Question about sharpening with Spyderco Sharpmaker

[Soanso McMasters]

What angle do folks use for their knives, particularly Spyderco Knives, on the Tri-Angle Spyderco Sharpmaker? 30 degrees or 40 degrees?

[TkoK83Spy]

Search the forum, you'll find hundreds of threads on this.

[Sharp Guy]

What angle do folks use for their knives, particularly Spyderco Knives, on the Tri-Angle Spyderco Sharpmaker? 30 degrees or 40 degrees?

It kind of depends but I almost always use the 40° side. Since the factory edge on most Spyderco knives I've seen is somewhere around 35° (inclusive), you'll usually always be sharpening on the apex. You can only do that so much though until you have to reprofile the bevel back. That's where the 30° side comes in handy. But you'll need the diamond or CBN rods to do that. Even then it takes a lot of work. That's why I invested in a fixed angle system that I use only for reprofiling

[Wartstein]

What angle do folks use for their knives, particularly Spyderco Knives, on the Tri-Angle Spyderco Sharpmaker? 30 degrees or 40 degrees?

I reprofile my Spydies to 30 degree inclusive (if they don´t come like this already) and then give them a 40 degree microbevel for a quick sharpening or just sharpen the apex with the 30 degree setting when I invest a bit more time.

You should be fine with the 30 degree setting, especially on a folding knife. As far as I know many here give their Spydies even more acute edge angles (which is harder to do with the sharpmaker).

[Ric]

40 mainly.
30 sometimes to remove the shoulders.

I recommend coloring the edge with a sharpie to see where you take off material.

Did you watch the DVD?
I recommend to watch lance clintons YouTube video.

[cabfrank]

I have the very old model with only one angle setting. I am not positive, but I believe it is 40 degrees. It works well, and keeps my knives sharp. I wouldn't be able to reprofile with it though, at least not easily.

[Soanso McMasters]

Thanks folks. I watched the videos on YouTube which I believe are the same as the included dvd.

[Sharp Guy]

I have the very old model with only one angle setting. I am not positive, but I believe it is 40 degrees. It works well, and keeps my knives sharp. I wouldn't be able to reprofile with it though, at least not easily.

Yes, the older 203 models were only 40°. That's what I used for many years until I bought the newer 204 a couple years ago. I've continued to primarily use 40°with the new unit

[me2]

Backbevel to 12 degrees per side, sharpen on the 15 degree slots on the Sharpmaker. Touch up at 20 degrees 3 or 4 times and repeat as needed.

[JD Spydo]

What angle do folks use for their knives, particularly Spyderco Knives, on the Tri-Angle Spyderco Sharpmaker? 30 degrees or 40 degrees?

When you got your Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker it should have come with a DVD type video. The instructional video that comes with that 204 Sharpmaker is a very valuable source of information to get started with.

Also the last time I was on Youtube I found several really good videos on using the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. When I got my two Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker tools over 12 years ago both of mine came with a manual along with the video. I found both the manual and the video to be valuable sources of good information.

Someone recently told me that there are a couple of really good videos on the 204 Sharpmaker on www.bitchute.com. Check some of those out.

[kennethsime]

I use 40 most of the time, and 30 every couple of sharpenings to thin the shoulder.

[Nuh Nups]

I use 40 most of the time, and 30 every couple of sharpenings to thin the shoulder.

Same here. I try to do this with touch-ups, usually in the 40 slot. Even doing frequent touch-ups seems easier to me than waiting till the knife needs a full sharpening. I like to maintain all of my knives this way, regardless of blade steel.

[Pokey]

What angle do folks use for their knives, particularly Spyderco Knives, on the Tri-Angle Spyderco Sharpmaker? 30 degrees or 40 degrees?

I reprofile my Spydies to 30 degree inclusive (if they don´t come like this already) and then give them a 40 degree microbevel for a quick sharpening or just sharpen the apex with the 30 degree setting when I invest a bit more time.

You should be fine with the 30 degree setting, especially on a folding knife. As far as I know many here give their Spydies even more acute edge angles (which is harder to do with the sharpmaker).

I do the same as Wartstein using the SharpMaker 2.0 version. Lately, some of the knives I've bought have come right out of the box ground very close to 30 degrees inclusive which makes the job easier. I have a SPY27 Mule Team that came that way so I touched it up using the 30° and 40° settings and it's a real razor.