I suggest watching the demonstration video that comes with it, you will learn why the 30 and 40 degrees also how to use the safety rods and the handle to hold the sharpener so you can use a steady pressure. I also saw another video where a guy made the same knife you were using ,Hair Splitting Sharp. With a little practice I have had close to the same results making the extra fine stones obsolete. Make sure you clean the stones properly also helps after some usage. All of this is explained in the DVD that comes with it. Everyone,,Please take the time to watch it, it is worth it.

Holy crap!! (Duh moment?) I just realized that you can freehand on the Sharpmaker! If you turn it upside-down, the two grooves that are on the bottom-side of the Sharpmaker fit the two rods perfectly - with the flats facing upwards when they're in place. It makes out to be a pretty nice 1" x 7" stone. Rock on!!!

I've had a sharpmaker for 5+ yrs and its worked 99% of the time for my EDC folders. I struggled with certain knives and your demonstration illustrates clearly why that 1% didn't work well with the sharpmaker. Nicely done, this was extremely useful (wish I saw this years ago!).

Quick tip: the 30° bevel side is so you can remove the shoulder from the edge of your blade allowing you to once again profile it at 40°. Did you watch the DVD that came with your Sharpmaker? It outlines all this in great detail. So stop ignoring the 30° grind. You should use the 30° angle to make sure your bevels meet, then use the 40° angle to put a micro bevel on top of your already super fine edge. This way you get the utility of the 40° bevel, on top of the razor edge of the 30° bevel.

Just got a Sharpmaker today in the mail, and after watching this and your other video about using it, I want to thank you! I actually think seeing your videos was as helpful, if not more helpful than the book/DVD that came with the actual system. Thanks J! Great content as always.

Great video! I have the very same knife too...along with several other Spyderco blades. I have the same Sharpmaker setup as well...it's an amazing system to keep knives razor sharp...fun to use, very intuitive and less harsh on the blades as well. The Ultra Fine stones are well worth the cost!!! CHEERS!!!

@SwitchbackOutdoors The 30 setting is for your back bevel. once you get your main bevel completely thinned out to 30 degree's you switch over to the 40 settings and put your micro on. At least that's the way Spyderco tells you to do it. But do whatever works for you.

The 15-degree holes are for JP blades. If you're sharpening folders...which are all 20-degrees (per bevel) then you'd use the holes to the left. :P This device allows you to sharpen kitchen knives as well. The fine stones is for sharpening...there should be coarse grit stones (haven't looked into this kit) to re-profile the edge (if you have nicks.

I have the sharp maker and it works for me. I had a chipped knife and a really dull knife I have used the Norton hand carbide sharpener to remove the chips then use the sharp maker to bring it to shave sharp. The knife was a mora clipper. I m sure this was not the best but as I watch more of you videos and practice i think I will get better. Great job on the videos by the way.

If you want more precision when trying to sharpen a knife with an edge that's more then 40°, you can put a pencil or one of the brass rods under the middle of the base. Then tilt it left or right depending on the side. Degrees increase with the diameter of what you use under the base. It still allows you to keep that natural straight up and down motion.

Just got one. After watching all the videos (including yours) I also did a knife from "can't cut BUTTER", to hair shaving sharp! Pretty good for a novice!!! Great system! Great video, subscribed too btw...

I got my Sharpmaker about 3 days ago, and got my Resilience crazy sharp, but also dulled my Endura to snot. It wasn't until I watched this that I realized I had no idea that the two sides were different ( 30. deg and 40 deg) So thanks man haha

I bought the sharpmaker a month back and I think it's excellent, gives me a good edge. I've been waiting for you to make this video for a while now ;)

Thank you for sharing I recently bought a zt450cf and i was not able to get it sharp thanks to video I'm getting better at it !

Thanks for this review. I was going to buy the wicked edge but this review convinced me to try the sharpmaker first and it saved me $300. First knife I tried was Kershaw skyline that I beat on (respectfully) at work. After 10min of piss-poor work I took all the hair off my wrist in one pass. Awesome value!

This video helped so much for matching the bevel of different knives, thank you so much!

the marker along the edge should've been part of the original tutorial with Sal. I was having so much trouble with getting a great edge. The pressure and angle were fine but without the marker, there's no way to see if your hitting the apex. After watching this I realized my paramilitary2 needed to be cocked in just a little to hit the apex. Thanks for the video man.

I got mine last week...LOVE IT. I just bought the ultra fine stones as well.

@slowfox19 There are no factory edges at 21 degrees inclusive. Most are 21 or more per side, making the edge 42 degrees +. Very few knives are less than 30 degrees inclusive without a reprofile.

This sharpener is not limited to just the pre-set 30/40 degree angle. You can use the hole on the side of the sharpener to insert the rod laterally, which allows you to sharpen a blade to any degree angle you desire.

The first thing SpyderCo started making was a helping hands tool. It's the design on the opposite side of all their knife blades.

