Best spyderco sharpener for serrated knives

[harivney]

Searched the forum but could not find answer. What is the best spyderco sharpener for serrated knives. tri-angle, gauntlet, galley-v or ?

[Michael Janich]

Dear harivney:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

All three sharpening systems you mention will sharpen most serrated edges. The Galley-V's sharpening angle is the narrowest, at a 20-degree included angle. The Gauntlet is a 40-degree included angle. The Sharpmaker is the most versatile, offering both 30 and 40-degree included angles.

Stay safe,

Mike

[harivney]

Thank you. Besides angles, any thoughts on triangle rods vs cats eye rods hitting inside scallops? How about the different positions of cats eye rods.

I have the sharp maker dvd (pre gauntlet and galley-v) and am surprised that Spyderco has not made a comprehensive video on serrated knife sharpening seeing that their heritage is sharpening and not knife making..

[cabfrank]

Hmm, they began with sharpeners, but are likely now more commonly associated with knives. The dvd does have a section dedicated to serrations. There is a lot more information on sharpening SE here though, if you want to do down that rabbit hole.

[harivney]

Know their focus is knives. DVD short segment was about Triangle sharpener. Again no serrated info about gauntlet or galley-5.
that I could find on the forum. Where is this rabbit hole?

Every time worksharp comes out with a new product, they create videos about it. Wonder why spyderco doesnt do the same?

[cabfrank]

You're right, most all the info here involves the Sharpmaker, but I'd imagine it applies to the others as well. Start with the sticky thread titled something like "SE performance is more than just teeth", or something close to that.
sal said something about a difference in opinion on the way a recent video was to be shot. I'm not sure it applies here, but maybe.

[olywa]

I have all 3 sharpeners and use them all effectively. I wish Spyderco would come up with a multi-angle base for the cats eye rods. Also wanted to note that the Doublestuff 2 is an excellent field sharpener for serrated edges if you're comfortable with free handing. Golden Stone is no slouch in that capacity as well.

[harivney]

Of the three sharpeners, what one is the best for serrated?

[olywa]

The original Sharpmaker is the most versatile. That's where I'd start.

[harivney]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

[cabfrank]

I think it is.

[R100]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

I've tried various alternatives but to me the Sharpmaker is by far the best. It is very easy to keep a SE knife hair popping sharp with one and makes SE sharpening easier than PE. If you get the CBN rods then reprofiling is also easy as long as you are patient. I generally reprofile to 15° and then sharpen at 20° - effectively a microbevel. The last 3 knives I have given this treatment were K390 and they were no slower to do than H1, LC200N or VG10, possibly because the K390 edges are thinner than any others. These 3 knives - Endura, Leafjumper and Delica - now have almost supernatural cutting powers and I find it difficult to carry anything else.

Get a Sharpmaker - you won't look back!

Dan

[hambone56rx]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

I've tried various alternatives but to me the Sharpmaker is by far the best. It is very easy to keep a SE knife hair popping sharp with one and makes SE sharpening easier than PE. If you get the CBN rods then reprofiling is also easy as long as you are patient. I generally reprofile to 15° and then sharpen at 20° - effectively a microbevel. The last 3 knives I have given this treatment were K390 and they were no slower to do than H1, LC200N or VG10, possibly because the K390 edges are thinner than any others. These 3 knives - Endura, Leafjumper and Delica - now have almost supernatural cutting powers and I find it difficult to carry anything else.

Get a Sharpmaker - you won't look back!

Dan

Dan,

How many passes on the 20 degree side do you do for a microbevel? And do you take k390 all the way to the ceramic rod on the primary and microbevel? I have thought about wanting to pick up a SE K390 but haven’t because I thought it would be too difficult to sharpen!

Hamilton

[Bill1170]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

I've tried various alternatives but to me the Sharpmaker is by far the best. It is very easy to keep a SE knife hair popping sharp with one and makes SE sharpening easier than PE. If you get the CBN rods then reprofiling is also easy as long as you are patient. I generally reprofile to 15° and then sharpen at 20° - effectively a microbevel. The last 3 knives I have given this treatment were K390 and they were no slower to do than H1, LC200N or VG10, possibly because the K390 edges are thinner than any others. These 3 knives - Endura, Leafjumper and Delica - now have almost supernatural cutting powers and I find it difficult to carry anything else.

Get a Sharpmaker - you won't look back!

