I just got done sharpening several of my - and my son's - knives with my Spyderco Sharpmaker, and everytime I use it I'm amazed at how nice an edge it leaves and how really easy it is to use.

If you don't have one yet, consider treating yourself to one. You won't regret it.

Ken K.

How does it work on serrated blades? I have needed a good easy way to sharpen those for a long time...

It's great on serrated edges. You just use the angle side (edge) of the stones - it couldn't be easier and brings them to very fine edge. You can't re-bevel an edge with the Sharpmaker, though, at least not without using wet/dry paper against the rods.

I've had mine for about a year now and I've broken one of my medium rods. It fell from a desktop and broke into 3 pieces. I epoxied it back together, but I still can't use it as a normal rod because of the tiny cracks where I glued it together.

One thing I haven't tried are the ultra-fine diamond rods. I'd like to hear how those work out.

The diamond rods aren't ultra-fine, they're ultra-coarse...for edge shaping.

My sharpmaker is ineffective against S30V. Hundreds of strokes did nothing to my Freeman Hunter. Felt like I was rubbing a glass knife against glass rods.

Since the issues I had with mine, I've learned to sharpen my blades the old fashioned way.

Huh, one of the knives I was sharpening was my Rittergrip mini, which is of course S30V. It gives it a GREAT edge fast. It only really needed the sharpening on the tip & curve, which get the most use from me. Btw, I use the 30 degree holes for the Rittergrips to match their original edge angle.

The other knives were my son's Leatherman Wave and Kabar Dozier Spearpoint. By the way, I did use the narrow edges to sharpen the Wave's serated blade - though the grind is only on one side. It worked well.

I wonder if it is a steel issue or possibly an edge geometry issue? I have some cheap stainless kitchen knives that I've simply never been able to get a decent edge on - don't know why. I even tryed using the coarse diamond blades to give some back angle, but still not a decent edge.

Ken

Could you link to the sharpener?

Ahhh never mind, I found it. Thanks for the reccomendation.

2 different manufacturers...2 different heat treatments. My Gerber is super hard. Plus in my case I was trying to reprofile the edge because the factory angle was neither the Spyderco 20 degree or 30 degree but somewhere in between.

I'm able to get a fine edge on four different S30V blades, using nothing more than the original stones. It takes a tad longer than 1095 or 154CM, et al, but they're fine. The steel I have problems with on the Sharpmaker is D2.

That Gerber wouldn;t, by any chance, be the Freeman Caper would it?(Never mind. I scrolled up and see it's the Hunter) I sharpened one for a friend and didn;t notice a difference in hardness or difficulty in sharpening. Of course, re-beveling is another story.