Which is BETTER for slippies?

If you happen to have one of those Old Timer stockmans with the serrated sheepsfoot, the SharpMaker is real handy. Serrations are about the only thing I use mine for. Everything else goes on the diamond hones that I switched to about twenty years back. The old carborundum and Arkansas stones are okay, but I prefer the consistency of the diamond hones. They don't dish out, they give a totally uniform abrasive surface (no hard or soft spots) and they don't break when you klutz out and drop them.
 
Diamond stone is a must have if you get into D2 or any of the hi-tech steels. Sharpmaker is fine but finishing up. But if you need a nick or dull edge taken care of, Sharpmaker is going to take 4ever.

God Bless
 
I use DMT diamond stones for everything. Duosharp fine/extra fine for everyday sharpening, and Diasharp coarse plate for serious repair/reprofile.

I have two lansky kits, and tons of other kinds of stones, but DMT works with water, and is much faster and cleaner than oil stones.

Lansky's work fine, but are a lot of trouble compared to a flat stone. Sharpmaker I'm sure is ok and idiot proof, but I don't see the allure of it. It's basically your everyday crock stick deal. If I had one, I guarantee I would use the rods like a bench stone and never use the base.
 
I like to sharpen freehand. I use Spyderco ceramic stones and highly recommend them. Even fine or extra fine grit diamond stones are too coarse for me, Spyderco's extra fine ceramic stone gives me a much nicer mirror finish on my edges.

I finish up my blades on a loaded strop (which is what I use for day to day touch ups on my EDCs).

I do keep a little Lansky two sided diamond stone for fast and rough touch ups in the field, but I use it very little.
 
I was born into a knife-nut's house. My Dad would sharpen his knifes on a little Arkansas stone all the time. He owned several stones and even tried to teach me how to use them. I understand the concept. He spoke of "muscle memory" and building the habit, but the best I could ever do was a convexed mess.

Then, I discovered the wonder of convex sharpening with a mousepad and sandpaper. Wow! Even I can get a shaving edge easily with that method.

Then came the Queen D2 Congress. Too many blades that were just too dull. When my arm got to hurting after a few hours, I hung it up and bought a DMT Aligner kit. In no time I was WHITTLING HAIR!

I am sold on my kit, but very glad to know that I can fall back to the mousepad if necessary.
 
I started with stones and learned freehand in the 60s-70s, I looked for the holy grail of sharpeners, went through the crock stick, the Lansky, Tri Hones, Gatcos, even an Edge-Pro.

In the end I always fall back on the system that provides the best results........Free Hand.

I own countless stones, hones, diamond stones, waterstones and other assorted flattened ceramic surfaces.

Two things I learned, always buy the biggest stone you can afford, (it's much easier to maintain a consistent on a larger sharpenin' surface) and practice, practice, practice, practice, (muscle memory is a fact, the more you do something the faster and better you get at doin' it).

My current sharpenin' rig:

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My advice is become proficient at freehand and you'll never have a dull blade.
 
Chewy1 said:
....
Then, I discovered the wonder of convex sharpening with a mousepad and sandpaper. Wow! Even I can get a shaving edge easily with that method.

Then came the Queen D2 Congress. Too many blades that were just too dull. When my arm got to hurting after a few hours, I hung it up and bought a DMT Aligner kit. In no time I was WHITTLING HAIR!

I am sold on my kit, but very glad to know that I can fall back to the mousepad if necessary.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup:
 
cnas122 said:
The cool thing about a sharpmaker is that you can also use it as a flat stone (grooves on the bottom of the plastic case)
Click to expand...

Indeed you can. I grew up using a set of Norton stones. During my dark years (the time when I was almost exclusively carrying modern thick-bladed, high-tech, one-hand-opening knives) I bought a Spyderco Sharpmaker in order to be able to sharpen serrations. I do like the Sharpmaker and use it fairly regularly to this day on all my knives, folders and kitchen. But if I knew then what I know now, I would have just sold off the serrated one-hand wonders and not bought the Sharpmaker.
 
Tom_123 said:
If I just want a sharp knife: Sharpmaker.
If I want some recreation: Traditional water stone .
It’s quite relaxing to concentrate on nothing else but a
blade and its angle for a while.
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Agreed. I call it "The Zen of the stone.";)
 
I have the DMT Aligner Kit like neeman and Chewy1 and I have to agree with them. My Queen D2 came with a safety edges and the Aligner Kit allowed me to re-profile it and have it shaving sharp in short time. Add a strop and its all I need for my bevel edges. Add sandpaper to the list and you've got convex blades covered as well.
 
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