Are the Spyderco diamond Sharpmaker stones worth it?

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
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I'm not a great sharpener and I can't even really master some of the 'foolproof' systems, but the Sharpaker seems to be the best sharpening tool I've found so far. I have some knives that seem to need to have the edge profiles thinned in order to get them to work with my Sharpmaker. Rather than spend an hour using the medium stones I thought about getting the diamond to speed up the process.

Are the diamond rods worth the $70? If so are the cubic boron rods as good or better? I've read that the CB doesn't strip off the rod as easily as diamond, but that the individual crystals are more likely to fracture. so that's just confusing the choice.
 
I have both, they do the same thing.. which is prep work for harder to sharpen steels like s110v for medium stones. Either set will do the job so not something to contemplate.
 
elkins45 said:
I'm not a great sharpener and I can't even really master some of the 'foolproof' systems, but the Sharpaker seems to be the best sharpening tool I've found so far. I have some knives that seem to need to have the edge profiles thinned in order to get them to work with my Sharpmaker. Rather than spend an hour using the medium stones I thought about getting the diamond to speed up the process.

Are the diamond rods worth the $70? If so are the cubic boron rods as good or better? I've read that the CB doesn't strip off the rod as easily as diamond, but that the individual crystals are more likely to fracture. so that's just confusing the choice.
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It's a tough one, personally i find it takes a very long time to reprofile anything on a sharpmaker. I have one. The diamond rods do speed it up but it still takes too long for me. I use a blade grind attachment now to sharpen pretty much everything. I'd love to use stones but rather than spend the $ on multiple stones I got the grinder attachement for the sharpmaker.
 
I have been using a set of diamond rods for years as a preliminary to reprofile decent but thick or not perfect edges. Still is a process but works very well.
If you like using the SharpMaker, a set of diamond rods will only make it much more useful. I have CBN grinding wheels, which I really am happy with but I can't speak to the advantage of CB rods over diamond.
 
I've had my diamond rods for almost 20 years. IMO they are worth it every time you really dull one up.
I believe the instructions said not to use a heavy hand and let the rods do the work.
 
If you are really invested in the Sharpmaker as a system, i'd say go for it since they are going to be far more aggressive to get an edge back on something and are virtually necessary for anything with more vanadium than S30v.

That being said, when you account for the cost of the rods which are going in the mid to high $60s right now, you are approaching and in some cases exceeding the cost of some of the lower end fixed angle systems out there right now.

If idiot proof is what you are after you might want to take a look at the Worksharp fixed angle or KME. Fairly low cost systems and they are really hard to screw up.
 
A lot of people will clip or strap a set of diamond plates on to the ceramic rods. It's a cheaper alternative but it can be a little awkward. Personally I think the diamond rods are too expensive and they aren't as good as I had hoped, but at the end of the day I'm still glad to have them. Try to find them at a lower price if you can.
 
Congress tools. 1/2 inch triangle stones, I have a spectrum of grits to get aggressive, 80, 220, 320 if I remember correctly. Cheap but infinitely helpful.
 
I tried the congress tools triangle stones, both the ruby and the moldmaster in different grits (see below)

the ruby I found too soft; it seems like it will wear out very quickly, and it felt fragile in use

the moldmaster weren't as aggressive as I'd hoped, but perhaps I should have started coarser

2 RU12012T6 STONE, RUBY-120 1/2 TRI.X6 2 MM32012T6 STONE, MOLDMASTER-320 1/2TRIX6 2 MM60012T6 STONE, MOLDMASTER-600 1/2TRIX6


In the end I decided I prefer re-profiling to a smaller angle using my stones (DMT, Carborundum, or Shapton), and then using the Sharpmaker medium, fine, ultra sequence for the bevel edge.
 
sanmateo said:
I tried the congress tools triangle stones, both the ruby and the moldmaster in different grits (see below)

the ruby I found too soft; it seems like it will wear out very quickly, and it felt fragile in use

the moldmaster weren't as aggressive as I'd hoped, but perhaps I should have started coarser

2 RU12012T6 STONE, RUBY-120 1/2 TRI.X6 2 MM32012T6 STONE, MOLDMASTER-320 1/2TRIX6 2 MM60012T6 STONE, MOLDMASTER-600 1/2TRIX6


In the end I decided I prefer re-profiling to a smaller angle using my stones (DMT, Carborundum, or Shapton), and then using the Sharpmaker medium, fine, ultra sequence for the bevel edge.
Click to expand...
I tried the congress tools approach as well and found about the same thing you did. They are probably fine for what they are but there are better solutions out there for the money.

If you are really comfortable with the sharpmaker system, your best "bang for buck" is to just go to one of the big online stores, search up "6 inch edge pro diamond plates" and find some of those. You can usually get a set for less than 30 bucks shipped. Then just rest or rubber band them to the ceramic rods already in place and do the same process you are used to.

The sharpmaker is still effective but with modern steels, and how affordable it is getting to enter into the clamped sharpeners with what Worksharp is doing, I would probably start elsewhere If i were getting going into sharpening now versus 10 years go
 
I have the CBN rods for repairs chips,repairs and reprofiling. I am still new to the game, but they have done what I expected of them, aggressively yet controllably removing steel.
I chose them over diamond for durability, but I could be wrong.

Scott
 
For around $60 I'd suggest going with the worksharp precision elite as mentioned above.
 
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