Dan

Dan,

How many passes on the 20 degree side do you do for a microbevel? And do you take k390 all the way to the ceramic rod on the primary and microbevel? I have thought about wanting to pick up a SE K390 but haven’t because I thought it would be too difficult to sharpen!

Hamilton

Hi Hamilton,

I’m not Dan, but I’ll tackle your questions. For a microbevel you only need to do enough passes to get the edge back to the sharpness you desire. Maintaining an edge in good condition is short work on the Sharpmaker.

Reprofiling a serrated edge from 20 to 15 degrees is far slower, especially on K390. I spent several hours on the CBN rods reprofiling my serrated K390 Endura. I refined the edge on the brown rods and stopped there. In my experience, polishing the final bevel with the fine and/or ultra fine rods cause a loss of cutting aggression.

I have used micro bevels in the past, but I don’t run one on my SE Spyderco’s.

[R100]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

I've tried various alternatives but to me the Sharpmaker is by far the best. It is very easy to keep a SE knife hair popping sharp with one and makes SE sharpening easier than PE. If you get the CBN rods then reprofiling is also easy as long as you are patient. I generally reprofile to 15° and then sharpen at 20° - effectively a microbevel. The last 3 knives I have given this treatment were K390 and they were no slower to do than H1, LC200N or VG10, possibly because the K390 edges are thinner than any others. These 3 knives - Endura, Leafjumper and Delica - now have almost supernatural cutting powers and I find it difficult to carry anything else.

Get a Sharpmaker - you won't look back!

Dan

Dan,

How many passes on the 20 degree side do you do for a microbevel? And do you take k390 all the way to the ceramic rod on the primary and microbevel? I have thought about wanting to pick up a SE K390 but haven’t because I thought it would be too difficult to sharpen!

Hamilton

After apexing the edge with the CBN rods at 15° I do 50 to 100 passes with the brown rods and the same with the white rods just because I assume the more polished finish will reduce friction. Then I just do about 10 light passes on 20° with the white rods to start the microbevel. When sharpening I alternate 5 passes on the serrated side to 1 pass as close to flat as I can get on the back side. I resharpen with the white rods as soon as the edge will no longer shave arm hairs.

I was also slow to pick up SE K390 because I feared it would be difficult to sharpen but this hasn't been the case. It is now easily my favourite SE steel. I have found the edge stability excellent and it holds a shaving edge much longer than H1 which was my previous favourite.

Dan

[Nestor]

Not sure about the other options out there, but Sharpmaker is super easy to work with when it comes to serrations. I would recommend to just pull your knife slower over the edge of the sharpening stone than with any the PE blade. Personally I like to go with 30 degree first and follow up with micro bevel set at 40. It will cut :)

[hambone56rx]

Yes, most versatile but is it the best for serrated knives? I am only looking for the best sharpener for serrated.

I've tried various alternatives but to me the Sharpmaker is by far the best. It is very easy to keep a SE knife hair popping sharp with one and makes SE sharpening easier than PE. If you get the CBN rods then reprofiling is also easy as long as you are patient. I generally reprofile to 15° and then sharpen at 20° - effectively a microbevel. The last 3 knives I have given this treatment were K390 and they were no slower to do than H1, LC200N or VG10, possibly because the K390 edges are thinner than any others. These 3 knives - Endura, Leafjumper and Delica - now have almost supernatural cutting powers and I find it difficult to carry anything else.

Get a Sharpmaker - you won't look back!

Dan

Dan,

How many passes on the 20 degree side do you do for a microbevel? And do you take k390 all the way to the ceramic rod on the primary and microbevel? I have thought about wanting to pick up a SE K390 but haven’t because I thought it would be too difficult to sharpen!

Hamilton

After apexing the edge with the CBN rods at 15° I do 50 to 100 passes with the brown rods and the same with the white rods just because I assume the more polished finish will reduce friction. Then I just do about 10 light passes on 20° with the white rods to start the microbevel. When sharpening I alternate 5 passes on the serrated side to 1 pass as close to flat as I can get on the back side. I resharpen with the white rods as soon as the edge will no longer shave arm hairs.

I was also slow to pick up SE K390 because I feared it would be difficult to sharpen but this hasn't been the case. It is now easily my favourite SE steel. I have found the edge stability excellent and it holds a shaving edge much longer than H1 which was my previous favourite.

Dan

Thank you Dan! I haven’t been giving it enough passes! Good to know!

Hamilton