What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

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fanucman
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What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#1

Post by fanucman »

I can get my knives pretty sharp with it. With some effort they will slice normal paper without snagging after maybe 10 minutes (vg10, cruwear, m4). I thought I was doing pretty good but then I got my para 3 m390 lightweight in the mail. I guess I have forgotten how sharp these things will get because the thing is ridiculously sharp. I can’t quantify it but it’s basically twice as sharp as I’ve been getting my various user knives.

How do I get them back to factory sharpness with the sharpmaker? As far as I know I’m doing it right but there seems to be a limit as to what I’m capable of.
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Wartstein
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#2

Post by Wartstein »

There are a ton of people on this forum who are a lot better than I am when it comes to sharpening and the SM.
One advice though: LIGHT pressure, especially when finishing the sharpening process. Lighter than you might think maybe.
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Pelagic
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#3

Post by Pelagic »

Sharpie the bevel and make sure you're hitting the apex with your passes. If your factory edge is 17 (dps) degrees per side, the 15 degree setting on the SM will not hit the apex. This is why people get diamond and CBN rods, so they can (relatively) quickly reprofile their knives to 15 dps. Once you have it reprofiled you can choose whatever rod you'd like to finish, and you can also microbevel it at the 20 degree setting if you prefer. But as warstein said at the end you must do many passes at extremely light pressure, so light that you aren't moving the SM at all without holding it with your other hand. It will get much sharper than your typical factory edge.
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SF Native
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#4

Post by SF Native »

If I’m having trouble, I wash the stones. The build up can hamper sharpening. I wash with scrubby sponge in sink. Others use bar keepers friend.
Some rub the stones together too to get to get a fresh sharpening surface. Don’t know if that really works though.
Also, if you are several sharpenings in, you might need to sharpen to the 30 degrees to knock the shoulder down and then the 40 degree as a micro bevel on just the edge.
Last edited by SF Native on Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PStone
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#5

Post by PStone »

This is a great video for tips with the sharpmaker from a member here(Surfingringo). One of the best videos out there that helped me. Give it a watch. Totally worth it. :spyder:

https://youtu.be/DI8lTj-F8gA
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Sharp Guy
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#6

Post by Sharp Guy »

^ All good advice so far including the vid of Lance's demonstration. I don't let my knives get too dull but, even when do go longer than I'd like, I start with medium/brown stones on the 40° side and work until it's shaving/phonebook paper sharp. I do fairly slow & deliberate strokes. I'll even use the method that Lance shows in the video followed by full strokes to even things out. Once I get the edge to where I want it on the brown stones I'll either stop there or further refine on the fine/white stones.

I should note that I only use the SM to touch up my knives at 20° per side. When I need to reprofile I use a different system and then the Sharpmaker for maintenance.
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Bruce Mack
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#7

Post by Bruce Mack »

Perhaps some factory edges are more obtuse than your Sharpmaker rod settings. Switch from the 30° inclusive setting to the 40° setting. If the edge is still unsatisfactory you may need a coarser abrasive rod to jump-start the process. Congress Tools sells silicon carbide triangular rods. The 1/2" 600 and 400 grit should speed the process at low cost. There are many other ways; this works if your inclusive angles approximate 30 or 40° respectively, but major reprofiling may require a guided system such as the KME.
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Bloke
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#8

Post by Bloke »

You’re probably not doing anything wrong. ;)

Nothing to really add that hasn’t been said. Most likely you haven’t hit the apex yet and a quality 10x loupe will certainly let you see where you are actually grinding.

As a quick reference, if you cut a strip of paper and lay it on the SharpMaker rod and run your knife down it as you would to sharpen. One of two things will happen. The knife will either cut into the paper telling you, you are grinding the apex or the knife will slide down the paper telling you, you are still grinding the shoulder of the bevel and have not reached the apex yet.

Hope this helps and I haven’t confused you. :)
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fanucman
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#9

Post by fanucman »

Thanks for the advice so far. It never occurred to me that I might not be hitting the right angle because the factory grind could be a different angle than the sharpmaker. I guess I’ll need to do some closer looking at what I’m doing.
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#10

Post by Adrian.Johansson »

Keep the stone on right side all the time., put the down side always down, don't put it upside /diem next time, I Lmost throw it out window, sometime good, 2 2 hour later, it's go wrong again, I didn't touch it in some weeks, look at YouTube and guy there had the answer. They are not perfectly straight line, put them together on each side, can you see some light between this 2 rods so you got your answer, my God I had like minimum half degree wrong in almost one all the i tink, almost a year before solution came. After that I put them Sp they right I put a mark with something on on top and then you don't have this problem anymore, please check it.
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Re: What am I doing wrong with the sharpmaker?

#11

Post by Adrian.Johansson »

Keep the stone on right side all the time., put the down side always down, don't put it upside /diem next time, I Lmost throw it out window, sometime good, 2 2 hour later, it's go wrong again, I didn't touch it in some weeks, look at YouTube and guy there had the answer. They are not perfectly straight line, put them together on each side, can you see some light between this 2 rods so you got your answer, my God I had like minimum half degree wrong in almost one all the i tink, almost a year before solution came. After that I put them Sp they right I put a mark with something on on top and then you don't have this problem anymore, please check it.
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