Spyderco Knife Sharpener Tri-angle Sharpmaker Used to Sharpen Hunting Knives & Self Sharpening Knife by Using Ceramic Knife Sharpening Stone

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I will constantly be updating this first post, so that you won't have to read through the entire thread to absorb all the advice. In addition to a text list, there will be tutorial videos at the end of the post. Serrations can be sharpened thanks to the corners of the stones, meaning steps 1 and 3 can be used. Spyderco recommend that only the step three (white stone corners) is used, as step one is a bit too aggressive. Serrations need a slightly different technique, as generally they are formed with a single bevel (chisel) grind. In this case you work only on one side for three or four strokes, then use a single stroke on the other side to remove the burr that forms. I occasionally get questions from readers about sharpening: what my “system” is, what products I recommend for sharpening, how I sharpen my knives, etc. Probably not necessary for every user, but the ultra fine rods aren't very expensive and do produce an even finer degree of sharpness and can yield a polished edge. The system is made up of two sets of ceramic stones, one brown colored rough set for the heavy work and one white colored fine set for the finishing job. The triangular shape of the stones allows you to sharpen both plain and serrated edges by using the flat sides and the corners.

This means we have three different working surfaces on the stones, the flat side, a pointed corner, and the groove. Here we have the stone fitted into the base so that we use the flat surface. Bezween the too, as regular EDC I personally would take the Delica - just cause I slightly prefer the a bit "heavier" feel in hand as well as having color choices and better custom scale options. Practice being consistent. Take your time it’s not a race. Understand what a burr is. With a little bit of practice honestly just a few knives your edge will look like it was done on a guided system. In the video we see Sypderco founder and R&D lead, Sal Glesser who runs you through everything you need to know as a sharpening noob. He begins discussing a bit of history about knife maintenance and goes on to describe the four main knife-grind types. He then details how knife sharpening devices have evolved over time which is rather interesting. You can really tell that Sypderco doesn’t just want to sell you something…they want to educate you on why their products are so effective. However, no matter what knife you have it will eventually start losing its edge and becoming dull. Of course, the rate of degradation will depend on the knife steel and how much abuse you’re subjecting it to but sure enough ALL knives will lose that sharp edge over time. This is why it’s important to sharpen your knives on a regular basis to maintain that super fine edge and to optimize your cutting ability.

Spyderco Sharpmaker Review – Final Thoughts

These also make great gifts, and are not just for hardcore knife enthusiasts. They are handy in the kitchen and are designed to be used by almost anyone. In our fast-paced single serve world maintaining what we have sometimes falls to the wayside – especially when we can just buy new cheap stuff. Learning how to keep your edged tools sharp is fun and empowering, and for that reason I think the Sharpmaker can be a very thoughtful gift. Because the Medium stones on the 204 Sharpmaker are priced low enough that you don't have to lap them. It saves me a lot of time. I've even had to replace one of the medium stones on one set of my Spyderco 302 Benchstones. Even though the medium stones will wear over time it takes a while before they need replacing. Albeit if I could do it really efficiently I would be open to suggestions and time saving methods I may not be aware of.

When I’m using a fine micron bench stone and hit a rough spot it feels like a boulder. I can even tell by the feeling and sound when I burr is getting close. You don’t get this with the sharp maker. The Sharpmaker is extremely good at what it does, which is to allow people with no great skill set in freehand sharpen to create and maintain a consistent edge across a surprisingly wide gamut of bladed tools in the home. It's also flexible enough to be useful for more skilled users, in touching up those edges. It's not without its limitations, all of which are extremely well documented here. However, if you are sufficiently adept in sharpening to reach for bench stones at all times, the Sharpmaker's utility for you is pretty limited. This is something like were your knife should finish at the end of the stroke. You need to keep blade tangent to stone, heel to tip, every stroke.I don't have enough knowledge to evaluate that information; maybe you can edu-ma-cate me. My simple question is: In one end of the Sharpmaker is another hole for a stone, this time using only one stone at a much lower angle. With a single stone mounted in this position you can sharpen scissors in the same way as you sharpen a knife. Keeping the scissors vertical and stroking the blade across the stone. To take off the burr on scissors you need to use the other stone like a file and lay it onto the blade flat. Doing this will give you a better burr removal than just closing the scissors. The Al Oxide and SiC abrasives are softer than the vanadium carbides and will wear away the steel surrounding the carbides resulting in chunks of vanadium carbide tear out. Only diamond and CBN are hard enough to actually abrade and sharpen the vanadium carbides.

All rights reserved. All product names, art and text herein are the property of Spyderco, Inc. and may not be reproduced in part or whole without the sole written permission of Spyderco, Inc. Looking directly from behind the knife, this is the critical aspect for the Sharpmaker – you keep the blade held vertically at all times, the stone angle is then determined by the Sharpmaker. Visually, keeping the blade vertical is the easiest position to judge, much easier than any other angle.Many believe that the need for diamond/CBN stones really presents itself when trying to achieve very fine finishes. A vanadium carbide is 1-2 microns and the brown/medium rods are 15 micron, the white/fine rods are 6 micron and the white/ultra fine are 3 micron. Carbide content will matter as well but in general you are not really trying to sharpen the carbides themselves until you get to a very fine abrasive. The 15 micron abrasive is just abrading the entire carbide out of the matrix. As you get to finer abrasives like the UF you are burnishing the carbides and plowing them through the matrix. Again, the volume of them will effect this and S30V will tolerate ceramic abrasives better than S110V.

I am just starting to learn what a burr is and am not really sure what Re-profiling is, but have an idea. Since I have no skill and am not confortable using a bench stone as of yet, I am looking for something in the middle. Something that is bounds over a cheap ceramic pull through, but something that doesn’t take a whole lot of time and knowledge to take the factory/utility edge to a hair sharpening edge. I do like the fact that as I hone my skills at knife sharpening, and learn some of those things that need to be learned, the Sharpmaker does have the option to use it as a bench stone instead of a guided system. I’m going to see if I can simplify this for you a little bit. Every 10th time he suggests you use the 30° angle Barkeepers Friend powder cleanser is useful for cleaning your Sharpmaker ceramic rods up and also works on blades.I replaced my medium stones for the first time last year, and man what a difference 10 years makes. Just to make it even clearer for those who might be totally new to sharpening and the sharpmaker: What Bloke is saying basically: