Spyderco Sharpmaker

[EJRothman]

Since I have heard good things about the Spyderco Sharpmaker sharpening system from fellow e-gulleters, I am looking into buying one. A past thread mentioned that the system has fixed sharpening angles of 15 and 20 degrees - the later of which would be good for kitchen knives. All of the websites that sell the system, however, list the fixed angles at 12.5 (for scissors), 30, and 40 degrees - none of which would be good for kitchen knives.

The only conclusion that I can draw is that the listed angles are actually twice the "actual" angles used by the system. Does anyone have any information about this? I'd like to make sure I'm getting a usable product before I drop $50 on it.

Thanks,

Eric

[memesuze]

I succumbed to the Spyderco last year and have been relatively pleased with it - I don't sharpen up my knives every week, as recommended by those on rec.food.equipment [they subscribe to the steel every time you use a knife, and get the edge back every week with a few strokes on the Spyderco], but my cooking partner has had a few grumbles about the fact that the knives are sharper than in past years!

And you're correct that the angle is doubled - generally, I think that one uses a 20/40 degree angle for most kitchen knives on their system.

memesuze

[Richard Kilgore]

The Spyderco Works fine for kitchen knives. I have posted about them here before. And you're correct the larger numbers are a matter of doubling. The 20 (or 40 depending on how you want to describe the same thing) are for routine sharpening. The 15/30 angle is usually only used for re-profiling an edge that is very, very worn; following the re-profiling at 15/30, you then also finish it with the 20/40 angle. How often you do a routine 20/40 angle sharpening depends on how much your knives get used and how fast they become dull (once a week to once every month or two perhaps). On the other hand, a steel is not for sharpening; it only realigns the edge and running a knife blade across your steel twice on each side every time you use it is no big effort.

The Spyderco is easy to use accurately. It's built into the design. The manual and video that come with it reveal all. I don't think you will regret getting one.

Edited March 23, 2003 by Richard Kilgore (log)

[Fat Guy]

"Each stone has a groove running its length for sharpening pointed objects like darts, awls and fishhooks."

[Richard Kilgore]

Steve --- Was your quote about other uses for the sharpmaker rods in response to Eric's question or just to point out an additional feature?

[Fat Guy]

I simply thought the language, from one of the catalog sites, would be fun to quote.