Sharper knives.

[FrankZ]

I bought the Spyderco Sharpmaker a couple weeks ago and once I got it I realized two things:

1) I needed to order the diamond rods as well.
2) My knives were really really dull.

So I started working with what I had (on the cheaper knives) until the diamonds came in trying to at least get the motion worked out. I got some decent sharpening but my goodness it took forever to get the initial nice edge on it. I worked on my long slicer last night and while some people wouldn't find it sharp (the likes of Rob Babcock) I was able to shave some hair and slice a sheet of paper easily.

I don't think I have ever worked with a proper sharp knife before, they have all been "sharp enough" but the difference was really amazing. I cut up a pork butt to make carnitas and being able to slice (almost shave) away the piece of fat that would have been about impossible before was really nice.

Now I get to just keep working on trying to get things better.

 

[Andy M.]

Careful, Frank. Sharp knives become addictive. Once you experience it, you want more, more, more. All that said, it's a great feeling when you have sharpened your knives to the sharpest you've ever experienced.

I moved up to this system when what I had wasn't enough anymore. Lansky Professional Knife Sharpening System

 

[4meandthem]

Andy,
I copied the link to your knife sharpening system.
It looks pretty easy and foolproff.How long have you been using it? Any complaints? Did you get any diamond stones?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Andy M.]

I've been using it for several years. I get my knives very sharp using this system.

This system works by your clamping a bracket onto the knife blade then using that to hold the stone at a precise angle to the blade. The problem is it's tedious at times because if you're sharpening a longer knife, you have to keep moving the clamp up the blade so you can sharpen the entire length. In other words, start with the coarse stone and sharpen a 3"-4" length of blade on both sides, move the clamp and repeat with the coarse stone. Then switch to the medium stone and repeat the entire process. The the fine and extra fine stones...

If I could justify the expense of the Apex system, I'd go for that, but this works for me and I have lots of time to do the work.

I have not tried the diamond stones.

 

[Rob Babcock]

So I started working with what I had (on the cheaper knives) until the diamonds came in trying to at least get the motion worked out. I got some decent sharpening but my goodness it took forever to get the initial nice edge on it. I worked on my long slicer last night and while some people wouldn't find it sharp (the likes of Rob Babcock) I was able to shave some hair and slice a sheet of paper easily.

Haha- am I that bad? Nothing wrong with the Sharpmaker, it's a pretty good system. It's better for maintaining an edge than creating one, if that makes sense. You've probably noticed that if a knife is really, really dull it's a lot of work to get it sharp on the Spyderco. No biggie though, just touch them up before they get too bad.

 

[FrankZ]

Naw.. not that bad.. worse.

Yeah, it takes a while. There is something quite soothing about the sound though.

 

[FrankZ]

Ok..

When back beveling how does one tell you have gotten this done and are ready to move on in the process?