Sharpening Angles

[wingspar]

I’m sure this has been discussed many times, and I searched all over the Spyderco site with zero results, so I post here. My knife sharpening skills are dull. I’ve got a stone I’ve been using, and sometimes I end up with a sharp knife, and sometimes not. My EDC Delica is dull, and sharpening it has not improved it one bit, so I am considering picking up the Sharpmaker. The description of the Sharpmaker angles is “30̊ (15̊ each side) or 40̊ (20̊ each side) for knives”. First off, the 30° has 15° in parentheses. Does that mean the stones are placed at 30° apart to achieve a 15° angle for the blade?

Now, the question I started this thread for. What angle are Spyderco knives sharpened at? Is it the same for all Spyderco blades, or would it be different for different blades?

How would I apply these angles to kitchen knives?

[dzarren]

the angle 30 on the sharpmaker is 30 degrees inclusive, Which means each side of the knife will be sharpened to 15 degrees, totalling 30 degrees.

And spyderco knives are usually sharpened to about 30 degrees inclusive i think, but they are all done by hand so none of them are super exact or super consistent.

[yablanowitz]

Yep. Each stone is 15° from vertical for 30° included angle on one set of holes, and 20° from vertical for 40° included angle on the other set. 30° is the target edge angle for Spyderco, but as mentioned they are sharpened by human beings using their own hands and eyes, so they aren't always perfect.

As for applying the angles to kitchen knives, most of the kitchen knives I've seen take a lot of sharpening to get to the edge even at 40°, and you could die of frustration trying to get there at 30°. The SharpMaker isn't really designed for hogging off a lot of steel in a hurry.

[wingspar]

Thanks for the info. 30° it is. None of the knives that need sharpening need reprofiling. They are just a tad bit on the dull side.... I hope.

[Tsujigiri]

Spyderco suggests that you sharpen to 40 inclusive with a 30 degree back bevel, so they sharpen to 30 degrees at the factory so it will be easy to add the back bevel. Most people, however, me included, just sharpen the whole thing to 30 degrees because it's sharper.

[marknett]

40 ° micro bevel is to make sure you are hitting the edge when sharpening . I also usually just stay at 30°

[BreckenridgeSkiPro]

Alton Brown did a 30 min "Good Eats" show on the Food Network about proper knife sharpening. Alot of his stuff can be found on YouTube.

[dbcad]

The Sharpmaker has been a good tool for me. Some knives I touch up with the 40 deg, some knives with the 30 depending on the knife or whether I've changed the back bevel with a DMT aligner setup.

When I came here I couldn't sharpen a knife for the life of me. Now some of the edges I'm getting are positively silly :D

Also try to do some reading here or elsewhere about sharpening. Folks here are quite friendly when it comes to answering questions about it, but there's no substitute for individual study and practice :)

You'll get there Wingspar, keep with it and find some junker knives to practice with :)

[wingspar]

Well, my Sharpmaker arrived yesterday, and today I watched the video that came with it, which I had to download a program to watch it with. Windows Media Player couldn’t see it. According to Sal, most knives come from the factory sharpened to 30 degrees, and 40 degrees is used to put a silly sharp edge on it, so that is what I did with my Delica. I used the 4 step process with both stones starting at 30 degrees, which didn’t seem to do much to the blade, but 40 degrees did. It’s sharper than it has been for a while, but not even close to the Tenacious I just got with the Sharpmaker. I guess I need practice. They made it look so easy in that video.

Anyway, all new toys get photographed in this house, so here is the Sharpmaker with my EDC Delica.



A friend bought a couple of Tenacious blades a couple of months ago. One for him and one for his son. It was the first time I had the opportunity to feel a G-10 handle. Wasn’t as smooth as it looked in photos. Nice stout blade, and low price, so I tossed one into the cart with the Sharpmaker. It will take a while to get used to the locking mechanism.

[J D Wijbenga]

Yes, practice, feel for and remove the burr, watch video´s on Youtube for insperation and other ways to use the Sharpmaker. You will see your edge improve!

JD

[SQSAR]

Congrats on getting your 1st Sharpmaker. Practice, practice, practice to build that muscle memory up, and get a 'feel' for what works for you. The absolute key is to maintain the perfectly vertical orientation of the blade to the rods, and then work of the best speed/cadence. Also, don't discount both listening and feeling how the blade is being moved across the rods. This will help a lot, and before long you will be amazed at how wicked your edges become.

Also, you may want to really consider the diamond and ultra-fine rods as well to expand the capabilities of the system.

[jackknifeh]

I'm sure it will only take a little while and you will be getting the great sharp edges you are striving for and think you will be happy with. If you are anything like a lot of us (normal people :) ) that will become the norm and then you will want sharper. The plot thickens with the addition of a strop. That's when I started getting really sharp edges. After that you may want to get a mirror reflection on the bevels. No matter what level of sharpness and beauty you are going to be happy with it sounds like yo are on the right path.

Jack

[AJF]

Gary, those are beautiful pics!

Congrats on your SM. I love mine.

Andrew

[wingspar]

Yes, keeping the blade vertical is the biggest challenge. I’m shaky. I was going to use it on some of the kitchen knives, but when I felt the edge of the kitchen knives I was going to sharpen, I realized my other half must have knife sharpening skills I don’t have, cause they were sharp. I decided not to ruin them. :D

[Cervantes]

Have you tried using a Lansky sharpening system. It has a clamp to ensure you have the appropriate angle - of which there are 4 preset angles. Makes it easier than trying to eyeball the blade vertical.

[dbcad]

Welcome Cervantes :) Enjoy the forum. I hope you're not Don Quixote :) :eek: :)

Good thread to come in on. I use a DMT system for reprofiling now, similar to the lansky. I find the SharpMaker particurlay well suited for setting microbevels and keeping the edges sharp. The SM is good because a minimum of material is removed and I find I just keep getting better with it :)

This is a good place for advice on keeping your nice steels sharp, good folks :)

[jackknifeh]

Welcome Cervantes :) Enjoy the forum. I hope you're not Don Quixote :) :eek: :)

Good thread to come in on. I use a DMT system for reprofiling now, similar to the lansky. I find the SharpMaker particurlay well suited for setting microbevels and keeping the edges sharp. The SM is good because a minimum of material is removed and I find I just keep getting better with it :)

This is a good place for advice on keeping your nice steels sharp, good folks :)

I don't have a sharpmaker but the ceramic stones are wonderful. I have the 701 profile set, 5" med and fine, triangle UF rod, fine 8" bench stone and UF 8" bench stone. I don't want to think about reprofiling or removing a LOT of steel with them but those are what I use to keep the edges razor sharp. The fine stone gets a knife so sharp the UF grit isn't really needed. BUT, it is nice if you want that that ultra sharp and/or mirror edges.

I just wanted to put in a plug for the Spyderco ceramic sharpening products. Top notch IMO.


Jack

[wingspar]

My year and a half old thread comes back to life. :o I have not had my Sharpmaker out in all this time. I can not even begin to sharpen my Delica with it. I use a diamond stone that I won in a contest, and still can not put an edge on the Delica, but can come closer than I can with the Sharpmaker. I’m about to send it back to Spyderco to get sharpened properly. It won’t even cut paper.

After seeing this thread come back to life today, I watched some videos on YouTube on the Sharpmaker, and got it out, but to no avail. I must be a total klutz when it comes to knife sharpening. No problems with a stone and my kitchen knives, but the Delica. Nope. Can’t seem to do it. Maybe I need a knife with a different steel for easier maintenance and EDC?