PE SS Delica is sharpened similarly.
My 440c spyderco Cat is sharpened with an EZ lap sharpener. My Spyderco MilitaryS30V is sharpened on a Lansky. My D2 sprint Military is sharpened on Silicone Carbide. My 3Cr13 Grass hoped slip joint is sharpened on an Arkansas stone.My S35VN Native is sharpened on the Lansky.
 
uofaengr said:
Usually Sharpmaker and strop. I'm over polished edges and 2 hours to sharpen a knife. Except for those who pay for them of course.
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^^^this. I like the "sixty seconds on the brown rods, as needed" technique. After a clean apex is established, 'natch.
 
After light use: Strop w/ green compound. After heavier use: Sharpmaker then stop.
 
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