Community Sharpening Journal

[VandymanG]

Does anyone have a good source for an after market Sharp Maker base with different angles? I have 2 Sharpmakers and all of the stones offered by Spyderco already. Hopefully a tighter fit so the stones don’t move around in the base. For example 15 and 17 would be useful for me as I don’t use the 20.
I’m also looking for a aftermarket Gauntlet base that does 15 dps if available. Love the Gauntlet stones I but need it to do 15.
Thanks,
Bruce

I need the same thing. I can’t figure out why little adapter plugs aren’t marketed for the Sharpmaker with all the different angles on the knives and mules coming out of Spyderco. I could really use something that just plugs into the existing Sharpmaker and changes the 40 degree inclusive to 35 degrees. And of course the 30 degree to 25. It seems it would be a simple square with a triangle male plug that inserts into the Sharpmaker. And it would have female triangle insert areas that would change the angle by 2.5 degrees. Wish I knew anything about 3D printing and while I’m at it wish I had a 3D printer.

@sal is an adapter plug for the Sharpmaker a future possibility?

[GarageBoy]

Oh man... I guess the previous owner couldn't get s90v sharp and resorted to some hackery?

[weeping minora]

Oh man... I guess the previous owner couldn't get s90v sharp and resorted to some hackery?

Most likely an impatience/annoyance caused this. Looks like the previous owner/sharpener was unable to sharpen all the way to the plunge, and instead of taking the time to correct this (it takes effort and patience), they chose the path of aggressive force. Being OCD, or lacking the proper technique is catastrophic when you lack patience.

Could be a multitude of reasons behind this, but that is the most likely right off-top of the head. I believe this is the most common issue that many sharpeners have, especially new to the practice, and even moreso with such highly wear resistant steels. This is why proper abrasive is stressed (though probably not enough) when stepping up into these super steels, and also why many of said steels are poo-poo'd on by those who do not heed this information. S90V is pretty unforgivable to improper handling, as are most of the very high carbide stainless steels, IME. The old adage that high carbon steels sharpen better than stainless steels seems to translate even when we get into the PM processed steels. I believe this is why K390 and the like are being praised by nearly everyone in the knife community, over something S90V/S110V.

Otherwise, this is just a well used knife. Most likely only those who value clean and pristine see the issue here. Looks like the perfect candidate for a regrind to let that S90V shine.

[Guts]

Oh man... I guess the previous owner couldn't get s90v sharp and resorted to some hackery?

...The old adage that high carbon steels sharpen better than stainless steels seems to translate even when we get into the PM processed steels. I believe this is why K390 and the like are being praised by nearly everyone in the knife community, over something S90V/S110V.

I'm not sure that adage applies here though since S90V and S110V are very high carbon content steels as well (2.3% and 2.8% carbon respectively vs 2.47% for K390). I think K390 is praised more because of the fact that in addition to having high wear resistance like S90V and S110V, K390 is also pretty darn tough while the other two aren't. That's certainly what i like about it compared to the other two. That combination of good toughness while also being high wear resistant seems pretty uncommon and likely why there's serrated K390 models and no serrated S90V/S110V. However, now we're seeing very tough stainless steels with decent wear resistance in the form of Magnacut. We're really spoiled for steel choice these days and it's why I love Spyderco But agree about proper abrasives. Diamond makes any of the high wear resistance steels "easy" to sharpen since there's nothing harder than diamond and the rest is just doing it right.

Speaking of doing it right (or not in this case), regarding that S90V Shaman, having taught myself to freehand that looks like a bad freehand job imo. A bad mistake I may or may not have done myself while I was still learning . Assuming the previous owner was right handed, it looks as though he flipped the knife in his right hand to sharpen the show side, blade facing away from his body, and went to town without stopping to check his progress. By the time he looked it was obviously too late. That's my guess anyway.

[weeping minora]

Oh man... I guess the previous owner couldn't get s90v sharp and resorted to some hackery?

...The old adage that high carbon steels sharpen better than stainless steels seems to translate even when we get into the PM processed steels. I believe this is why K390 and the like are being praised by nearly everyone in the knife community, over something S90V/S110V.

I'm not sure that adage applies here though since S90V and S110V are very high carbon content steels as well (2.3% and 2.8% carbon respectively vs 2.47% for K390). I think K390 is praised more because of the fact that in addition to having high wear resistance like S90V and S110V, K390 is also pretty darn tough while the other two aren't. That's certainly what i like about it compared to the other two. That combination of good toughness while also being high wear resistant seems pretty uncommon and likely why there's serrated K390 models and no serrated S90V/S110V. However, now we're seeing very tough stainless steels with decent wear resistance in the form of Magnacut. We're really spoiled for steel choice these days and it's why I love Spyderco But agree about proper abrasives. Diamond makes any of the high wear resistance steels "easy" to sharpen since there's nothing harder than diamond and the rest is just doing it right.

