Spyderco Sharpening Gear: Which Suits You The Best?

J

JD Spydo

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Nov 20, 2004
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Spyderco is truly unique among most commercial knife companies in that they not only make a premium grade of cutlery>> not to mention they have a wide selection of just about every type of cutlery needed. They also in my humble opinion make some of the very best Sharpening Tools on the market as well.

I own probaby 90% of the sharpening tools that Spyderco has ever made up to this point in time. You would be hard pressed to find a Spyderco sharpening tool that I don't currently own and use.

What I want to know is which Spyderco sharpening tool do you guys like the best? Which sharpening tool do you use most of all? Some of their great sharpening tools are well kept secrets like their 701 Profiles which are currently discontinued but deemed to be one of the most versatile field sharpening tools ever made IMO.

Also their GOLDENSTONE is truly a genius design but hasn't yet become a household name like their 204 Sharpmaker is. Why is GOLDENSTONE not getting any attention? Which Spyderco Sharpening Tool do you use the most and which do you most appreciate? So let's chat about which Spyderco sharpening tool you like and why?
 
I have a sharpmaker with the additional ultra fine stones and have been really impressed. I just recently picked up there medium and fine pocket stones and find them a great addition for something more portable. I eventually want to add the golden stone and ultra fine bench stone.
 
for my use sharpmaker. only wish we had coarser diamond or whatever medium rods to reprofile quicker and easier.
 
I have a Sharpmaker and a Byrd Duckfoot diamond sharpener. Most of the time I just use the Sharpmaker.
 
Use my Sharpmaker all the time but really love their 8x2 inch Medium, Fine and Ultra Fine ceramic bench stones. They are outstanding. Just wish they made a courser grit stone. I usually start with DMT Diamonds and then progress to the Spyderco ceramics. You get a pretty close to mirror edge with the ultra fine.
 
JD Spydo said:
Spyderco is truly unique among most commercial knife companies in that they not only make a premium grade of cutlery>> not to mention they have a wide selection of just about every type of cutlery needed. They also in my humble opinion make some of the very best Sharpening Tools on the market as well.

I own probaby 90% of the sharpening tools that Spyderco has ever made up to this point in time. You would be hard pressed to find a Spyderco sharpening tool that I don't currently own and use.

What I want to know is which Spyderco sharpening tool do you guys like the best? Which sharpening tool do you use most of all? Some of their great sharpening tools are well kept secrets like their 701 Profiles which are currently discontinued but deemed to be one of the most versatile field sharpening tools ever made IMO.

Also their GOLDENSTONE is truly a genius design but hasn't yet become a household name like their 204 Sharpmaker is. Why is GOLDENSTONE not getting any attention? Which Spyderco Sharpening Tool do you use the most and which do you most appreciate? So let's chat about which Spyderco sharpening tool you like and why?
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I'm sure everyone here is tired of me banging on about it but I ONLY have the Spyderco Ultra Fine ceramic triangular rod. That is the only Spyderco sharpening gear I have. I have eyed the Sharpmaker for a year in my shopping "save for later" lists but have not purchased it. For most people it is probably what they need. I hesitate for several reasons. Two of those are : I sharpen to lower angles (I have limited use for 15° and ZERO use for 20° so I would end up using it flat or fudging the angles. Next is I very often sharpen with an edge trailing stroke (the sharp maker is usually used with an edge leading / downward stroke).
BUT
These Ultra Fine rods WORK VERY WELL for me free hand. Often used edge trailing but is quite capable used edge leading to get rid of super light foily burs on some alloys. I even bring my replaceable box knives to hair whittling with the triangle and then touch up the blades with it. The trick is to not ding up the edges causing dents in the edge and to not let the edges get too dull. Basically the Ultra Fine rod is my "strop" where as before I had given up on strops and just used stones to sharpen period.

I carry a UF Triangle around with me daily in my "emergency sharpening kit". It's not universal but for what it can do for me it does very well. (meaning not for weakly hardened stainless steel and not for S110V) (perfect for M390 and M4 among others)(great for some serrated blades just because of the shape of the triangle)
 
jbmonkey said:
for my use sharpmaker. only wish we had coarser diamond or whatever medium rods to reprofile quicker and easier.
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For years now I've been saying that one major lack in Spyderco's sharpening tools is a coarse, aggressive stone of some type for rapid stock removal.. Especially for really dull and beat up blades like you get on outdoor ventures at times. I too would like a coarser diamond tool but would be content with a very coarse CBN or silicon carbide for that matter. The diamond rods for the 204 Sharpmaker are nice tools but they just aren't coarse enough for really demanding sharpening jobs.

I find it discouraging so far that no one has said anything about the GOLDENSTONE?
 
I didn't even know about the golden stone until your post. Looks interesting. I think they borrowed from the Byrd duck foot diamond sharpener. It would be perfect to bring your edge back while in the field.
 
Bloody Fingerz said:
I didn't even know about the golden stone until your post. Looks interesting. I think they borrowed from the Byrd duck foot diamond sharpener. It would be perfect to bring your edge back while in the field.
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Actually it was the other way around>> the concept of the GOLDENSTONE was borne long before the Duckfoot tool was ever an idea. The Duckfoot is basically nothing more than a diamond grit version of the GOLDENSTONE. The fact that you are just now hearing about the GOLDENSTONE makes me wonder how many more people haven't yet heard about it.

