I just found out that Spyderco sells diamond stones for use with its Sharpmaker. I'm about to buy a Sharpmaker. Are these stones worth getting? Will they sharpen my mini-RSK, Spyderco Navigator II, Leatherman Charge, Leatherman Juice, as well as misc. scissors and other knives significantly better than the included ceramic stones? The diamond stones are expensive; more than the entire Sharpmaker system, in fact. I'm not one to cheap out, but still, if I'm going to pay for these stones, I'd like to have a significant reason to. I know Doug recommends the Sharpmaker, but I haven't seen him mention the diamond stones.

Thoughts?

The diamond rods are very, very coarse rods that are meant to help you reprofile your blade. They are not meant to get a blade sharp - that is what the medium and fine stones are for. All they will help you do is change the angle of your edge much faster than if you use just the medium stones. They are worth it if you have some very, very dull knives you want to resharpen, but otherwise, I have found the medium and fine stones to be plenty for sharpening and maintaining an edge on all of my knives.

One thing you may want to consider is the very fine rods instead of the diamond rods. I have not used them yet, but I hear they somehow manage to make your already razor-sharp edge EVEN SHARPER <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

How much are the diamond stones?

I really like my Sharpmaker. But re-profiling can take some time.

MSRP is $99.95, but I found some on eBay for $63.70.

Dave, thanks for the reply. I think I will pass... I'll reprofile rarely, if ever. But where did you see the very fine Sharpmaker stone? I don't see on on their site (they do have an ultra fine bench stone, though).

I also found them for $60, $8.95 shipping in the US @ www.cutleryshoppe.com
Good discription for use on the page.
The Ultra Fine stone is also available from the same site Ultra fine @ $12.55

Jimmy

Something to think about when using the Sharpmaker on a Rittergrip ...

The instructions for the Sharpmaker tell you to use the 40 degree inclusive angle for typical sharpening, BUT the Rittergrips are all produced with 30 degree inclusive grind angles. I asked Doug for his recommendation via this forum and he suggested sharpening the Rittergrips with the Sharpmaker's 30 degree holes.

I might also mention that on this Steel FAQ by Joe Talmadge: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368828

There is this statement:

"On the internet, I'll often see someone posting about wanting to upgrade from their ATS-34 folder to one that has S30V, and then in a different post, declare that they sharpen all their knives at 20-degrees-per-side. Why spend all that extra money for S30V, just to get some marginal wear resistance advantages but no other performance advantages? If that same user would take advantage of S30V's superior toughness and drop the edge angle to 15-degrees-per-side, they would see a large leap in cutting performance, along with the extra wear resistance. Because of choosing the right sharpening angle, the more expensive S30V knife now gives an impressive return on investment. Now you can see what all the fuss is about!"

The idea here is that blades that dull easily use a wider grind (40 degrees inclusive) to strike a compromize between wear and sharpness (wide grinds wear slower than narrow grinds, but narrow grinds provide better cutting performance), but an S20V blade that is much slower to dull can get by with a narrower grind (30 degrees inclusive) that provides much better cutting performance and still not dull quickly.

The diamond stones are nice, but if you need to re-profile, and do not want to spend a fortune, get some coarse wet/dry sandpaper and wrap it around the ceramic sticks that come with the Sharpmaker... Use those big spring clips that you get at the office supply store to clamp them on the 'edge' parts of the rods... Do not use the edges to sharpen with the sandpaper...I wish someone would sell replacement rods with clamps already built in for use with the Sharpmaker... Sandpaper works MUCH better for the initial sharpening!!!

Ken K is on the money. I've got three knives in S30V (large & small Ritter Grip models and a Bradley A2) and sharpen them at 30 degrees on the Sharpmaker. Very nice edge and no edge-holding problems.

I have the diamond stones and the extra fine stones for my Sharpmaker. The postings here are right on ... unless you have some very dull knives you want to work on, you can get by w/o the diamond stones.

The extra fines, which aren't very expensive, are very nice if you want go to go for a "bragging" edge.

I got my Sharpmaker stuff at New Graham Knives. Good prices and good folks. Here's a link:

http://www.newgraham.com/

Thanks to everyone for taking time to reply. I think I will skip the diamond stones and pick up the extra fine ones.

I have the diamond sticks, and they are really more reminiscent of a file than a sharpening stone. Rough work only. The only time I've used it was to try to sharpen a cheap crudy super-dull kitchen knife my wife had. It never really sharpened well.