Newbie question. I have a new AUS 8 Esee Zancudo and a few Victorinox SAK's. Also a Leatherman Micra and pst with 420HC blades if I recall correctly. None have ever been sharpened, but I have sharpened kitchen knives with the following: 1. accusharp manual sharpener which was recommended by Cook's illustrated 2. Smith's yellow knife sharpener with coarse carbonide and fine ceramic. 3. I've seen some you- tube videos about sharpening with the bottom of a coffee mug. So the question is what would be the best way to sharpen my EDC knives when they eventually need to be sharpened? Would any of my kitchen knife options be OK or do I need to purchase something else? Thanks
What I tell people who ask me how to sharpen knives, is chose a method or sharpener you like, then take all your kitchen knives and sharpen them (unless they are high end expensive knives). Doing this does two things, allows you to test and practice with what sharpener you have and will either give you sharp kitchen knives or some really nice butter knives.
My recommendation is toss the Accusharp, the carbide sharpeners peel steel from the blade, stick with hand sharpening methods, preferable whet stones (wet or dry or oil type) Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
2 questions please... Q 1. Which whetstone should I buy? 2. My Smith's 2 in 1 sharpener has a coarse carbide side which I will not use, and it also has a fine ceramic side. Is this side safe or helpful to use?
There is a reason that the Spyderco Sharpmaker is one of the most recommended sharpening systems available, it is easy to use and gets good results. If the Sharpmaker is out of your budget range, Lansky makes a similar type product called 4 rod Turnbox it is much less expensive and in my opinion equally good.
The spyderco sharpmaker is indeed a great system. It's the first proper system i ever bought and now many years and all kind of other systems later i still have and use it on a regular basis. It's not the cheapest option but it gets recommended so much for a good reason.
You guys haven't steered me wrong yet so I'm getting the Sharpmaker. It should work well on my AUS 8 Zancudo and my SAK's. Which angle should I use, the 30 or 40 degree? Also will it work on the new Zancudo with D2 steel I have on order? Thanks
I personally use the 40 on most and then soften the shoulder of the edge with the 30 setting. Plenty sharp while still giving you enough 'meat' on your edge to keep it strong for some heavy duty things. Some kitchen knives i have at 30 but those are only for slicing soft things really.
The idea behind the sharpmaker is to use the 40 degree for everything and only use the 30 for back beveling. Back beveling is something you do when the blade's been sharpened so much it's starting to affect the overall angle of the blade. Some guys like the 30 degree angle, but as a relative newbie to sharpening, I just like to follow the directions that came with the tool. The Sharpmaker will work with D2 steel, but D2 is a harder steel and may take more time to become sharp. I have a queen stockman in D2 and it's a lot harder to sharpen than my Case Sodbuster. There are extra stones you can buy for the Sharpmaker that are more coarse and make working with tougher steels quicker. In general D2 is harder to sharpen than AUS 8, but it has better edge retention, so unless you're doing some crazy stuff with your knife you should have to sharpen the D2 less.
Oh lol i had my numbers backwards, fixed my post but Water-Rat is right.. thats how you should use the sharpmaker, just as per the instrucitons!
Update: I was in Walmart today and decided to see what was in the sporting department, and there it was right in front of me, one Spyderco sharpmaker! I grabbed it. I sharpened my Victorinox kitchen knives, an 8 inch chef's knife and a paring knife. Sharper now than when I bought them. Confident that I was doing it right, I touched up the blade on my beloved SAK Cadet with just 5 passes on each side with step 4 only. Success!! It's now hair popping sharp. Thanks for the advice everyone!!
Additional update: I went on to touch up both blades on my Tinker and both blades and the scissors on my super tinker. Also touched up my two Classic SD's and my Rover. I was successful in each case. I think the Sharpmaker has already paid for itself. I have a D2 Zancudo and a VG-10 Dragonfly on the way. These are much harder steels than my SAK's and my AUS-8 Zancudo. Any advice on these when in the distant future they may need sharpening? Thanks
The Sharpmaker can sharpen the Dragonfly fairly easy no matter how dull it gets, the key to the D2 Zancudo (really any knife) is not to wait until it is really dull. D2 will hold an edge for a long time, and if you use the SM to keep it touched up you will be fine. If the D2 gets really dull, you might want to invest in a set of the diamond rods for the SM.
I agree with Hangman that the Sharpmaker can keep D2 sharp if you don't let it get too dull, and if the edge bevel angle already matches up with one of the Sharpmaker pre-sets. When I have any serious work to do on D2, I use a silicon carbide bench stone (Norton Crystolon or similar). That makes D2 behave like any other steel. And once the bevel is set, the Sharpmaker does a fine job of refinining and maintaining it.
Thanks... When you say to keep it touched up, should I do this when it fails to cut arm hair or when it has difficulty cutting paper?
Think of it as simply maintaining the edge that you want. D2 will hold a working edge for a relatively long time but if you let it go beyond the working edge it takes longer to get it back. Another way to look at it is simple steel removal. If you let the knife get too dull you have to remove more steel to get the edge back, if you keep it sharp you only need to remove a little. Personally, I keep all my edges hair popping sharp, sometimes all that is required is a little stropping on an old leather belt.
