Re-finishing Sharpmaker Rods

[vivi]

Has anyone here tried to re-finish their sharpmaker rods?

I purchased a pocket medium stone and noticed the surface was much coarser than my medium rods.

Out of curiosity I ordered a new set of medium rods and fine rods for my sharpmaker and compared them to mine.

My mediums are 5 years old, fines are 10-12.

I noticed a big difference between them.....my mediums felt more like the new fines when I ran my finger nail across their surface. My fines felt smooth with no bite while the new fines had a definite bite to them when I sharpened a knife.

This made me wonder two things:

1. Are my old stones giving me a more polished edge now?

2. Can the old stones be re-finished to have a more aggressive surface?

I know in the sharpmaker video Sal mentions rubbing the medium rods together. I've tried that and didn't notice a difference, not sure what it's supposed to do.

I took a cheap chinese 200 grit diamond stone to one side of my old fine rod. I also tried some 200 grit sandpaper. Neither had much of an effect. It's a bit rougher but still feels smoother than the new fines.

I've considered ordering some loose silicon carbide grit from gritomatic and trying it on my rods. Think this would be my best bet or do you have a better idea?

[Enactive]

Welcome back, brother!

[legOFwhat?]

I've ran into this as well, but who cares about that! Welcome back Vivi!
🥳🥳🥳🥳

[sal]

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

[soc_monki]

VIVI'S BACK!!! Hurray!

[JD Spydo]

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

Hey Sal there is one thing I've noticed when cleaning my sets of fine and ultra-fine stones. I have 2 of the 204 Sharpmakers and I've replaced the med & fine stones twice over the years ( about 20 years on one and 18 years on the other). One set of fine stones I've had on my oldest 204 Sharpmaker I've cleaned a lot in the past 5 years and using exclusively nothing but "Bar Keeper's Friend" brand cleanser. Instead of cleaning with mostly an abrasive action like Comet and Ajax seem to do the Bar Keeper's Friend cleans using "oxalic acid" instead.

I've found that by cleaning these stones with the Bar Keeper's Friend which contains the oxalic acid it seems to keep the fine and ultra fine both with a consistent bite to them just like you get with a brand new set of fine or ultra-fine stones. Haven't noticed a great deal of difference on the medium stones other than it really gives them a deep cleaning. And the bite on the medium stones stays consistent to some degree to. But you are right that after using the medium stones a lot over 3 to 5 years they usually need to be replaced. I've found BKF to be the best cleaner for those Spyderco ceramic stones by far.

But I thought you might find that sort of interesting.

Also it's great to see VivI back :)

[TkoK83Spy]

Having Vivi back will really get the sharpening discussions underway again. I've really missed that the past 6 months or so. So much experience and knowledge was gone, between him and Pelagic. It feels like talks of anything beyond touch ups disappeared. (I know many are great at sharpening, but I've always found those 2 to be some of the most vocal and passionate about their edges and how they got them there)

Back on topic, I too have had my Sharpmaker for around 3 years and feel like my brown rods, even after cleaning regularly with a Scotch Brite pad and some Dawn liquid soap have lost a bit of their bite. I've sharpened many of my friends knives as well during this time. But at around $13 per rod, it's not a big deal. I just thought they may last longer than that. Good to hear this input from others.

[Bloke]

VIVI'S BACK!!!

[Joshua J.]

You could always try lapping it on a diamond hone like they do with water stones.
At the very least it might scuff up the surface a bit.

[DougC-3]

Welcome back, Vivi :)
I'm gonna order a new set of mediums right now. I've been using the same two sets of them for 7 years now, usually waiting too long between cleanings. I haven't used the fines nearly as much, so I think I'll try BFK on them before replacing.
.

[Pancake]

Has anyone here tried to re-finish their sharpmaker rods?

Not the rods, but the medium ceramic stone. I am using loose silicon carbide from Edge pro, quite cheap and it does do the job. I take some old piece of glass, sprinkle a bit o carbide and then add a bit of water and then I am lapping the stone.
After some time (it's not a fast process) the surface is a bit rougher than the other untouched side of stone.

One problem with rods could be its shape, you would have to rock it on corners, but I think it's doable.

[wrdwrght]

Welcome home, Vivi.

[Bloke]

Welcome back vivi! :)

I’m anal about flat stones so I lap all mine with loose grit SiC. Conventional stones like SiC and Al2O3 as well as the Venev diamonds etc. are held together by a bonding agent which makes them fairly easy to lap because you’re dislodging particles from the bonding agent.

Spyderco abrasives I believe are sintered, therefore without a bonding agent. So, I’m inclined to think they’d likely pulverise the SiC loose grit with little to no effect on the stone itself.

[Brock O Lee]

Has anyone here tried to re-finish their sharpmaker rods?
...
I've considered ordering some loose silicon carbide grit from gritomatic and trying it on my rods. Think this would be my best bet or do you have a better idea?

Welcome back mate...

I lapped mine on a glass sheet with silicon carbide grit (from the Edge Pro kit) to try flatten them out and revive the surface. It was slow going but it worked. I almost got them completely flat. They ended up being a bit more coarse than factory, but I think that can be fixed with a bit more elbow grease. By that time I already bought a new set, so they are now my spare set.

[Cambertree]

Good to see you back Vivi!

I’ve lapped my UF benchstone smoother with worn 2500 grit SiC sandpaper and then diamond paste, but I haven’t tried to restore coarseness. (The stone came with machining striations in it, which you could feel when you ran your fingertips over the surface.)

Bloke, the instructions for the Pro-File set which are in another current thread, mention that there is a ceramic binder in addition to the alumina abrasive.

Edit: I have a variety of SiC loose grits from Gritomatic and would also recommend that.

[Surfingringo]

Hey Vivi, I’ve tried refinishing my medium rods on a 240 diamond stone with little if any effect

[Sharp Guy]

One problem with trying to refinish or trying to lap the rods is that it thins them a tiny bit. It changes how they sit in the base and changes the angles a little. Maybe not a big deal since the rods vary in thickness anyway but something to be aware of

[Evil D]

My brown rods have somehow developed a couple small chips on the corners which is a major bummer when working with SE so I'm looking at picking up a new set.

As far as cutting aggression goes I'd just make sure they're super clean, the corners especially seem to load up with steel very quickly and lose their bite(I assume because it's a much smaller contact area).

[Evil D]

One problem with trying to refinish or trying to lap the rods is that it thins them a tiny bit. It changes how they sit in the base and changes the angles a little. Maybe not a big deal since the rods vary in thickness anyway but something to be aware of

Maybe tape off an inch of the end of the rod that goes into the base and leave it the same size and reprofile the rest? That way the rod seats the same but the part that goes the sharpening can get lapped.

[Sharp Guy]

As far as cutting aggression goes I'd just make sure they're super clean, the corners especially seem to load up with steel very quickly and lose their bite(I assume because it's a much smaller contact area).

I have a set from a 203 Sharpmaker that's almost 30 years old. Once I clean them with BFK they seem to cut as well as the set I have from a 204 SM that's 3 years old.