Sharpmaker plus VG-10.

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Jan 29, 2009
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I finally got around to using my new Sharpmaker. A buddy of mine got it for me for my birthday a year ago. My Endura 4 was getting dull, so I looked over the directions, and had at it. WOW!!!!! That was easy! That Endura 4 in VG-10 can now shave the fuzz off of a baby's ass!!! I love the Sharpmaker, and will recommend it to all of my friends! Great system! Thanks Spyderco! :thumbsup:
 
With all the new Supersteels that have hit the market I think a lot of us tend to forget that many of the mainline blade steels like VG-10 are better than most people want to give them credit for. I've said for years that VG-10 is one of the most under-appreciated and under-estimated blade steels out there.

I still have close to 7 older Spyders with VG-10 and 4 of them are folders and 3 of them are fixed blades. I still use them quite a bit. One model in particular is my older TEMPERANCE 1 model ( 2004 era) and it was one fixed blade they made in PE & SE both and I have and use both the PE & SE units in that model. Even with all the newer supersteel fixed blades that Spyderco has blessed us with I still hold my TEMPERANCE 1 as my all time favorite fixed blade of all time>> and both the PE & SE are both VG-10. I wouldn't sell or trade either one of them>> yeah I like them that much>> also I have no intentions of letting go of any of my VG-10 Spyders that I still use.
 
I've always found VG-10 a pleasure to sharpen on the SM. IMO, it's one of the easiest steels to resharpen, and seems to take very little effort to get scary sharp again. And I just like the steel all-around.

I remember not long ago (20 years or less?), when VG-10 was considered one of the higher-end steels. In another 20 years from now, the 'super steels' of today will be considered 'meh' by a lot of people. But if it's still around, I'm willing to bet there will still be a place for VG-10 and steels like it.

Jim
 
VG-10 sharpens (and dulls) easily, which is why the SM can put an edge on it. Try sharpening 20CV on a SM. Not fun.

Not fun is the understatement of.... well, ever.

That said, the Sharpmaker is great with VG10 and some of the less super super steels. I love VG10, no disrespect. The Sharpmaker is great at keeping knives sharp, not as good at bringing dull lives back to life.
 
Just reprofiled some VG-10 on a Lansky. Not bad compared to S30V, S90V & M390. Even with diamond stones those are a pain.

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An update to my original post: You guys are right. I tried sharpening some S30 + S35, and it wasn't so easy. I was able to get a somewhat dull ZT 0562 way better than it was, but no where close to that VG-10. Same result with a Crooked River. Better, but not as good as the Endura. I'm guessing the Sharpmaker is better at "softer" steels.
 
An update to my original post: You guys are right. I tried sharpening some S30 + S35, and it wasn't so easy. I was able to get a somewhat dull ZT 0562 way better than it was, but no where close to that VG-10. Same result with a Crooked River. Better, but not as good as the Endura. I'm guessing the Sharpmaker is better at "softer" steels.

It really should be called the Sharp Keeper. Still a good "starter" sharpener.
 
An update to my original post: You guys are right. I tried sharpening some S30 + S35, and it wasn't so easy. I was able to get a somewhat dull ZT 0562 way better than it was, but no where close to that VG-10. Same result with a Crooked River. Better, but not as good as the Endura. I'm guessing the Sharpmaker is better at "softer" steels.
I sharpen S30V/S35VN, M390, M4 etc on my SM all the time. But I don't let them get too dull before I touch them up. I used my M390 this morning to cut up a bunch of carboard and it was getting a bit sluggish at the end. A few minutes ago I touched it up on the SM using the brown (med) stones in the 40° slots and had it back to shaving sharp in a few minutes. I switched to the white (fine) rods and had it really sharp a short time after. The trick is to not let your knives get too dull in the first place. Maybe consider buying the diamond or CBN rods to get a clean apex and then further refine with the finer stones.

Also, it's important to make sure you're hitting the apex in the first place. Use a Sharpie on the edge and a decent magnifying glass or loupe to make sure you're actually sharpening the very edge.

I've used a Sharpmaker for almost 30 years and find it to be an excellent tool for maintaining edges. With some practice you'll develop your own technique and figure out what works best for you. Like others have said, the SM is not ideal for sharpening really dull edges or reprofiling. The diamond/CBN rods really help but I still find reprofiling with them to be more work than I care for.
 
