Serrated on Sharpmaker - Getting Duller ???

[Jason Paul]

Hi All,

OK - first to admit I'm still fairly new to all of this - but what might I be doing wrong here? I'll say up front I've already read the threads and watched the videos here, so I understand the idea.

I've used my Sharpmaker on a fair handful of PE knives with good success. I also ran my new Caribbean SE over it a handful of times with little change, which is fine. It's already razor sharp from the factory, I was really just trying to check the angle. So, I didn't really try to "sharpen" my Caribbean.

But the other night I used a marker on a few of my SE knives, again just to see where the Sharpmaker would hit. It hit high (shoulder) on the Endela and Pacific Salt 2, but it seemed to match the angle on my Dragonfly Salt SE, so I went at it on the 30* side. I was careful to keep it vertical, went slowly with light pressure, mostly on the white rods, but also maybe 10-15 strokes on the brown rods. I did sets of 5 strokes on the scalloped side, then one stroke on the backside to remove the burr.

After a few minutes I checked by trying to cut copy paper, and it was a problem. No slicing, just sloppy cuts and tears. How could it have gotten worse?

I ended up switching to the 40* side to basically create a microbevel, and it sharpened back up nicely. But, I don't think that's really what I want to do.

So - should I go back to the 30* and just keep going; assuming it will go from duller to sharp again?

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

Thanks!
Jason

[Wartstein]

This will help: viewtopic.php?t=84544

[dsvirsky]

Vivi's experience notwithstanding, I find most of my SE Spydies, including my Dragonfly Salt, are >15° on the scalloped side. So, it's possible that, instead of removing the burr with the strokes on the other side, you were creating a burr. What I do, when sharpening SE, is treat it like a scandi grind and rest the scalloped bevel against the Sharpmaker rod. Generally, this means the blade is not vertical. Obviously, YMMV, but it works for me.

[ZrowsN1s]

You could also be having trouble with burr removal. Do you own a strop? I use a knives plus strop block, if you're careful to not cut the strop you can you the edge of the strop to strop serrations. This helps.

[RustyIron]

I've found that when I'm not getting the results I expect, the quickest way to figure out the cause is to LOOK. When sharpening, I'm usually wearing a 4x loupe. Anything in the 4x to 25x range of magnification will be sufficient. That should be the first step.

[Evil D]

For me it seems like the very first time I sharpen a new knife there's always a bit of breaking in process where it doesn't immediately get sharper. I like to step back and clean my rods and start from the medium rods and take it slow and focus on my angle and gentle pressure and go through the grit progression. Works every time. It's also easy to form a burr with such thin edges.

[sal]

A 10X - 12X magnifying loupe helps to see and understand what's going on at the edge.

sal

[Ric]

Draw the edge over a piece of wood.
Then sharpen again mainly on the scallop side with the gray stones.
You can use 40 deg to get faster results.

You csn try to form a burr. Should be feelable from the non scallop side

No pressure. If the rods are very dirty clean them in the dishwasher.

[JD Spydo]

One thing I tell everyone that gets a 204 Sharpmaker is to get all the extra stones you can buy for it. I've found that my sets of Ultra-Fines stones in many cases will give a good edge that little something extra which makes your blade really perform.

The 204 Sharpmaker is really a complete unit when you get the Diamond rods, CBN rods and the Ultra-fine stones to go with the medium/gray and fine stones.

I also tell everyone before you start watch Sal's video at least 2 to 3 times before you even start using it at all. Another thing that helped me when I first started was to take an old cheap kitchen knife or an older folder you might have had for years to learn on. It's much easier to learn on those older knives I found. You want to have a little experience and success under your belt before you tackle a folder that costs $150-$250. You've got to realize that these newer/better blade steels are a lot more difficult to work with than the blade steels on most of the older knives.

Also there are at least 4 good youtube videos I've watched in the past 2 years that I've picked up some good tips on. Practice is essential to getting good using the 204 Sharpmaker>> and the extra stones/rods really help too.