Speaking of doing it right (or not in this case), regarding that S90V Shaman, having taught myself to freehand that looks like a bad freehand job imo. A bad mistake I may or may not have done myself while I was still learning . Assuming the previous owner was right handed, it looks as though he flipped the knife in his right hand to sharpen the show side, blade facing away from his body, and went to town without stopping to check his progress. By the time he looked it was obviously too late. That's my guess anyway.

My comments were speaking specifically on the subject of sharpening these steels. I say high carbon steel to reference non-stainless (low-to-no chromium) versus stainless steel that is... stainless (meaning high chromium). High amounts of Cr in steel seems to affect the sharpening response due to the possibility of higher retained austenite within the structure after heat treating. Chromium also hinders toughness (due to the larger carbide size that Cr carbides form), which typically mitigates how hard a steel can be ran without running into further issue of brittleness due to Cr carbide formation. I find no matter the carbon content, if there is a surplus of Cr within the composition, it is noticeably more finicky to sharpen. I'm speaking only from the production knife point of view (and really just Spyderco knives).

Larrin developed Magnacut with the intent for the Cr to contribute solely toward corrosion resistance, rather than becoming bound to carbon. He really did something special that is in a class of its own when it comes to chemical composition.

ETA: I believe the point of confusion is that I stated "The old adage that high carbon steels sharpen better than stainless steels seems to translate even when we get into the PM processed steels.". I did in fact mean high carbon, low alloy steel, hence my use of "old adage". I was making a point to draw reference to high alloyed non stainless PM steels seeming to sharpen better than high alloyed stainless PM steels, which is why I reference K390 (as my low Cr, or non-stainless reference) and S90V/S110V (as my high Cr, or stainless reference), just as folks used to find high carbon steel (52100, O1, etc.) easier to sharpen to a crisper edge than stainless steel (Aus8, 440(x) etc.). I find this to be relatively factual based on all of the data expressed amongst the knife community. The Cr content differentiating non-stainless and stainless within any steel seems to prove a real notable difference when sharpening, regardless ingot, PM, or alloying content. Obviously, this goes down a deeper hole when we get into custom and specialized heat treatments, but I was trying to think more from the production standpoint, being that we're on the Spyderco forum, talking Spyderco knives (in this case the S90V Shaman above). I hope that clears up a bit of confusion for future readers who may have also been confused.

[Guts]

Oh man... I guess the previous owner couldn't get s90v sharp and resorted to some hackery?

...The old adage that high carbon steels sharpen better than stainless steels seems to translate even when we get into the PM processed steels. I believe this is why K390 and the like are being praised by nearly everyone in the knife community, over something S90V/S110V.

I'm not sure that adage applies here though since S90V and S110V are very high carbon content steels as well (2.3% and 2.8% carbon respectively vs 2.47% for K390). I think K390 is praised more because of the fact that in addition to having high wear resistance like S90V and S110V, K390 is also pretty darn tough while the other two aren't. That's certainly what i like about it compared to the other two. That combination of good toughness while also being high wear resistant seems pretty uncommon and likely why there's serrated K390 models and no serrated S90V/S110V. However, now we're seeing very tough stainless steels with decent wear resistance in the form of Magnacut. We're really spoiled for steel choice these days and it's why I love Spyderco But agree about proper abrasives. Diamond makes any of the high wear resistance steels "easy" to sharpen since there's nothing harder than diamond and the rest is just doing it right.

Speaking of doing it right (or not in this case), regarding that S90V Shaman, having taught myself to freehand that looks like a bad freehand job imo. A bad mistake I may or may not have done myself while I was still learning . Assuming the previous owner was right handed, it looks as though he flipped the knife in his right hand to sharpen the show side, blade facing away from his body, and went to town without stopping to check his progress. By the time he looked it was obviously too late. That's my guess anyway.

My comments were speaking specifically on the subject of sharpening these steels. I say high carbon steel to reference non-stainless (low-to-no chromium) versus stainless steel that is... stainless (meaning high chromium). High amounts of Cr in steel seems to affect the sharpening response due to the possibility of higher retained austenite within the structure after heat treating. Chromium also hinders toughness (due to the larger grain size that Cr carbides form), which typically mitigates how hard a steel can be ran without running into further issue of brittleness due to Cr carbide formation. I find no matter the carbon content, if there is a surplus of Cr within the composition, it is noticeably more finicky to sharpen. I'm speaking only from the production knife point of view (and really just Spyderco knives).

Larrin developed Magnacut with the intent for the Cr to contribute solely toward corrosion resistance, rather than becoming bound to carbon. He really did something special that is in a class of its own when it comes to chemical composition.

