Spyderco Sharpener

[waredbear]

I bought a Spyderco Sharpener off of E-Bay a couple of years ago. I love the sharpener design and how easy it is to sharpen a knife. My problem is I don't think mine is working correctly. I always seem to have one side that doesn't get sharpened. By that I mean I mark both edges with a black marker so I can see my progress. One side will remove the black just fine while the black remains on the other. I stroked the left side maybe 100 times last night on a knife I bought at a yard sale and the black marker is still there. While the first 20 strokes on the right side removed the ink. Could the sharpener be defective? The Stones? I clean them and swapped them from side to side and rotated them but it didn't make a difference. This is so aggravating. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Reid

[CombatGrappler]

You might look at the grind on the knife and see if it is even on both sides. If it isn't, you might not be hitting the edge on that side.

Since you have had your Sharpmaker a few years, you probably have your technique down and haven't had enough time to wear out your brown stones. My guess is that the original grind on your garage sale knife isn't even.

[waredbear]

If it was a cheap knife. The knife...if I can say this here...is a Cold Steel, Recon Tanto. Not a cheap knife. The edge is in good condition and doesn't appear to have been sharpened. The edge would pop hair but not to my standards...thus the reason I am sharpening it.

Reid

[yablanowitz]

My guess would be you are hitting the shoulder of the bevel on one side. I have had a few Cold Steel knives, and they are generally ground fairly obtuse, sometimes over 20 degrees per side, and uneven grinds happen even on Spydercos. You could always try wrapping 100 grit sandpaper around the Sharpmaker rods and trying that for a while.

It sure sounds like one side of the blade is ground at over 20 degrees and you are reprofiling it. Depending on the actual angle, that may take a very long time on a Sharpmaker, it isn't made for hogging off steel.

[bh49]

I always seem to have one side that doesn't get sharpened.

Reid

If you have this problem with most of your knives, than it is possible, that you are not holding knives vertically. Member of our Forum hanswurst shared a good tip for this a while ago. Try to put mirror behind Sharpmaker so you will be able to see much better how you holding a knife.
see post #15
http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.p ... =hanswurst

[Vincent]

You should try my tick. It works wonders.

Go to a hardware store and get a Cheap Line level that has a plastic casing. Then break it and get the Level out of it. When using the sharpmaker, apply a good coat of a Black or Blue sharpie marker to the Bevel. Let the marker dry and make sure your stones are really clean. Put the Level above the tang on the handles spine right before the thumb ramp. Use your thumb to secure the level to the top of the blade. Now when you secure the level to the knife with thumb, make sure your thumb is at the center of the level, this way you can see its bubble. Now when you go to sharpen you are garenteed that you are really hitting the knife 100% perfectly. You eliminate the risk of tuning over edges and stuff. Now if you do this and keep the knife level you should notice the sharpie disappearing and if it is hitting directly to the edge or the Micro bevel, just keep going. If you are not hitting the edge or micro bevel thats the problem you aren't getting the right spot. Using a level ratified the way I sharpened, as long as you keep the knife level the entire way down you will get a knife that is hair popping sharp.