Sharpmaker Issues.

[manofsteel]

Recently bought the spyderco sharpmaker. It seems to work well on knives that already have an edge but Iam having difficulty getting a dull knive that hair whittlin edge I want on all my blades. Do I need to invest the extra dough to get a diamond for it? Or should I be able to obtain my edge through the medium stones it comes with? Kinda new to this sharpmaker. Had a Lansky that worked great.

[SQSAR]

Welcome Aboard! The medium stones 'can' do the job, , , but it would take you forever and a day to reprofile a badly dulled edge. The Diamond rods will make much quicker work of it. Frankly, they are a must-have to get the most of your SM. Once you get them, you will be quick to find them to be well worth the money.

[stvsctt]

I re-profiled a delica 4 by laying an oilstone up against the rods and then using the same action drawing the blade down the stone verticaly, worked well, the brown stones are no good for putting a good edge on a very dull knife, i used the spyderco brown ceramic bench stone to sharpen a very dull paring knife which was used on a granite board, it sharpened well but only after about 500 strokes per side, it would also take forever to get a chip out, the stone method is a bit cheaper than the diamond rods.

[Lord Bear]

The Sharpmaker in standard form is outstanding in "touching up" the edge. Quick and easy to use. Used properly, it can make an edge slice practically forever. For "sharpening" however, the diamond triangles are a must. (Don't knock any diamonds out by pressing too hard! :eek: Use only light pressure. Let the diamonds do all the work.)

[JD Spydo]

You might even consider getting a coarse or an extra-coarse grade diamond benchstone for serious reprofiling of blades that are badly dinged up. A diamond benchstone is going to save you a ton of time because even the diamond rods you can get for the 204 unit are not coarse enough IMO to give you that stock removing advantage you need.

Now don't get me wrong because the diamond rods for the 204 are good for blades that are slightly dinged up or for blades that have been cutting cardboard or other materials of that type>> but the Sharpmaker is more of a fine finishing tool rather than a tool for major sharpening jobs IMO.

I've been asking for quite some time now for them to provide a coarse or extra coarse stone for the unit but it has not come to pass yet. Norton, 3M and DMT all have great diamond benchstones which would do you right.

[manofsteel]

I ordered the diamond rods. Guess we'll see how they do. I don't give up easily and am quite stubborn. I'll keep hacking away until I've reached desired result. Thanx for the advice.

[ChapmanPreferred]

Just remember that light pressure with the diamond rods will help them last longer by avoiding knocking the diamond dust out of the nichol plating. Light pressure and more strokes. :)

[Allen R.]

I purchased the diamond rods, but never use them. Believe me or not i don't even use the medium ones, Which dull for me and dull for you may be 2 different things. That being said when my knives are dull i use fine stones, ultra fine stones then strop. I'm a little obsessed with my knifes though ,i touch them up constantly to keep the sharpest edge i can possibly have all the time. I did have to reprofile a knife from a different company i bought ,as it was all kinds of messed up brand new out of the box. It did take a little longer than i like but the SM did get it done

[dbcad]

I would recomend also that you procure a loupe. The lighted 15X one first recomended by Chapman works very well for me. It really helps if you can see what you're doing to the edge :)

[-F1]

I bought this lighted 20x loupe for just under $7 recently. Works well. I'm not saying it's better than any other one that has been suggested.

[Pneumothorax]

You might even consider getting a coarse or an extra-coarse grade diamond benchstone for serious reprofiling of blades that are badly dinged up. A diamond benchstone is going to save you a ton of time because even the diamond rods you can get for the 204 unit are not coarse enough IMO to give you that stock removing advantage you need.

Now don't get me wrong because the diamond rods for the 204 are good for blades that are slightly dinged up or for blades that have been cutting cardboard or other materials of that type>> but the Sharpmaker is more of a fine finishing tool rather than a tool for major sharpening jobs IMO.

I've been asking for quite some time now for them to provide a coarse or extra coarse stone for the unit but it has not come to pass yet. Norton, 3M and DMT all have great diamond benchstones which would do you right.

Great input JD! I agree - the diamond rods are not coarse enough to do a serious sharpening from dull nor reprofiling. It took me forever to use the diamond rods to to reprofile a bad factory grind. The other comment I have is that there needs to be another sharpmaker stone grit between the diamond rods and the brown/gray medium stones since it (again) takes forever to get the diamond rod scratches out - of course, Im not a pro, but there are probably plenty of guys like me.

[JD Spydo]

Great input JD! I agree - the diamond rods are not coarse enough to do a serious sharpening from dull nor reprofiling. It took me forever to use the diamond rods to to reprofile a bad factory grind. The other comment I have is that there needs to be another sharpmaker stone grit between the diamond rods and the brown/gray medium stones since it (again) takes forever to get the diamond rod scratches out - of course, Im not a pro, but there are probably plenty of guys like me.

As much as I love and adore the 204 Sharpmaker I've been saying for years that there needs to be at least one stone you can get that would be extra-coarse or even a really top notch coarse aluminum oxide stone or a diamond stone that is at least twice as coarse as the present one that's offered.

That's why out of frustration I've just sort of decided to recommend that folks that are serious about their sharpening jobs just go ahead and get a good quality diamond benchstone to do their difficult reprofiling jobs with. Spyderco probably figures that they might not be able to retrieve their investment on such an item. But DMT, Norton and 3M all make great diamond benchstone in coarse and extra-coarse and any of them would greatly aid your Sharpmaker.