Fair enough. I've always differentiated them as stainless/tool/hss/etc so I get confused when people say high carbon steel since as we know there's plenty of stainless steels that are high in carbon. Just a difference in semantics I suppose. To your other points, I totally agree. It's pretty crazy how small amounts of certain elements makes one steel feel different as compared to another even when sharpening. I know I have to be a bit more careful with S90V/S110V compared to K390. The former chips where the latter will roll, no doubt due to the Cr carbide formation like you mentioned. But it's all part of the fun right? .

Magnacut is definitely a special case. I love how it sharpens like a tool steel but it just happens to be super stainless (and tough). Just wish I owned more of it. Only have the Manix 2 LW since I'm still waiting on my satin PM2 salt preorder from the previous reveal. I do have a Hogue deka in Magnacut, but not really a fan of the handle ergos compared to Spyderco so don't use it much.

[Giygas]

I've found that most of the time when people say "high carbon," what they really mean is "low alloy."

[weeping minora]

I guess my vocabulary has to catch up to the times.

[VandymanG]

I've found that most of the time when people say "high carbon," what they really mean is "low alloy."

guilty as charged.

[kobold]

My summer rotation this year are mostly Natives. The PE ones in Rex45, Magnacut and Spy27 stopped shaving so I am happy to report that it was easy to strop them back to shaving sharp with freshly loaded Bark River white compound. The Rex45 and Spy27 blades are microconvexed and the Magnacut is still factory edge. It's good to know that diamond and CBN are not necessary to maintain these steels because I have a lifetime supply of white compound. :-)

[p_atrick]

It's good to know that diamond and CBN are not necessary to maintain these steels…

I am kinda surprised to hear this about Rex45. I thought for sure you would need diamond compound.

[weeping minora]

It's good to know that diamond and CBN are not necessary to maintain these steels…

I am kinda surprised to hear this about Rex45. I thought for sure you would need diamond compound.

The surrounding matrix of the steel will sharpen without diamond/cbn, but the carbides that are harder than the abrasives used will not properly sharpen without diamond/cbn. You're leaving performance on the table if not using abrasive hard enough to reshape those carbides.

[kobold]

Well, it was not too dull, just short of being shaving sharp, so maybe I got away with it this one time, by mostly realigning the matrix steel in a more edge-like shape. I will try again and see what happens.

[Brock O Lee]

Moved to follow-up thread...

[Scotty63]

Post about your sharpenings. Brand, grit, abrasives, grit progression, desired edge finish, decision making in sharpening, whatever you want. Might be interesting to see what people use for certain tasks, and will give insight into the results of others' experimentation.

It was time to touch up the Resilience. At work I have a cheap worksharp sharpener. I used the 325 grit CBN plate to raise a burr across the entire blade at what I estimate is slightly under 30 inclusive. Back and forth motions at first, then transitioning to full passes. 5 passes per side soon became 3, then 2, then 1. After 6-7 alternating passes, there was still some burr left. I did 4 alternating passes on the ceramic rod, aiming to eliminate the burr but keep the teeth created by the CBN plate. I ended on a mixture of 3 micron diamond compound and 3 micron diamond powder on wood, 4 passes per side. Treetopping hairs like nothing, with plenty of slicing aggression. Took about 5 minutes.

I am thinking about getting a Manix2 in 110v but I am a little confused about how hard it is to sharpen. Some say it is extremely difficult and others say it is not that bad.
I have no problem with s30v, s35, or s45 and my Kme diamond kit. I realize 110v will take more time to sharpen but is it as bad as some make it out to be?
Is the 140 grit diamond course enough? There is the 50 grit "The Beast" stone you can get from Kme if I have to.

[horzuff]

S110V poses no problems when using diamond stones, You might just need a bit more time and be careful with deburring :). Sharpens easily to really high sharpnesses and strops decently with diamond paste at least

[barnaclesonaboat]

I am thinking about getting a Manix2 in 110v but I am a little confused about how hard it is to sharpen. Some say it is extremely difficult and others say it is not that bad.
I have no problem with s30v, s35, or s45 and my Kme diamond kit. I realize 110v will take more time to sharpen but is it as bad as some make it out to be?
Is the 140 grit diamond course enough? There is the 50 grit "The Beast" stone you can get from Kme if I have to.

I agree with @horzuff - if you have diamonds you won't have problems, particularly since you've already had some experience with S35VN and S45VN. It just takes a little more time. Regarding grit: while the initial reprofiling stone gets a little more time, I have found that starting a little finer (I reprofile S110V using an Atoma 400) makes for easier scratch removal in the successive grits. YMMV, but I've found while the coarser grits do indeed remove material faster initially on S90V and S110V (and some other high-hardness steels), ultimately I end up spending longer to get the refined edges I'm looking for.