Re-finishing Sharpmaker Rods

[vivi]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Hi Vivi,

Good to hear from you.

We can make the corner of the gray/brown stones coarser when new by breaking the surface on the corners and they will cut faster up to a point where the corner is too wide and their coarseness diminishes and it's time to replace them. White stones really don't ever wear much but they will get finer of many many sharpenings. There is really no way to make them coarser. Sorry.

sal

Glad you chimed in, Sal! Thanks for the reply. I'll experiment with roughing up the corners of the old medium stones. I will say that despite feeling a little worn, those old sharpmaker rods still put a fantastic edge on knives. I feel the new ones work faster though.

I've been experimenting with different abrasives. I ordered some 80-600 grit triangle stones from Congress. It's been fun but nothing puts a better edge on my SE knives than the sharpmaker rods. I do like the 120 grit norton crystalon rod for my SE beaters though, they give an extremely toothy, aggressive edge that'll rip apart anything.

[Evil D]

I've been experimenting with different abrasives. I ordered some 80-600 grit triangle stones from Congress. It's been fun but nothing puts a better edge on my SE knives than the sharpmaker rods. I do like the 120 grit norton crystalon rod for my SE beaters though, they give an extremely toothy, aggressive edge that'll rip apart anything.

I had been playing around with 30 degree serrations reprofiled with diamond/CBN rods, and then lightly micro beveled with Ultra Fine rods at 40 degrees. Aggressive is definitely one way of wording it :cool:

[vivi]

I've been experimenting with different abrasives. I ordered some 80-600 grit triangle stones from Congress. It's been fun but nothing puts a better edge on my SE knives than the sharpmaker rods. I do like the 120 grit norton crystalon rod for my SE beaters though, they give an extremely toothy, aggressive edge that'll rip apart anything.

I had been playing around with 30 degree serrations reprofiled with diamond/CBN rods, and then lightly micro beveled with Ultra Fine rods at 40 degrees. Aggressive is definitely one way of wording it :cool:

That sounds like a good combo. Quick regrinds when the microbevel gets thick, and if you aren't heavy handed on the fine rods you'll have plenty of micro serrations left.

I've been using a brand new fine rod on my Pacific Salt 2 so far. Works well as long as I keep up on maintaining the edge and avoid damaging the apex. I may step down to medium at some point.

[ladybug93]

I've been experimenting with different abrasives. I ordered some 80-600 grit triangle stones from Congress. It's been fun but nothing puts a better edge on my SE knives than the sharpmaker rods. I do like the 120 grit norton crystalon rod for my SE beaters though, they give an extremely toothy, aggressive edge that'll rip apart anything.

I had been playing around with 30 degree serrations reprofiled with diamond/CBN rods, and then lightly micro beveled with Ultra Fine rods at 40 degrees. Aggressive is definitely one way of wording it :cool:

That sounds like a good combo. Quick regrinds when the microbevel gets thick, and if you aren't heavy handed on the fine rods you'll have plenty of micro serrations left.

I've been using a brand new fine rod on my Pacific Salt 2 so far. Works well as long as I keep up on maintaining the edge and avoid damaging the apex. I may step down to medium at some point.

vivi, it’s great to have you back. you were definitely missed and mentioned frequently. i know you were a fan of the endura 3 handle over the endura 4 handle, so how are you liking the pac salt 2?

[amateur blacksmith]

It would be good to see a coarser ceramic stone for the Sharpmaker. Coarser than the medium but still a ceramic.

[Bill1170]

Welcome back, Vivi! I missed you and your engaged contributions to this forum.

I’m a fan of Bar Keepers Friend for cleaning Spyderco ceramics. I mostly only use the medium rods because the edge they produce is better for my uses than the polish off the fine/UF rods.

[vivi]

vivi, it’s great to have you back. you were definitely missed and mentioned frequently. i know you were a fan of the endura 3 handle over the endura 4 handle, so how are you liking the pac salt 2?

I like it enough I bought a second.

I had a few different reasons for wanting to try it. The curved rear end of the handle looked more comfortable, and carrying the Police LW made me want the new texture design on my Pacific Salts.

It's been working well for me, I've learned to like the handle. Its a versatile grip. I'll be posting a long thread on them sometime soon, and making a few videos.

It would be good to see a coarser ceramic stone for the Sharpmaker. Coarser than the medium but still a ceramic.

I would like to see this too. I love the edge the Spyderco ceramics give me, but sometimes I want something a little toothier. I sharpen a lot of my PE knives on a worn coarse diamond stone that's in between the diamond rods and medium rods in terms of finish.

I was hoping I could find a way to make some medium rods coarser for this reason but it seems like it's not going to work.