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

Product Information

Can you use ceramic stones,,,, yes, but they will mainly burnish and not cut the carbides like diamond and CBN. Small tough burrs will be formed too easily with poor apex formation. Some users here have reported excellent results from stropping with a dremel. I have not tried this myself, but the basic idea is to use a buffing wheel loaded with compound, set the dremel to the lowest setting, then use it to buff the edge in a way that the wheel spins away from the cutting edge. I knew your vid already before, tried your method with the just one sharpmaker rod, and prefer it over the method shown in the sharpmaker instructional DVD (which I just watched again, had already forgotten many of the things said there) I replaced my medium stones for the first time last year, and man what a difference 10 years makes.

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. 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. This knife which had a badly damaged edge (from being thrown in with the rest of the washing up) has been restored by running through all four stages and then tested with some thermal receipt paper which simply fell apart on the edge.JaseRicco wrote:After reading everything here, and watching many videos, I still a question about what seems to be a very debated topic...30 degree vs. 40 degree for my knives?? The instructional video says to use the 40 degree, and every 10th time or so, use the 30 degree. A lot of YouTube videos say to use the 40 degree and mention nothing about ever using the 30 degree for most knives, but there are plenty of videos out there that state to use the 30 instead...so I am confused. My instinct is to just do what the instructional video says to do. There are a ton of Sharpmaker videos up on YouTube and here’s a decent one showing how to use the Sharpmaker: Good lighting and 10x-15x loop will easily show the small burr which is very difficult to see unaided. Generally I have been pretty happy with these ceramic stones. The only thing I noticed is that over time they seem to have developed little bumps or chips. Apparently they don’t do anything to mess up your edge, but I find it a little unnerving when I use the system and the blade catches one of the bumps. Irrespective of which you buy do heed the warnings that come with the rods. Use absolute minimal pressure so you don't dislodge the diamond or CBN particulars. :eek:

Get a decent 10x loupe. This along with a Sharpie will teach you a lot about what's going on while sharpening. I’ve already mentioned a couple of characteristics of the Sharpmaker that become quite relevant to start with. Especially compared to diamond, the ceramic stones are not the fastest cutters, and add to this a design that helps keep the overall removal of metal to a minimum by maintaining the angle, and you get a sharpener that can be hard work if you need to reprofile a steep edge angle. 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. These are not stupid questions at all, but very sensible ones and your thread might very well help some more people who did not ask those questions by themselves! :) He references a keen edge being 0.1 microns. If you are achieving that or even a 1 micron edge then your knowledge of sharpening would be far from deficient. That is high level sharpening. You see this in many hobbies. A guy who needs a sub moa rifle who cannot shoot sub moa or a guy that needs an R1 with race tires to commute to work because he thinks he is Rossi. We need to be honest with our own abilities first before we can get too deep into the gear.While I wouldn’t call myself a knife sharpening professional, I can certainly keep a blade sharp, and I have tried a number of different sharpening kits over the years. The Sharpmaker and Spyderco ceramic bench stones are excellent and I have used them for almost 30 years. Be careful not to press to hard and use too long or you will easily form a tough small burr, then complain it does not work very well on the newest tool steels. All I can add is practice on some cheap paring knives or similar till you get a feel and develop a sound technique. So why are those holes the shape they are? It’s all very clever actually. The Tri-Angle Sharpmaker, comes with …. yes, tri-angular stones. The stones also have a groove in them for hooks and other pointed objects. While I love a good deal as much as the next person I also realize that tools are important and I'm OK with paying more for the high quality when it comes to tools, which I plan to have and use for a long time.