My Sharpmaker Breakthrough...

[Bolster]

I finally achieved my Sharpmaker breakthrough. I'm getting fast, consistent shaving edges on ZDP, VG-10, D-2, whatever. Not "treetopping hair" edges, but shaving, which is all the farther I'm willing to pursue it. Here's what's working for me:

1. Put a back-bevel on the knife with some other system, whether freehand, Lansky, or Edge Pro. Make that back-bevel several degrees steeper than the final edge (say 10-12 degrees per side for a 15 dps edge). OK, I fibbed, this part isn't fast. But the rest is.

2. This works for me, but YMMV: I have given up on the flats. I only use corners. For some reason I seem to be able to control the knife much better on the corners.

3. Now, concentrating hard with no distractions: about 80% of my attention is spent trying to keep the blade absolutely vertical as it slides, and the 20% left over goes toward rotating the blade as I push down (for blades with bellies, obviously).

4. Ignore the grey stone. With the back bevel cut, go straight to the fine white stone, a couple to a dozen slow swipes per edge (for my Spidies, usually 15dps).

5. My edges improved dramatically when I finally obtained the optional white Ultra Fine stones. A couple to a dozen slow, careful swipes per edge, taking care to alternate sides, getting lighter and lighter with my touch as I go until I'm just barely touching the stones.

After step one, takes maybe 1-2 minutes per knife, and I'll be able to shave arm hair with it.

[Grey Mullet]

Can you put that on You Tube?

[Murdoc]

:D

What do you expect to see?

A guy who is using the Sharpmaker system as expected and basically with the same technique you can see on the SM DVD, too. But anyway.... why not :rolleyes:

Bolstermanic,

I'm with you.... I've made the same experiences sharpening various knives. If you take VERY MUCH care to keeping the blade parallel to the flat sides, you CAN actually sometimes still improve your results using them. But since the edges aren't completely straight (besides a wharncliffe, of course), they still touch the stones in only one point, especially towards the tip. So, not THAT much difference there.

I still have to try the ultrafine stones, but in my case, my results still vary on the white ones, so I have still to get better anyway before taking it to the next level ;-)


Dennis

[Left Hand Path]

The Sharpmaker works great for me in tandem with a DMT x-coarse and coarse to reprofile. I have been doing my reprofiling by hand to about 15 or a little under 15, and then I apply a 40 degree microbevel using the Sharpmaker. Personally, I couldn't do without the medium stones though. I agree with you that the corners do a lot of the work, but using the flats seems to refine the edge if you really take your time to keep as much of the edge on the flat as possible by rotating the knife - works great for tips.

Thanks for sharing your sharpening process with us.

[Grey Mullet]

:D
What do you expect to see?

A Sharpmaker Breakthrough. What he described did not sound that different from the the norm. That does not mean that it is exactly the same, or is not a breakthrough. Very small changes can have a big effect. Sometimes it's better to show a video of something than is to describe it. Think of all the sports instructional videos. Why bother with video if you can just read how to swing a golf club etc.

[Cliff Stamp]

It sounds like there is a significant burr problem as you should be able to shave easily with the medium stones. Moving to finer stone should refine the polish, but should not be critical to burr removal. If that is the situation then what tends to happen is that there is weakened metal left on the edge and the edge retention is much lower than optimal. I would suggest one pre-cut right into the stones before the medium rods and try the flats as the corners are highly prone to overstressing the edges. The performance between a knife which is optimally sharpened and one with a significant burr is much more than even 420J2 and ZDP-189 so it really pays to focus on optimal sharpness.

-Cliff

[Lostification]

I needa get myself some diamond stones... :o

[Bolster]

A Sharpmaker Breakthrough. What he described did not sound that different from the the norm. That does not mean that it is exactly the same, or is not a breakthrough. Very small changes can have a big effect.

Sorry, Grey, I shoud have said, "Personal Breakthrough." Until just recently I've been getting better edges with other systems, but now I can make the Sharpmaker work equivalently well and it's much faster. The YouTube idea is a good one but I do not have the equipment nor knowhow to do it.

I should have also added, that my not using the grey stones is merely a time saving step, since the back bevel is already "out of the way." Sure, you can get shaving sharp with the grey stones, not a problem, but no need for it IMO...UNLESS you think your edge is too fragile, and then you may want to get that final 30 inclusive edge "wider" in which case the greys would make that process speedier. However I'm finding the least amount of time I can spend on the Sharpmaker is best, since that means less chance for me to wobble the blade and queer the edge.

[Cliff Stamp]

The problem with just using the fine stones is that you will end up basically steeling the edge more than anything. It will produce a very sharp edge very fast but it will be mostly weakened metal and thus the edge retention will be very low. All sharpening should begin with a removal of at least the most extreme previous micro-bevel.

-Cliff