2 Sharpmaker questions and 3 comments from a devotee

[Geoff in Philly]

questions:
1) My medium and fine sticks have developed ?microchips? that create a chatter when the edge slides down them. Is there a fix for that? Should I rub the corners on a flat?

2) do the new cubic boron sticks work on the corners or flats only?

Comments:
1) the 204 is an astonishingly brilliant and adept tool.

2) the flats and corners are **** close to true flat. I have put them on a surface plate with ultra bright light, and very little light shines through.

3) the angles of 15* and 20* are within .1* according to my angle cube.

wow, look at my join date!

[Cliff Stamp]

1) My medium and fine sticks have developed ?microchips? that create a chatter when the edge slides down them. Is there a fix for that? Should I rub the corners on a flat?

If there are chips you can feel then it will be very slow to grind them out against each other. It is more likely you would need to flatten them on a diamond plate, however even that is going to take some time.

2) do the new cubic boron sticks work on the corners or flats only?

They work on both.

[Trout Hound]

I have not worked with the sharpmaker sticks specifically, but a piece of 1/4" plate glass with some diamond paste can be used to lap most sharpening stones, and is a lot cheaper than a quality diamond bench stone. I got a piece of 12x16" glass from a local shop, with polished edges, for $11.00.

[JD Spydo]

You got to be really careful cleaning your 204 Sharpmaker stones. Because that type of ceramic can chip easily under the right conditions. When I clean mine I'm extremely careful and I usually clean them one at a time and keep them separated.

When I got my very first 204 Sharpmaker back in the late 90s/early 2000s I had to replace a couple of the medium stones due to my own negligence but I learned fast to be careful.

Also be careful storing all of your Spyderco ceramic sharpening stones. Store them in the proper containers that they came in from the factory and you'll do well by doing that.

All of the Spyderco ceramic stones that I got used that didn't have containers I made containers with soft pading for them to prevent any chipping.

Most of the chipping I've seen occur to Spyderco stones has been due to banging them against each other. So be careful to avoid accidents with them.