If you turn it around and use the slots on the back you can get a makeshift ceramic stone for freehand. Not the best setup for that, but it works

Instead of leaning the blade, I think I'd just make a base from a 2x4 drilled to the desired angle. Those digital level/angle cube apps work pretty good and should get you pretty close to the desired angle.

Doesn't spyderco now sell real coarse diamond rods for the sharpmaker? Would those make this system be able to reprofile easier?

This sharpener was kind of a bust for me. It seemed like a lot of my knives just wouldn't sharpen unless they were already somewhat sharp. When you said that it won't bring an edge back from the dead, that made sense to me, I guess I need to add something else to my arsenal.

04:03 yes there is a reason, kitchen knives used for fine cuts like for sushi, Carpaccio and decorative food.

@V6outdoors Yes that is a good way to do it if you want to use the sharpmaker alone. I prefer reprofiling with DMT stones or other coarse free hand stones. Or the egde pro. I have never used the diamond sharpmaker stones, but I may get them just to give them a shot. :)

The Sharpmaker really is a very good design IMO. Might have to get the extra fine stones to complete the system. Thanks for the vid.

Great knife sharpening video! Thanks for sharing!

Mark the blade* really helped my Delica! I now no longer believe I need to buy an apex edge pro before another knife. Thank you!

Or you can just put one of the sharpmaker stones under exact middle of the base and change your angles that way by titling the base. That way you can always keep the knife vertical.

Great idea with the sharpie. I'm trying that tonight!

Very very informative video! The Sharpmaker looks fool proof!

great video! i really wanted to get a sharpmaker, but never got to it. but after seeing this im defenitly going to get one.

Thank you for this video! The, now obvious, step of using a sharpie to make the blade

All of the spydercos I have tried on the sharpmaker do not seem to like the 40 degree very much. they get kind of sharp but not like my other knives do with the Sharpmaker. the stones (files) are just so damn useful for many things, so even if you quickly learn you do not like the system, I guarantee you will find work for the stones!

@ultragooey Your best bet to use the 40 degree side would be like this: Get the diamond stones, thin the edge using the 30 degree setting (just enough to knock the shoulders off), then you should be good to go with the 40 degree setting. :)

@gilliesniper99 Yes you can. But you can also wrap your stones with sand paper and reprofile that way too.

I like the sharpie idea. Thanks.

@ultragooey Reprofiling with sharpmaker stones is pretty much impossible. The diamond stones still take forever. I will reprofile it to close to 30 degrees using the DMT stone, and then I can use the 40 degree setting to sharpen it for years to come. But no, that is not a bad way to do it. You would want to go less than 40 though, and not right at 40. The lower the better, as that will allow you to use the sharpmaker for longer. I may do a video on this idea alone. :)

You can use it to sharpen any knife

I just ran through some cheap kitchen knives I bought at the grocery store. I didn't even bother with the ultra-fine stones because my wife puts these knives through the dishwasher. Anyway, I could cut my arm hair after I was done. I have never been able to get a knife hair-cutting sharp freehand.

Please do for spyderco serrated blade with the sharpmaker

hey man great review, you explained the edge angle concept really clearly!

Cool video

@TaonariX I appreciate the kind words, and I hope this video helps you out! Thanks for the support. :)

@troy5690 Thank you man. I appreciate the kind words. :)

I recomment to buy the diamond stones. With them it is easy to get the knife on the 40 deg. level. Once done, resharping is quite easy and effective.

@zujostix Yeah that doesn't work as well as you'd think. The stones are too far in, and it's nearly impossible to sharpen the whole length of the blade. Using the stones free hand is great, though. :)

Well you just sold another one I appreciate the review. If you don't mind me asking tho. What type of steel do you get your sharpest edges with just curious?

it IS the best sharpener on the market..period!

Thanks i was having that problem trying to sharpen my voyager vaquero blade which is already a pain to sharpen bc of the recurve.

Never Ever use the Sharp maker without using the Metal safety posts that should always be deployed before a Blade is picked up . with so many razor sharp Blades been made it is easy for Accidents to happen while distracted by something . When Your Buddies want to have a go be sure to make the same safety with the posts every time and Good Luck with some Great Jobs on the Sharpmaker !

@jdavis882 well never tried using them as a benchstone so I really wouldn't know. But thinking about it, you are right, they are far too in

what about reprofiling the edge of that knife to 40 degrees by using the coarse stones? would that be a bad idea, as far as having a better way to do it?

A few questions, if i get the ultra fine stones how do i go about sharpening a knife? Do i start with the gray stones and go to the fine then ultra fines stones and do 20 strokes on both stones of each set? How do i know if i need to use the gray stones, do i only use them if the knife I'm trying to sharpen can't cut paper? And lets say i use a knife thats already quite sharp a lot through out a whole day and i want to sharpen it to keep it sharp. which set of stones would i use and how many strokes would i do on each stone. I would really appreciate it if you responded. Thanks

How about a BK-2? Will the spyderco sharpening system get a good edge on the BK-2? Thanks

Just so everyone knows by 40°, he means 40° combined so the 40° is actually 20° and the 30° is actually 15°

So it sounds like this kit would not be recommended if you are wanting to put a new bevel on your knife and reprofile it, right? What would you recommend for that? Have you used kits like the Lansky?

