Sharpening My Manix

[Menace]

So I broke out the sharpmaker last night as my Manix 2 needed some touching up and now I'm a little confuzzled.

this is the first time this knife has seen the sharpmaker and while I'm pretty proficient using it I encountered an off problem.

After my usual routine, the blade would shave hairs on one side of the edge (i.e. it would shave hairs off my left arm) but not the other (when flipped over it would not shave hairs off of my right arm).

Anybody got any ideas? P.s. I was using the 40 deg angle on the sharpmaker

[CrimsonTideShooter]

Sounds like the edge is too obtuse on one side so you are forming a burr on one side, then the other side is too obtuse so you can't remove the burr.

I would spend a lot of time on the brown stones to try and even the bevel out, but only if the sharpmaker is the only tool you have around.

[Donut]

It seems like 154CM forms burrs easily.

You could try stropping, even cardboard stropping, take a look on youtube. I recommended cardboard stropping to someone who had trouble sharpening his Manix 2 and he says it helped.

[jackknifeh]

My experienced is limited but I've never heard that one. The burr may be the problem but even that is hard to believe especially if you haven't had this issue before. Maybe one of your arms is becoming defective. :confused:

I'd really like to hear the fix for this and what you determine the problem is.

Jack

[Menace]

My options right now are a Lansky system, the sharpmaker, and plenty of cardboard to strop on. I seem to be getting somewhat decent results using just the 30 degree setting on the sharpmaker but nowhere near what it had from the factory. Would it be beneficial to use the lansky to take the bevel down to 34 degrees inclusive and then use the 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker to add a micro bevel? Can 154cm do that? Sorry I'm both a steel and a sharpening rookie

[jackknifeh]

My options right now are a Lansky system, the sharpmaker, and plenty of cardboard to strop on. I seem to be getting somewhat decent results using just the 30 degree setting on the sharpmaker but nowhere near what it had from the factory. Would it be beneficial to use the lansky to take the bevel down to 34 degrees inclusive and then use the 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker to add a micro bevel? Can 154cm do that? Sorry I'm both a steel and a sharpening rookie

Lansky to 34, Sharpmaker at 40 should work fine. I don't own 154CM but know someone who does and never heard anyting bad about it, only great things. It will handle those angles fine.

The Sharpmaker has a 30 and 40 degree setting. The idea is to get a back bevel of 30 degrees (inclusive) then when the sharpmaker is set to the 40 degree position you are guaranteed to hit the edge of the blade which is what is needed to sharpen. The last few Spyderco knifes I've gotten I've checked to see what angle is on the blade. The angle is always (so far) been between 16 and 19 degrees. So a brand new Spyderco should be getting sharper if you sharpen it with the 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker.

Jack

[dsmegst]

Sounds like a burr to me. You can spend some time going back and forth with light stokes to weaken the burr until it breaks off but 154CM tends to hang onto burrs for a while. Stropping is probably your best bet.

If your edge bevel is way off so that one side is < 15 degrees and the other side is > 15 degrees, you're only truly hitting one side of the bevel. Have you checked it with a Sharpie? If this is the case, that burr is only forming to one side.

Any steel will take a micro-bevel so sure, you can do that. Before you do, how about getting a cheap or old leather belt and stropping? I add that step to any blade that's stubborn with burrs and it works better than cardboard.

[rodloos]

If you are new to the Sharpmaker, is it possible that you aren't holding the knife exactly vertical on your strokes? It might help to have someone else watch you from the other side to see if you are stroking the knife evenly on both sides -- when I first started using it, I found I sometimes was not consistent with my holding angle on each side.

Another possibility is that the edge grind is uneven. I believe Spyderco blades are sharpened by hand, and the the occasional inconsistency may pop up.

I recently bought a Temperance 2 that seemed like it didn't really cut well, and on closer inspection the blade grind was a bit uneven. Although I could send it back to Spyderco for sharpening, I didn't want to be without the knife, and I already owned the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker, so I decided to correct it myself. The grind was uneven enough that it has taken a LOT of strokes to get it there, and in the meantime it was like you mentioned, a burr forming on one side that wasn't being touched by the strokes on the other side. This is unusual for a Spyderco blade, the vast majority of them are VERY sharp, but the oddity can happen.

If you have access to a jeweler's loupe or other strong magnifying lens, it can be very helpful to figure out what is happening to the edge.

[Menace]

So as I said I am a sharpening rookie. So this afternoon I put the sharpmaker down and tried my hand at stropping to see if that would help. I stropped on a piece of cardboard with some mothers mag and aluminum polish on it (it's all I have) and now the entire edge is back to hair popping sharp.

This is the first knife I've ever had that truly benefits from polishing the edge. Looks like I'll be investing in some leather and polishing compounds soon.

Thanks for all the help fellas