WTF is wrong sharpmaker

H

HEMI 1500

Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
417
I dont know whats going on, i am trying to bring back the edge on a persistance,,it not sharp like it was out of the box,,,right now it will still cut the crap out of you,,,,I'm using the stones the way your supposed to I'm using the 30 deg slots only,,do i need to restart with the grey stones on the edge with some magic # of strokes?
 
The 30 degree angle is supposed to be for the back bevel, you should do it before using the 40 degree slots and it is not necessary every time you sharpen or touch up your edge.

The 40 degree slots are what you want to put the actual sharp edge on your knife.

Have you tried watching the DVD? It's very informative.
 
i did, i saw several people said they use just the 30 and that works for them, so i tried it
 
I tried that too when I first got my sharpmaker, you have to take off quite a bit of metal to be able to get to the edge with a 30 degree angle and will probably need either much more patience than I have or some coarser stones.

Try marking your edge with a sharpie and you'll be able to see where it is hitting, if it's not grinding the sharpie mark off the very edge where you would cut you're not really sharpening it yet. You're gonna need a lot of patience and grinding to be able to actually get your knife down to the 30 degree angle from my experience.

40 works absolutely great though, my knives are shaving sharp at it and hold their edge for longer than they would on a 30 degree angle.
 
well i just did 30 strokes on each of the grey stone sides,point and flat,much better,,,going to work so i'll have to hit the white stones tonight,,how ofter do you use the other angle?
 
Either start it at 40 degrees and use that to keep your blade sharp, or use another method to back-bevel to something just a tad finer than 30 degrees first. As good as the Sharpmaker is at maintaining an edge, it'll drive you batty trying to grind one in to begin with. If you have a buddy with an EdgePro, WEPS or a belt, they can knock that back to 12 degrees/side or so really easy, and you can finish with the Sharpmaker at 15 degrees/side. Depending on your use and on your blade steel, it might not be able to hold an edge honed that fine, in which case you can go to the 40-degree slots for the working edge.

EDIT: Also, use that magic marker! It'll give you a good idea where you are actually removing metal so you can see if you're getting down to the edge on BOTH sides. And, of course, the usual advice: "Let the stone do the work!"
 
i finished up with the whites and now it deff shaves hair,,,sliced up an orange today real nice too,,its now quite how i'd like it though. The knife is a persistance BTW
 
Well, there's a few ways you can refine it farther without a whole lot of effort. I'd do another series on the fine stones, edges then flats, and use absolutely as little pressure as you can while still keeping the blade in contact with the stones. When you get down to that fine of a finish, it's very easy to roll the edge with too much pressure, or build another burr. Leather would probably also help you with your quest for the edge you want, a good piece of tanned leather with some green chromium oxide compound does a great finishing job after the Sharpmaker.
 
I saw in a video i think it was murry carter where he draws the knife with only the weight of the knife across the edge of a piece of wood to knock down the final burr after hes done on a stone???? or the edge of cardboard,,,very light pass
 
i will do another series on the whites,,i did notice that sometimes i have a bit of inconsistancy with keeping the knife squared up and dead on the stone when i am working the stones flat side
 
That's just a practice issue, give it a few knives and you'll get it down to where it's consistent as can be. The Sharpmaker is quite a good little system when used within it's capabilities, I use the heck out of mine keeping my blades in good shape between belt or EdgePro sharpenings. I have almost all my knives knocked back to less than 15/side, so I can touch them up very easily with the Sharpmaker as soon as they start to go a bit dull. If they won't hold an edge at the 30 degree setting, I just microbevel to 40 degrees.
 
"I saw in a video i think it was murry carter where he draws the knife with only the weight of the knife across the edge of a piece of wood to knock down the final burr after hes done on a stone???? or the edge of cardboard,,,very light pass"

Yeah that's carter. you do a light blade-weight draw on the edge of wood (with the grain) after you strop, then strop a couple more times. he was actually using the cardboard to strop with, but prefers newspapers.

So: stones, wipe clean. strop. burr-draw. strop. done.

i started using his freehand technique some years ago and it works without fail. it just takes time to learn. it's not really "his" method, so much as old school japanese blade work.
 
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