I'm hoping that sooner rather than later they will make the GOLDENSTONE in more grit selections to better serve the needs of many knife users here. Not to mention if they had the GOLDENSTONE in more grits it would serve the chefs/culinary sector of the market real nicely. It would be so handy for a chef to pull out of his knife case a set of 3 or 4 GOLDENSTONES to tune up the edges on the blades he makes his living with.

It would be better than the 204 Sharpmaker because you wouldn't have any set up time or need for clamps, workbench ect. And this is coming from a guy who is fanatical about the Sharpmaker.
 
I have the sharpmaker with additional coarse diamond and ultra fine stones. But, I have been using the stones freehand. Plus I use only one of each stones, having the second of the pair put away.

Recently acquired the Edge Pro. Put the edge on with EP; maintain the edge freehanding the stones.
 
I've got the sharpmaker with the ultra-fine rods, as well as a couple of DMT Duo-folds that I clamp onto the rods in the event I need something coarser.

Hadn't heard about the Goldenstone before, but just ordered one from Knifecenter. Also added a Salt 2 serrated to the cart so I could get free shipping ;)
 
F308gt4 said:
I've got the sharpmaker with the ultra-fine rods, as well as a couple of DMT Duo-folds that I clamp onto the rods in the event I need something coarser.

Hadn't heard about the Goldenstone before, but just ordered one from Knifecenter. Also added a Salt 2 serrated to the cart so I could get free shipping ;)
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Congrats on getting a GOLDENSTONE. You'll find it a great investment and a very interesting tool to work with. It took me a while to get the hang of it but now I can get some overworked blades back to being razor sharp again in a fairly short period of time.

It kind of baffles me as to why Spyderco hasn't sold anymore of them than they have. I don't run into many people that even own one and they've been out since 2010 or thereabout. The GOLDENSTONE could be a really serious tool if they would make it in at least 4 to 5 different grit selections. If they would do that you could get some lightly abused blades seriously sharp in short time.

The GOLDENSTONE, DUCKFOOT and Spyderco's 701 Profiles are some of my most favorite sharpening tools to experiment with. I do hope that they take these great tools to a higher level.
 
All I have is a Sharpmaker and I really like it. What does the Goldenstone bring to the table?
 
I have a 8×2 fine bench stone that I lapped one side of to be a dual-grit stone and it's my most used piece of sharpening gear by far!
 
bluemetalchurch said:
All I have is a Sharpmaker and I really like it. What does the Goldenstone bring to the table?
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I haven't received mine yet, but from what I understand, it is basically a smaller 1 piece sharpmaker, with a 20 degree angle (or you can use flat- I think it also has a side you can use for scissors, etc).

I've seen that you can rest it on a coin, etc to change the angle. I'm thinking it may be useful to keep on a shelf in the garage so that I can quickly touch up a knife when needed, without having to take out and set up the sharpmaker.
 
bluemetalchurch said:
All I have is a Sharpmaker and I really like it. What does the Goldenstone bring to the table?
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The GOLDENSTONE is much more portable and suited for field use than the 204 Sharpmaker IMO. The only thing keeping the GOLDENSTONE from being more recognized is that currently it's only available in one grit (fine). It's really a nice convenient tool for quick touch ups. It stands up at a perfect 20 degree angle and really does a nice job of touch up on a relatively sharp blade that just needs to be honed and realigned. It has a lot of potential but it really confuses me as to why it hasn't done well on the sales charts. But it needs to be available in more grit selections.
 
Cereal_killer said:
I have a 8×2 fine bench stone that I lapped one side of to be a dual-grit stone and it's my most used piece of sharpening gear by far!
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I have quite a few benchstones myself. I have a couple of the extremely hard and ultra-fine grit hard Arkansas stones ( novaculite).

But the stones I use the most are my two sets of Spyderco 302 Benchstones. I've had some excellent results especially with the Ultra-fine 302 Benchstone.

Spyderco's ceramic is great and can be used dry. The only drawback is that they have to be cleaned frequently to keep them performing well.
 
aleforme said:
Use my Sharpmaker all the time but really love their 8x2 inch Medium, Fine and Ultra Fine ceramic bench stones. They are outstanding. Just wish they made a courser grit stone. I usually start with DMT Diamonds and then progress to the Spyderco ceramics. You get a pretty close to mirror edge with the ultra fine.
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You're speaking of the Spyderco 302 Benchstones. I got my very first set all the way back to 98. I've got two sets and one I keep in my bug-out/travel/outdoor kit and I also have an extra Sharpmaker I keep on hand as well. Once you learn the tricks of freehand sharpening those Spyderco 302 Benchstones really do a superb finish job on a knife that has been properly reprofiled.

I do agree with you that Spyderco does need to come out with a really coarse, aggressive stone for serious reprofiling and for really beat up blades.
 
Battle Creek Knives said:
Japenese Waterstones, obviously not made by spyderco but they will sharpen spyderco knife:)
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I had some Japanese Waterstones made by a company called KING if my memory is correct. I traded those for a Norton Triple Flip system which I find does a really decent job.

With all of that said I still find that Spyderco's 302 ceramic Benchstones to be a very good sharpening stone. The only gripe I have against any of Spyderco's stones is that they tend to load up quickly thus requiring frequent cleaning. But to me that's a small price to pay for good performance. Yeah I do believe that those Spyderco ceramic stones probably need more cleaning than any stones on the market. But I like them so much I'll live with it.

I'm really anxious to know when the new Spyderco GAUNTLET system is going on the market?
 
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