Spyderco Sharpmaker vs DMT Aligner

The Dmt aligner is a very good product. You can rebevel, sharpen, touch up, and polish. The sharpmaker is pretty limited in that it is only really good at keeping a knife sharp not making it sharp which is pretty counter intuitive.

I recommend you pick up the aligner with the EEF and EC stones to complete the kit.
 
i went with aligner, having said that, my knives come out butter knife sharp...and I am 100% sure that's because i suck.
 
I've use the Sharpmaker before but use the DMT Alighner Deluxe Diamonds currently. The trick with the DMT is after re-profiling with the coarse whetstone, use light pressure with the fine and just barely "float" it with the extra-fine whetstone. DMT also just came out with the extra-extra-fine (8000 mesh/3 micron) Aligner 4" whetstone. You'll still have to use a strop with .1/1 micron compound to polish the edge if you want that.

The DMT diamonds make a big difference on S30V, D2 and ZDP-189. It takes too long on the Sharpmaker that I had.

I'm in the process of ordering the Razor Sharp Sharpening System (paper wheels). I just picked up a variable speed Porter Cable 6" bench grinder and a stand so now I can get the paper wheels. Should get nice polished edges soon. :D
 
Get the DMT, but get this one!

http://www.cutleryshoppe.com/dmtalignerdiamondsharpener-deluxe4honekit.aspx

It comes with the EC.

Here's what I do. After getting a good burr the whole length with the EC, I moved to the C and the F. With the F, you can't always feel a burr, but that's okay because you know you've set the edge well already. Then, after I do the EF, I wrap the EF with 2000 grit wet/dry, rough side out. Then, for a final strop, I flip the piece of 2000 grit wet/dry over so the paper side is out and strop with that, maintaining my angles on the Aligner.

This method lets me whittle hair every time.

The only drawback to the DMT kit is that it's not easy to always put the pincher thing on the blade in the same spot. And little narrow blades (not skinny, but narrow) like pen blades don't stick out far enough out of the pincher without help and the stones hit the Aligner instead of the edge. I just put a spacer in behind the blade and then it sticks out far enough.

I really like mine.
 
Chewy1 said:
Then, after I do the EF, I wrap the EF with 2000 grit wet/dry, rough side out. Then, for a final strop, I flip the piece of 2000 grit wet/dry over so the paper side is out and strop with that, maintaining my angles on the Aligner.
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This is a noob question but what do you mean by wet/dry? Do you mean the sandpaper can be wet or dry?:confused:
 
xtremepado said:
This is a noob question but what do you mean by wet/dry? Do you mean the sandpaper can be wet or dry?:confused:
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It's sandpaper that can be used dry or in combination with water to keep the sandpaper from getting clogged (the water floats away the material being removed). IN addition, the paper is treated witha resin that allows it to not turn into pudding when it gets wet.
 
The advice here is absolutely correct--the sharpmaker is a burnisher, not a sharpener; good for touchups on already sharp knives but will take forever to get a truly dull knife sharp.

Spend almost all of your time with the coarse stone (you can order EC and EEC)...the knife should be able to shave, or damn near, before you move to the higher grits. At the very end, if you like, notch the angle up on the aligner one space higher, and do a few passes on each side with a fine or EF stone, and you'll have a very nice, even micro-bevel.
 
If your use gets your knife really dull often then go with the DMT aligner for about the same amount of money.
 
Most definitely DMT Aligner. The extra extra coarse stone (120 micron) is aggressive enough for edge reprofiling, while the extra extra fine stone (3 micron) is smooth enough to get the edge literally hair splitting sharp.

I suggest you get this instead:
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-AKEFCX-Aligner-Diamond-Sharpening/dp/B00004WFUV/

Since this set has 4 stones, you only need to add the extra extra coarse and extra extra fine stones. The only little trick is that the extra extra coarse is not marketed as part of the aligner set, it's marketed as a ski tool (part number WS4XX). Regardless, the XX coarse fits the aligner perfectly.
 
Heiheit said:
The sharpmaker is pretty limited in that it is only really good at keeping a knife sharp not making it sharp which is pretty counter intuitive.
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t1mpani said:
The advice here is absolutely correct--the sharpmaker is a burnisher, not a sharpener; good for touchups on already sharp knives but will take forever to get a truly dull knife sharp.
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I cannot agree with this. Of cause like any tool sharpmaker has it's limitations. I bet aligner has limitations as well.
Still I use my sharpmaker for all my sharpening need for last five years. I use it for touch-ups, reprofiling and reapairs. It is a great tool.
Standard set of case shine for touch-ups, but if you add coarse stones (I use congress stones up to 80 grit, but if you search forum you will find many other and may be better options) than reprofiling and repair not a problem at all. Sharpmaker is very easy to use, maintain and it is compact. Comes with training DVD. It has 15 and 20 degrees settings and if you want really bad you can squeeze it to 12 degrees, which is good option to take advantage out of premium steel to improve geometry.

24degsettings.jpg



I am not sure how low in angles Alighner can go.
 
You can't go by the aligner's angle notches (in terms of degrees) as the width of the blade factors into the angle they set.

As to the use of the Sharpmaker for reprofiling...

Okay, obviously it's possible to do it, and it's also possible to take down a tree with a SAK and build pyramids without power tools or trucks. However, there are far better tools available. The Aligner is superior for metal removal. For that matter, a $100 belt sander with some ceramic belts makes the aligner look pathetic.
 
t1mpani said:
Okay, obviously it's possible to do it, and it's also possible to take down a tree with a SAK and build pyramids without power tools or trucks.
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Well, it hit me a while back that there wasn't the slightest reason for the smartass tone of my post here---while I stand by my opinion of the relative strengths of the tools in question, the sarcasm was uncalled for. I'm not going to edit it out, I'll just say I'm sorry.
 
I've actually used the DMT clamp alone as an angle guide in conjunction with my benchstone and it works great, so you might want to consider that. The only other angle guide I've seen that can be used in that way is $20.
 
richw said:
i went with aligner, having said that, my knives come out butter knife sharp...and I am 100% sure that's because i suck.
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Mine don't come butter knife sharp. But they don't quite get near hair splitting sharp either.

I have the blue, orange and green stones. Which ones more should I get?
 
sjhong said:
Mine don't come butter knife sharp. But they don't quite get near hair splitting sharp either.

I have the blue, orange and green stones. Which ones more should I get?
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You won't get hair splitting sharp until you have the extra extra fine stone (brown).
 
t1mpani said:
Well, it hit me a while back that there wasn't the slightest reason for the smartass tone of my post here---while I stand by my opinion of the relative strengths of the tools in question, the sarcasm was uncalled for. I'm not going to edit it out, I'll just say I'm sorry.
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You are a good man, t1mpani, even if I don't agree with you about the Sharpmaker. ;)
 
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