How to get a Spyderco factory edge back on the sharpmaker.

[Knivesinedc]

Hey guys. I once read (I think it was a description from Spyderco) that you can get a edge as sharp or sharper than a factory edge with the sharpmaker. I can get a blade real sharp, but never factory edge sharp. Any suggestions on how to do it, or is it possible? I feel like my edge is usually uneven or lopsided more so. Like there is a tiny burr or I'm not hitting the full edge surface on the right side of the blade. Again, any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated.

[Surfingringo]

You can easily get your knives sharper than "factory" with the sharpmaker. The Key is getting a good clean apex, and this is accomplished with rougher stones. There are a hundred ways to go about this but I will offer my suggestion. First of all, if you are going to be using the Sharpmaker, then you need to purchase the diamond or cbn rods. If you don't have those then you can stop reading here, go order them and don't bother reading more until they arrive. ;-)

so...
1. With the diamond rods in the 30 degree slots make alternating passes until you have a nice clean apex along your entire edge. There are many ways to determine if you have an apex...use your thumb, magic marker the edge bevel, feel or look for a burr (though its better not to create a big burr). Depending on where your edge bevel was when you started, this step can take a few minutes or an hour. Do not move on from this step until you have a clean apex along the entire edge.
2. From there, if you want, you can choose to work through the stones on the 30 degree setting. This is not necessary but will polish up the bevel a bit and can help to remove any burr if you didn't get a clean apex.
3. Next insert the brown rods (flats) into the 40 degree setting. Now you are putting on a microlevel. This will quickly clean up the apex and give you a very high level of sharpness. It only takes a few light passes. Start with a half dozen light passes on the flats of the browns and check your edge. That might be all it takes.
4. From there you can refine your edge by working through the fine/uf rods at the 40 degree setting. Remember, at this point you are working on a tiny microbevel so it takes very little pressure and very few passes to have and effect.
5. Ta-dah....now your pocket knife is whittling hairs.

Hope this helps some. As I said, others will come along with other ideas and techniques...all of which will be valid. I just wanted to lay out a simple formula. If you correctly do what I lined out above you will be able to get all your knives sharper than "factory". Remember...Do not skimp on step 1. Thats really the entire sharpening process. The rest is just cleaning up and refining the edge you created. Unless you get the first step right, none of the other steps will have any effect.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Excellent response as usual SG.

I am still using your method and my Para 2 is by far the sharpest knife I have ever had in my hands.

[HarleyXJGuy]

A picture because they make me happy.

[RunnersLunge]

Hi there,

@Surfingringo I appreciate your concise information you have shared in this thread and others. Pardon my ignorance on this, but is "formula" also applicable to the serrated edge knife? Can an additional 40* microlevel be applied as one side is ground flat and one is serrated? Finally, any additional considerations with the serrated knives?

Cheers

[Donut]

I hold the knife at two angles when I sharpen a serrated edge. I use the 40 degree slots. On the side with the bevel I hold it vertical, on the side with the flat grind, I tilt the knife so that it is almost flat on the stone. I probably hold it 5 degrees off the stone.

I do most of my grinding on the bevel side and do a minimal amount of passes on the flat side just to knock off a burr.


When my Microbevel gets too big, I'm going to have problems. I will probably try to use the corner of the diamond stones to reset things.