Spyderco Sharpmaker Thoughts Please :-)

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Witterings

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Mar 13, 2012
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I currently have a double sided diamond stone for the heavier duty work and a wetstone for honing and can get my knives scary sharp but it just takes too long and want something more for everyday use that's effective and puts a "decent" edge on mainly kitchen knives but also pocket / EDC's as well.

I also have a Lansky Turn Box but I find if the knife's dull it's pretty useless (shame they don't do a courser rod) and you'd be there forever trying to get a usable edge.

Was going to hit the "buy now" button but thought I'd ask people's opinions /experience before I do, I'm not anal about sharpening but just want something that does a reasoable job in a short'ish period of time.
 
The Sharpmaker excels at keeping sharp knives sharp. It will bring back an edge fairly quickly if you haven't let it degrade to needing a real sharpening.

I use one regularly, but if a knife is dull, I'll use a more aggressive medium first, whether diamond or other, and finish up with the Sharpmaker.
 
If the edge on the knife has a long straight segment, then wide stones will be faster than the Sharpmaker because each stroke with a wide stone abrades more of the edge. On curved edges, there is not so much difference.
 
I love my sharpmaker, but for really dull knives it wouldn’t be my first choice. Some can and do use it for everything, I just don’t have the patience.
 
The Sharpmaker is a great daily/weekly maintenance tool for keeping edges sharp. It's at its very best when used on edges that only need maybe 5-10 passes per side or less, to keep them cutting well. Also a very good deburring tool when using it to clean up new edges just created on coarser stones.

And I often use mine to apply the tiniest of microbevels on new edges I've created on fairly coarse hones, like a Coarse or even Extra-coarse DMT. A very toothy coarse edge topped with a barely-there microbevel using either the SM's medium or fine rods, makes a wicked slicer. That's one of my favorite uses for the Sharpmaker.
 
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I use a sharpmaker for light touchups or maintenance on knives that are low carbide like my kitchen knives and multitool knives. It's fast and easy when you're only sharpening the microbevel. Once the microbevel gets too wide and it takes too long I reprofile the back bevel with a power chefs choice then finish the edge again on the sharpmaker.

I said low carbide because it works great on low carbide steels. It will work on high carbide steels too but with not the best performance. I'm not exactly sure why, but I sharpened s30v for years with a sharpmaker, then switched to diamond and had a noticeable improvement in the edge not deforming or getting dull as fast in use. This is also what was seen with s110v on the Science of sharp website. The articles on s110v carbide.
 
I only use the rough stones on it. It’s great if your knives need a touch up, and will also work to get it sharpened again. However, it’s slow on dull knives and the stones clog up quickly on dull knives.
 
The sharp maker is slow for dull knives and sucks for reprofile jobs too. If you like the work sharp with the blade grinder attachment that works well and is fast. It makes convex edges but for speed and easy of use it is hard to beat.
 
I agree with most folks here. I've had a Sharpmaker for 20 years. Been retired since 2009 so I don't do much heavy work anymore. I've been thinking of getting diamond stones for duller knives but if I need to remove lots of metal I use my Severtech sharpener. It has a lot more aggressive stone.
 
I ordered one any way and it was delivered today .... got to be honest it's no better than the Lansky Turn Box, have been working on a knife for ages and it's made no difference at all .... so frustrated.

Does anyone know what can I use to reprofile edges at a consistent angle that;s compatible and will then work with this for keeping them sharp.
 
Witterings said:
I ordered one any way and it was delivered today .... got to be honest it's no better than the Lansky Turn Box, have been working on a knife for ages and it's made no difference at all .... so frustrated.

Does anyone know what can I use to reprofile edges at a consistent angle that;s compatible and will then work with this for keeping them sharp.
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Any of the guided sharpeners like Edge Pro et al can do so. There are many options in that arena.

Or you can just freehand the bevels down below the 20* or 15* per side settings with a coarse diamond or other hone, and then use the Sharpmaker to put the final or micro-bevel on which will only take a few strokes. Lots of folks do it that way.
 
I use the the grinder attachment to set the reprofile angle. For touch ups I use the sharpmaker triangle to add a micro bevel.
Then back to the grinder attachment when needed.
 
Witterings said:
no better than the Lansky Turn Box,
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Witterings said:
have been working on a knife for ages and it's made no difference
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How are you using them. For getting a really dull/blunt edge back, do one side till a burr forms, then do the other side, then go side to side. Going side to side from the start will get you nowhere. You have to first form a burr. I have the Turn Box, got the diamond rods and have no trouble getting a sharp bevel.
 
cudgee said:
How are you using them. For getting a really dull/blunt edge back, do one side till a burr forms, then do the other side, then go side to side. Going side to side from the start will get you nowhere. You have to first form a burr. I have the Turn Box, got the diamond rods and have no trouble getting a sharp bevel.
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Did try this with the Spyrdero and gave up ... it just wasn;t creating a burr at all .... just seem to me they need to have a courser set of rods.
 
Witterings said:
Did try this with the Spyrdero and gave up ... it just wasn;t creating a burr at all .... just seem to me they need to have a courser set of rods.
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Spyderco sells coarse triangle diamond rods for the Sharpmaker, but they're spendy. Instead of buying the diamond rods, lot of people will just clamp a matching set of diamond plates to the existing rods that come standard with the Sharpmaker, and then unclamp the plates when they want to move on back to the ceramic rods.
 
I am a big fan of the Sharpmaker to keep my knives sharp. I really wouldn’t use to bring back a severely worn/ dull or chipped edge. I have other tools for that. To touch up an edge? Oh yeah! Quick, easy and pretty foolproof. There are CBN, diamond and ultra fine rods in addition to the standard rods that come with it.
I also use mine to sharpen the household scissors too. Love it.
 
Witterings said:
I ordered one any way and it was delivered today .... got to be honest it's no better than the Lansky Turn Box, have been working on a knife for ages and it's made no difference at all .... so frustrated.

Does anyone know what can I use to reprofile edges at a consistent angle that;s compatible and will then work with this for keeping them sharp.
Click to expand...
I use a Sharpmaker for touch up work, but I made an oversized jig for reprofiling. One side is 15* off vertical; the other 20*. This duplicates the Sharpmaker angles. When sharpening, I rotate the jig 180* to hone alternate bevels.View attachment 2448270
 
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