I've sharpened S30V and S35VN many times on my SM. I didn't find it too hard at all. Not quite as easy as VG-10, but not so difficult, either. I've even reprofiled an S30V blade that was dull and way too thick at the shoulders of the bevel with my SM. I used mainly the gray rods, and ended with the white rods. The reprofiling wasn't fun, though. I used the SM because at the time, I was worried about doing something I might regret by accidentally removing too much metal from an expensive blade at any one time. It took maybe 20+ minutes at a time, over a period of several days (not every day consistently, but on and off). This was years ago, and I wanted to see if it could be done.

Not ideal, maybe, but if you're maybe concerned about mistakenly removing too much metal and aren't in a hurry, with some patience it might be a slower option for some. For some other 'super' steels, it might no work well at all for that.

Jim
 
I sharpen S30V/S35VN, M390, M4 etc on my SM all the time. But I don't let them get too dull before I touch them up. I used my M390 this morning to cut up a bunch of carboard and it was getting a bit sluggish at the end. A few minutes ago I touched it up on the SM using the brown (med) stones in the 40° slots and had it back to shaving sharp in a few minutes. I switched to the white (fine) rods and had it really sharp a short time after. The trick is to not let your knives get too dull in the first place. Maybe consider buying the diamond or CBN rods to get a clean apex and then further refine with the finer stones.

Also, it's important to make sure you're hitting the apex in the first place. Use a Sharpie on the edge and a decent magnifying glass or loupe to make sure you're actually sharpening the very edge.

I've used a Sharpmaker for almost 30 years and find it to be an excellent tool for maintaining edges. With some practice you'll develop your own technique and figure out what works best for you. Like others have said, the SM is not ideal for sharpening really dull edges or reprofiling. The diamond/CBN rods really help but I still find reprofiling with them to be more work than I care for.

In red is the key. I'm new to the SM, and have a long way to go. Thank you for the tips. :thumbsup:
 
I finally got around to using my new Sharpmaker. A buddy of mine got it for me for my birthday a year ago. My Endura 4 was getting dull, so I looked over the directions, and had at it. WOW!!!!! That was easy! That Endura 4 in VG-10 can now shave the fuzz off of a baby's ass!!! I love the Sharpmaker, and will recommend it to all of my friends! Great system! Thanks Spyderco! :thumbsup:
Now get the ultrafine and the diamond stones. The ultrafine to get your knife even sharper and for touching up slightly dull knives. The diamond to reshape a very dull edge. If you use your knife much the money will be well spent.
 
VG-10 sharpens (and dulls) easily, which is why the SM can put an edge on it. Try sharpening 20CV on a SM. Not fun.
I find that interesting in a weird way :confused: Because I could name at least 4 to 5 older blade steels that Spyderco used that dull much easier than VG-10 does. And most of the time after using a VG-10 blade in a demanding cutting job I've found that a few strokes on an Ultra-Fine Spyderco 302 Benchstone or just a few skewed strokes on one of my Lansky Crock Sticks that is like a butcher steel made of ceramic. In other words it usually doesn't take a heroic effort to get VG-10 back to shaving sharp again.
Oh I totally agree that it doesn't compete with some of these newer/better supersteels like M390, 204-P or the one you mentioned 20CV. But I still find it superior that anything Ka-bar uses for instance>> or a half dozen other older knife companies that are still in business. Also I've used other VG-10 blades by other companies and Spyderco does a decent heat treat on their VG-10.
I got to try out a Browning model in VG-10 and theirs wasn't quite as good as anything I ever got from Spyderco.
 
It really should be called the Sharp Keeper. Still a good "starter" sharpener.
Yeah I totally agree with you "Kreyzhorse" because I've said pretty much the same thing for years now. I think it should be called the "Sharp-Maintainer" instead of the SharpMaker IMO. And this is coming from a guy who is an avid fan of the 204 Sharpmaker and I have no desire to quit using it anytime soon.

The one problem I've always found with the 204 Sharpmaker is that Spyderco never offered a coarse and/or extra-coarse stone for rapid stock removal. Even the diamond stones just don't remove stock off of a really battered blade and I find that unfortunate. I think what it might be is that Spyderco probably believes that with all the diamond and other benchstones on the market they probably just figure most of us would use something like that.

I'm still very anxious to see what Spyderco's new GAUNTLET system is going to consist of. I'm betting that there are some significant improvements in the GAUNTLET. I can't wait to get my hands on one and I'm very frustrated that it is taking so long for us to finally try one out. I buy all of Spyderco's great sharpening tools.
 
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