PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

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Felr2
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PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#1

Post by Felr2 »

So I got my spyderco sharpmaker today and I've spent the last 7 hours trying to find out the best way to sharpen knives with it. It's 3 AM right now. I have work at 8 tomorrow. But I can't fall asleep because of this question.

The problem that I am noticing is that the Spyderco sharpmaker tends to create a steeper angle towards the knife tip, which ends up grinding the shoulders near the tip.

My FIRST QUESTION.

Why is this happening?!?!

My Second Question. How do I fix this??

Possible Answer:

1. Tilt the knife upwards as I reach the tip. This seems to help somewhat. But WHY does this help????

2. Tilt the knife away from the rod as I reach the tip. This is obvious. And this makes the most SENSE because I see people on youtube using whetstones like this. They tilt the knife UPWARDS from the whetstone (equivalent to away from the spyderco rods) as they transition from the body to the tip of the knife.

HOWEVER. Tilting the knife AWAY from he rod as i reach the tip goes against the advice of many people on this forum: "keep knife perpendicular". Tilting the knief UPWARDS should theoretically do the same thing as tilting the knife AWAY from the rod (or does it?!?!) but it seems like it doesn't work very as well or I need to tilt the knife upwards much more drastically.

WHAT IS THE ANSWER??!?!?!? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP.
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bh49
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#2

Post by bh49 »

Does this happen with one or all knives?
If this only one knife and you are correct in what you are describing, than factory grind is varies along the edge, which is possible. Many companies sharpen their knives manually. Only one correct solution: continue to sharpen to make edge angles even. Diamond sleeves would help.
If this with several knives, than it is a bigger problem: you are not holding knives vertical all way to the tip. You will need to put mirror behind sharpmaker and look in the mirror to control how you are holding the knife. Also, sharpen slow and of cause light pressure.
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Evil D
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#3

Post by Evil D »

I just try to keep the edge moving straight into the stone, so tilting the knife handle upwards as I get towards the tip. This doesn't change the angle at all.
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anagarika
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#4

Post by anagarika »

This ^

To give you illustration, an old sharpening thread @ BF:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/how ... t-17138467
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#5

Post by Michael Janich »

Yet another reason I prefer Wharncliffes...

Blades with belly require a steeper angle round the curve to keep the terminal edge bevel the same width. Blades with belly and a distal taper minimize this, because the taper thins the blade near the tip. The easiest solution is to sharpen the edge in two segments, if necessary.

And get some sleep...

Stay safe,

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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#6

Post by adancingmonkey »

Thanks for the tips.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#7

Post by Ric »

For not sharpmaker ready knives or quick+dirty progress use the rods without the plastic box.

Hold it in hand and try to guess the angle.

Buy diamond rods
Use sharpie
Watch the explanation video from sal
Start with a small kitchen knife
.....
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anycal
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#8

Post by anycal »

What Ric said

I keep reposting this video, but it really works great using the tri-stones free hand. Haven’t touched the sharpmaker since.

The good stuff starts at 2:15.

https://youtu.be/_o05lIL32zE
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#9

Post by ejames13 »

anycal wrote:What Ric said

I keep reposting this video, but it really works great using the tri-stones free hand. Haven’t touched the sharpmaker since.

The good stuff starts at 2:15.

https://youtu.be/_o05lIL32zE
The control he shows is amazing, but if you're gonna do that why not just buy the bench stone?
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anycal
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#10

Post by anycal »

ejames13 wrote:The control he shows is amazing, but if you're gonna do that why not just buy the bench stone?
Agree. I use different setups for major tasks like re-profiling or chip removal. But for anything I would use a sharpmaker for, freehand is the only way I use the tri-stones.

Also, the stones on their own are very portable. Take couple of stones (fine and ultra fine) anywhere.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#11

Post by Surfingringo »

Hi Felr, welcome to the forum. I made a quick video today that might help answer some of your questions.

https://youtu.be/DI8lTj-F8gA
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#12

Post by MichaelScott »

Thanks. Sure helped me. Tilting vertically for the belly and point sounds right.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#13

Post by dj moonbat »

Try to keep the part of the edge that's touching the stone parallel to the floor.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#14

Post by ThePeacent »

anycal wrote:
ejames13 wrote:The control he shows is amazing, but if you're gonna do that why not just buy the bench stone?
Agree. I use different setups for major tasks like re-profiling or chip removal. But for anything I would use a sharpmaker for, freehand is the only way I use the tri-stones.

Also, the stones on their own are very portable. Take couple of stones (fine and ultra fine) anywhere.
there's even half-stone sized ones.
Perfect for carrying around and relaxing touch-ups anywhere :cool:

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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#15

Post by Chumango »

Along with Lance's video, something that may help reduce the chance of rounding the tip is to start with the tip and move toward the heel during the stroke instead of using a draw stroke starting with the heel.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#16

Post by SpyderPhreak »

dj moonbat wrote:Try to keep the part of the edge that's touching the stone parallel to the floor.
Exactly!!!
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#17

Post by Doc Dan »

Color your blade edge with a sharpie before you begin to sharpen. That way, you will be able to see where you are sharpening relative to the actual edge.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#18

Post by Chris_P_Bacon »

ejames13 wrote: why not just buy the bench stone?
Simply put, bit less expensive to buy the smaller stones, especially when you're dealing in complete sets.
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Naniwa Bonded Diamond 400,600,800,1000,3000,6000. Venev Gen2 OCB Combo Diamond 800/1200.
Spyderco 306UF, 306CBN. Doublestuff2 303FCBN2, & 204MF Sharpmaker w/204CBN for Spidie Edges.
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FaithfulPastor
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#19

Post by FaithfulPastor »

As a novice blade sharpener (which I still am) I have found that I get my best results with a Sharpmaker by NOT using the flat edges of the stones and use only the 3 corners of the stones. Also, I never pull the blade tip off the stone at the end of the down-stroke. Some say that rounds off the tip or point of the blade. I assume they know what they are doing, so I follow that advice.

One day, I'll be more skilled and can use the flat part of the stones, but for now, I get great results using only the corners of the sharpmaker.

Last, I concentrate more on keeping the knife exactly perpendicular to the desk that my sharpmaker sits upon. Any variance to perpendicular is bad for my edge. FWIW.

Here's hoping for better results for both of us.
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Re: PLEASE HELP I am driving myself crazy with this Sharpmaker situation

#20

Post by npad69 »

the corners are good too if you want a slightly toothy edge for the stone's grit size. i prefer that on my kitchen knives
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