sharpmaker to the rescue!

[docwatson]

A friend of mine was over, then a few days later, my son, brought in a Benchmade knife that he found in my yard. I immediately recognized as my buddy's who has owned this knife some 20 odd years. Quick text that I had found it and he immediately calls me, said he has been tearing the house up for two days looking for his knife. Anyway, this thing will not cut butter, it is half serrated. He advised that he sends it back to benchmade every year or so to cut her sharpened up. I advised that I would clean the nicks out of the edge and sharpen it up for him, hence the title of this post. After a little time with the sharpmaker, this thing is slick and sharp. Thanks Sal, for making such a great product, I think I may have sold another one for you.

[sal]

Good job Doc, and thanx.

sal

[christopher]

A friend in need ....

[HarleyXJGuy]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Its actually on my bucket list.

[Cliff Stamp]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Pretend it isn't one, you might be surprised.

--

If you really want to impress people with the Sharpmaker then get one of those tubes that the replacement rods come in and start carrying one of the rods with you. Start using that as a file on anything you find when people complain about it. You can easily tune up a pair of scissors, sharpen a potato peeler, tune up a set of nail clippers for a dog, sharpen a work jigging hook, and of course get some knives up to speed fairly rapidly. If you have one of the diamond or CBN rods you can even get an old axe, pruning shear, or even garden spade back to cutting.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Pretend it isn't one, you might be surprised.

You Sir have my attention. So just sharpen it it was a plain edge? Using the flats or apex of the SM?

[Mr Blonde]

Just use the corners and go slow, it works very well, very easy.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Just use the corners and go slow, it works very well, very easy.

I believe you but don't you miss a lot of the low areas of the serrated portion of the blade?

Maybe it is the high areas that do most of the cutting?

[Surfingringo]

Just use the corners and go slow, it works very well, very easy.

I believe you but don't you miss a lot of the low areas of the serrated portion of the blade?

Maybe it is the high areas that do most of the cutting?

No, not if you go slow and light. I keep all mine where they will shave and the inside of the serrations will all pushcut newsprint. Cliffs quote "pretend it isn't one, you might be surprised" is a classic and pretty much sums it up. The only real change I make is when I make passes on the back side I tilt the knife to where it's almost flat against the stone instead of at 20*. And I go about 2-1 ratio of front to back side passes. But those are just little tricks that I think help and aren't necessary to get a decent edge. It really is as simple as cliff said. Put the rods in the 40* slots and sharpen as if it were a pe and it will work quite well.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Awesome.

Thanks for the clarification SG.

Now I just need to get me a serrated user. Hmm which model, maybe a Native.

[jackknifeh]

I've never used a Sharpmaker but for serrated edges can you push the knife away from you to get the spots inside each serration that you miss when you pull it? That is if you go too fast and miss the back side of the serrated "hill" you just hit with the corner of the rod. Does that make sense?

Jack

[dbcad]

Being able to achieve edges is a beautiful thing :D

SM is terrific in it's versatility also. In addition to PE and SE edges, scissors and shears turn out very sharp as well :D

Charlie

[MacLaren]

I've had mine for a couple days so far, and I love it man. It doesn't take much with a decently sharp knife to go to screaming sharp with those UF rods. I use mine the same way jdavis does, and its worked great.

[JD Spydo]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Its actually on my bucket list.

Hey "Harley Guy" the Spyderco 701 Profiles are the tools you need for sharpening serrated and/or Spyderedges IMO. I've been using them since about 2005 or thereabout and I haven't looked back since. And you're talking to a guy who dearly loves the 204 Sharpmaker and I use mine almost daily. But when it come to serrated edges I find the 701 Profiles to be tops in that department.

Now the 204 Sharpmaker will get Serrated/Spyderedges good and sharp but I find that they tend to round off the spikes and somewhat deform the original pattern that came from the factory.

But for plain edges I still think the 204 Sharpmaker is the best tool out there for fine tuning plain edges. And you need to get all 4 sets of rods i.e. diamond, ultra-fine, fine & medium.

[quickster47]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Its actually on my bucket list.

Hey "Harley Guy" the Spyderco 701 Profiles are the tools you need for sharpening serrated and/or Spyderedges IMO. I've been using them since about 2005 or thereabout and I haven't looked back since. And you're talking to a guy who dearly loves the 204 Sharpmaker and I use mine almost daily. But when it come to serrated edges I find the 701 Profiles to be tops in that department.

Aren't the 701 Profile sharpening tools a Spyderco discontinued product or are there still places that sell them?

Carl

[JD Spydo]

Someday I will figure out how to sharpen a SE blade.

Its actually on my bucket list.

Hey "Harley Guy" the Spyderco 701 Profiles are the tools you need for sharpening serrated and/or Spyderedges IMO. I've been using them since about 2005 or thereabout and I haven't looked back since. And you're talking to a guy who dearly loves the 204 Sharpmaker and I use mine almost daily. But when it come to serrated edges I find the 701 Profiles to be tops in that department.

Aren't the 701 Profile sharpening tools a Spyderco discontinued product or are there still places that sell them?

Yes the 701 Profiles are currently a discontinued item unfortunately. But I'm hoping that with enough fanfare and demand that Spyderco will some day put them back on the market again. I have the Duckfoot and Goldenstone sharpening tools which were supposed to replace them but I still like the 701 Profiles much better at this time.

There are guys who are finding them still on dealer's shelves and you do see them occasionally for sale on Ebay and some of the knife forums that allow sales. I'm also sure that if a person gets on Bladeforums you'll find someone willing to trade a set of them. I still say they are one of Spyderco's very best manual sharpening tools and I hope that when they do return they will make them with more grits to select from.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Gah JD you are such a tease!

I had visions of making the Spyderco Matriarch 2 stupid sharp.

[Bill1170]

I've never used a Sharpmaker but for serrated edges can you push the knife away from you to get the spots inside each serration that you miss when you pull it? That is if you go too fast and miss the back side of the serrated "hill" you just hit with the corner of the rod. Does that make sense?

Jack

Hi Jack,

What you describe above is what I do, for the reason you mentioned. I feel it gives a more even sharpening than just pulling. Going slowly is the key to reaching every part of the scallops.