PHOTOS: Older Sharpeners, please help me identify them

[cougar337]

I picked these up on eBay recently. They are really neat and I would like any information on them especially the black one as I have never seen one of these before

Spyderco Sharpener






Sharpmaker

[rodloos]

I've never seen that first one you posted, sounds interesting.

I do have an early model Sharpmaker like the blue? colored one in your second pic, but mine is black (but still has just the one set of holes @ 40 degrees). Instead of complete diamond rods, my early diamond rods were actually "sleeves" that slid into place over one of the regular ceramic rods. Mine came with that same vinyl pouch.

[razorsharp]

first one is the fold-a-v... patent was sold of to...lansky iirc. @nd one as you know is 1st gen sharpmaker, but I havent seen it in blue :o

[JD Spydo]

The one old Sharpening System of Spyderco's that I truly love is the old "Galley V" Sharpener. The eliptical, "Cat's Eye" rods that came with that system are truly valuable for sharpening "reverse S", recurves and Hawkbills. The Galley V rod is my favorite tool to use to Sharpen my Dodo with for instance.

It's really interesting to see how Spyderco's product line has evolved into the top notch, premium set of sharpening tools on the planet. It's also interesting from the standpoint of product development to see where they progressed from.

I remember Mr. Glesser at one point saying that the rods on the Galley V were very expensive to produce. I'm truly sorry to hear that because personally if I ever lose or break my old Galley V rods I don't know how I would replace them or what I would replace them with.

With the 204 Sharpmaker, Goldenstone and Duckfoot sharpeners being the genius pieces of equipment that they are it sure is interesting to see how they got to the market to begin with.

[phillipsted]

The Fold-a-Vee is a really nice compact sharpening tool. I used to carry one in my backpack when I went hiking. I think I bequeathed it to a Boy Scout somewhere along the way...

The Sharpmaker looks like an original 201 model, although I've never seen it in blue. $1.95? Wow! I think the 202 and 203 models came in black cordura pouches.

TedP

[BladePlay]

This first one above, is indeed an early Spyderco fold-a-vee with a very nice leather pouch. Mine has more of a suede pouch with it.



This other above, is a sharpmaker 203MF. It should say so on the pouch. Nice blue color. :)




This is a picture of an early "202" model. Notice no "wings" on the side. Also, The earlier 202 model had only one set of stones and I think only one brass rod with it. At least that is what the instructions insinuate.

[phillipsted]

Cool! Thanks for the update, Bladeplay!

TedP

[cougar337]

All great information!!! Is there any way to date when these models where produced?

[JD Spydo]

All great information!!! Is there any way to date when these models where produced?

I own Spyderco catalogs going back to the early 90s and the "Fold A Vee" is not in any of the older catalogs that I have. Now the older Sharpmaker is in the 1993 catalog I have here now.

I'm not even sure if this "Fold A VEE" is even in the "Spyderco Story" Book by Kenneth Delavigne>> I'm going to check that out this evening because some of the older sharpening equipment is in that book.

I would have to guess that this unit is going back past 1990 for sure.

[hiredgun]

I have a 203MF but it is black and after seeing yours in BLUE makes me want to ask Sal for a "Sprint" run in the old Sharpmaker in ORANGE. Do you think a Sprint run Sharpmaker is taking things too far? :D

[JD Spydo]

Other than the "Fold A Vee" unit I wonder what other vintage Spyderco sharpeners that are out there? I thought that my GALLEY V sharpening kit went way back in Spyder History. It was in the main line up when I got my first Spyder although it was about 98 or 99 when I finally pulled the trigger on one. Then shortly thereafter they discontinued it and sold me some of the stones that went with the kit and they are worth their weight in gold for certain sharpening jobs.

It would be nice if Spyderco would give us some type of written information covering all of the older units. With the new GAUNTLET system coming down the Spyder Pipeline it would be nice to know how Spyderco's sharpening equipment has evolved over the years.

Because for all of the newbies here at Spyderville you must realized that Spyderco was in the sharpener business before they got in the knife business from what I've been told and what I've learned in the SPYDERCO STORY book by Kenneth Delavigne.

Anyone else have any older Spyderco sharpening tools to show us?

[Qcrazy]

I have a blue sharpmaker that that shows Model 203MF. For some reason the receipt has stayed with it since I bought it 02/02/1988.

[JD Spydo]

I have a blue sharpmaker that that shows Model 203MF. For some reason the receipt has stayed with it since I bought it 02/02/1988.

That's really cool QCrazy :) And for that and other reasons it's high time we see a sequel to the SPYDERCO STORY book by Kenneth Delavigne or just another comprehensive book about Spyderco, their inventions and patents, history of knife models and the evolution of their great sharpening equipment.

It is so cool to see an American success story like Spyderco has been>> and it's also cool to see that they are still improving their product lines after all these years.

If we had more true-blue entreprenuers like the Glessers in this country we could get this country back on top again in a very short time I'm sure of it.

[Qcrazy]

Agreed.

[JD Spydo]

Spyderco's sharpening equipment came before their great cutlery did and relatively few people are aware of that. Every piece of sharpening equipment I've bought from Spyderco I've found multiple uses for. When I was working in a machine shop a few years back I was always using one of my Spyderco ceramic files to deburr with and I always had fellow workers wanting to use mine stuff all the time.

They could almost write a book on Spyderco's great sharpening tools>> as good as the SPYDERCO STORY is I'm hoping that we will see either a completely new comprehensive book written or maybe a sequel to the Spyderco STory.

I'm hoping that we will eventually see the Goldenstone offered in other grits and I'm also hoping we'll see the return of the 701 Profiles.