Thank You! Sharpening Success

[Mike9x19]

I have been lurking on this site for the last few months. I own a collection of 5 Spydercos and a bunch of knives from other makers. I purchased a Sharpmaker a few months ago, and was struggling to get good results with it. I read MANY threads on here about sharpening and today I finally achieved some very sharp edges. The tip on tilting your wrist to maintain a consistent angle through the belly of the blade proved especially helpful. This afternoon I sharpened every knife in my collection as well as most of my kitchen knives. I seemed to get better with each knife. I am truly amazed at how sharp I can get my edges with the Sharpmaker. They are better than the edges from the factory! I was never able to achieve that with my Smith's system.

I just wanted to extend a thank you to this community. I have learned a tremendous amount from reading the information posted here.

[Liquid Cobra]

Welcome to the forum!

[sal]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to our forum.

Glad you have achieved success.

sal

[Mike9x19]

Thank you Sal. I truly appreciate the quality products you provide. This online community is also something truly unique. There are so many helpful and knowledgable individuals here.

[glbpro]

I am truly amazed at how sharp I can get my edges with the Sharpmaker. They are better than the edges from the factory!

I had a similar experience with the sharpmaker system and was similarly amazed. Mind you in the videos Sal does promise that this is what you will be able to achieve

Welcome to the forum!

[eric m.]

After seeing the edges some of you guys are putting on your edges I finally broke down and ordered my Sharpmaker! It came yesterday, but I've yet to try it out! Mostly a freehand sharpener, but I do like the Idea of a little more precision and accuracy. I'm looking for a very sharp knife in as little time as possible, and from what I've read so far on this forum the Sharpmaker is the way to go! :spyder:

[Leon]

Funny, I just ordered me a sharpmaker today!..got the UF stones as well :D

[mikefromsac]

Funny, I just ordered me a sharpmaker today!..got the UF stones as well :D

Me too. I'm just not getting the edges I want freehand. I'm going to continue to learn freehand on practice knives, but use the Sharpmaker on my Spydercos until I get better.

[gbelleh]

That's great you're getting good results. I have yet to master the Sharpmaker myself. I need to just buckle down and patiently learn to do it right. But so far, I just don't enjoy the process of sharpening at all.

[dbcad]

Congrats and welcome Mike9x19 :D The feeling of achieving sharp is quite exhilirating, but can lead to borderline insanity :eek:

Take heart gbelleh. You know it's just making angles meet in the middle. The tricky thing is making those angles meet with precision.

[Donut]

Congrats. I think I figured that out only by being obsessed with the width of the bevel.

Creating a very sharp edge gives me a really good feeling.

[pc87]

SM is a wonderful system for keeping knives sharp.

[Blerv]

Congrats on the handiwork!! :)

[Holland]

welcome to the forums! congrats on the sharpening success! :D

[Mike9x19]

Thank you for all the kind words. I can see this is an excellent community.

[jackknifeh]

I purchased a Sharpmaker a few months ago, and was struggling to get good results with it. I read MANY threads on here about sharpening and today I finally achieved some very sharp edges.

I doubt if you could count the number of people who have learned to sharpen from people here. I know they have helped me a tremendous amount. My improvement in lots of things is like you described. Practice practice practice and not seeming to get anywhere then BAM, suddenly there is a huge increase in performance. It was like that with me learning guitar. I practiced night an day for almost two weeks then BAM, all of a sudden I was the best guitarist in the world. :rolleyes: :)

Congratulations on your improvement. As you get better your goal of how sharp you want to get your knives may get sharper, I want sharper. :) It's like a contagous disease. And the germs spread through this forum I think. :D

Jack

[Surfingringo]

Hey mike, I have great success with the sharpmaker. A couple of months ago, I went ahead and added the spyderco diamond rods. Man, I HIGHLY recommend these! I used to reprofile freehand, but I find I can get a much more precise 30 degree primary bevel with these and then I put a very tiny micro bevel at 40. The end result of the more precise bevel is my edges are at a completely different level of sharpness! And contrary to the opinion of some users, I have no trouble reprofiling with these. It may take 10-15 minutes, but they work just fine IMO. They are well worth the money!

[Surfingringo]

I doubt if you could count the number of people who have learned to sharpen from people here. I know they have helped me a tremendous amount. My improvement in lots of things is like you described. Practice practice practice and not seeming to get anywhere then BAM, suddenly there is a huge increase in performance. It was like that with me learning guitar. I practiced night an day for almost two weeks then BAM, all of a sudden I was the best guitarist in the world. :rolleyes: :)

Jack

Two weeks??! Pfft..only took me ten days. .

[jackknifeh]

Two weeks??! Pfft..only took me ten days. .

I've always envied guys like you. You can lie as good as me PLUS FOUR DAYS! :D

[eric m.]

Just an update on my Sharpmaker purchase! I just threw out my 20+ year old Lansky sharpening kit! Never a fan of clamping the blade, or the flimsy rods! The Sharpmaker system is awesome and quick at putting a really sharp working edge on my Delica4, Domino, and Southard so far! The video is really helpful! I may get the Diamond stones for reprofiling some old knives, and the ultra fine stone for polishing! Great product! :)