@oromoto Awesome you will love it man. It is one hell of a sharpener.

I've seen a few sharpmaker vid and they are always sharpening a spyderco stright blade. Obvious you can use any knife, but what about knives with a belly or hawk bills?

Just used sharp maker for the first time, put my ZT0770 through it, I didn’t think it would work with just using the white stones because my knife was fairly dull but I figured I’d try and get lucky, just 20 passes with the white stones and I was shaving arm hair no problem.

What do you think about using a Lansky eraser to clean out your stones, instead of washing them out if I may ask?

Great review. Can you tell me what are the coarse stones are used for? I mean if the fine stones are enough for the job so why having the coarse ones? Thanks!

@jdavis882 ok, that's kinda what I figured. I was just wanting to know if the coarse stones were enough to do some kind of reprofiling since the setup acts as some type of jig to somehow keep my strokes consistent. Not too comfortable with reprofiling freehand yet.

I thought the vid flowed well man, I understood what you were saying. I might try and get those uf stones

I have the sharpmaker and always used the mid-stones to start and then the (regular) fine stones. Now seeing you only using the UF stones makes me wonder: How often should I use the mid-stones? Or how dull does it have to be before I should use the mid-stones again? For example: I already have trouble to oben letters with my spyderco now.

@zujostix If they weren't so set in to the middle it would be an awesome little free hand kit. :)

Yeah they work great

Pretty fancy sharpie...

great system, great reviewer...

Thanks. You made your point.

great video, i ordered a lansky, thinking i should have ordered this instead. what knife is that your using?

Does it sharpen serrations?

How would you compare it to the works harp guided system?

I don't have the money to spend on an apex system, but i'm getting nowhere with the lansky/gatco kits. I'm thinking of trying this one out, but I need something that I can use to reprofile and edge.

Didn’t see a link for the sharpener or the fine stones?

How long will these rods last and is there a way to clean them once they get imbedded with metal over time?

@jdavis882 Why don't you submit that suggestion to Spyderco and Sal? They tend to listen and if a newer model comes out it could have something like that on it

So what's wrong with re-profiling your knife to conform to the sharpmaker?

can please you tell me if the sharpmaker creates a better edge than the lansky sharpening system

I just bought a sage1. Are you saying the edge angle on a sage is different from other spyderco knives?

@AussieMark909 Definitely get the UF stones, they really do make that much of a difference. :)

I bought this system + the uf stones and a Sage 1( the knife in the video ), which is why I was glad to see this video...but the info on spyderco's website says that the Sage series knives are all ground to 30 degree edges, so why not just use the 30 degree side for that specific knife instead of tilting it? Read the paperwork man!

Will this make your knife hair popping sharp?

its greater than 40? i thought spyderco sharpens to around 30? and wouldnt you like to keep the original 30 degree angle? just wondering because i just got a sharpmaker for christmas :) Thanks in advance

you actully mark with the sharpie the blade and you wait untill its come off with the sharpmaker ?

have you used the ultra fine Spyderco stones? how well do those work with the sharp maker? i heard u can get that hair popping edge pretty easy with those

Further, what do you think about zknives' knifesteelfaq stating that it's almost useless to upgrade to S30V and sharpen the edge at 40°? 'If that same user would take advantage of S30V's superior toughness and drop the edge angle to 15° per-side, they would see a large leap in cutting performance, along with the extra wear resistance. (...) *Now* you can see what all the fuss is about!' Google: quote above or 'zknives knifesteelfaq' and cmd/ctrl F: 's30v' I'm curious, thanks. Sorry to bother you

if I only got one of the UF stones could I use just one and alternate what side its on?

Is it bad if i have been using the 30 degree side without knowing?

Lansky is also very cheap and works really nice and is fail proof

You demonstrated using the 30 degree not the 40 degree

@zujostix Haha I actually did mention it to him at BLADE this year, but he politely shrugged the idea off I think. I doubt the sharpmaker will change much in the future, if ever. It's so iconic. :)

Great video! Anyone know which Spyderco knife he is using in this video exactly? Thanks so much

Jdavis882, I'm dying over here. The only knife that's giving me trouble is the Sage 1. I'm just not getting it. My paramilitary 2 is crazy sharp. I tried the sharpie and I'm killing the edge

do you really need the ultra fine stones if you finish the edge with a strop?

With the Spyderco Stretch ZDP-189 do you still use the 40 degree or the 30 degree setting?

Cheers Mate!

could you reprofile the edge using the sharpmaker diamond stones?