Hey, everyone.
David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter.
Today we’re comparing the classic Spyderco Sharpmaker to the brand new Spyderco Gauntlet
to see which one is best for you.
Let’s check em out.
Spyderco’s one of the most prolific knife companies out there today, but they actually
got their start with sharpeners, and they still make some of the easiest to use and
effective home sharpeners on the market.
The Sharpmaker was actually their very first product, and although they’ve updated it
over the years, it’s still their flagship sharpener today.
We’ve got our trusty office unit here as an example.
Their newest device is called the Gauntlet, and it’s a simpler and slightly cheaper
alternative.
Now we’re gonna compare these two against each other feature by feature so you can make
the right choice with your money.
Both sharpeners consist of a base that holds the sharpening rods in a V-shaped orientation
at pre-set angles.
Each one of them also has a guard element for your hands in case of any slippage.
We’ve got brass rods on the sharpmaker, and a full hand guard that looks kind of like
a gauntlet that gives that sharpener its name.
The Gauntlet holds its stones at a twenty degree angle, creating a forty degree inclusive
edge angle.
For the end user, this ought to sharpen pretty much any standard knife out there.
The Sharpmaker also has a forty degree side, as well as a second set of mounting holes
on the other side of the base, and those are set up for a thirty degree inclusive ede,
fifteen degrees per side.
This thirty degree side would be good for thinner high performance edges or for smoothing
out the shoulder behind the edge itself; great for the tinkerers out there.
The base of the Sharpmaker also includes a hole at the end, and this holds the stone
at just the right angle to sharpen scissors.
It also has a pair of slots on the bottom that can be used to hold a pair of stones
together.
This gives you more versatility than the Gauntlet, but more complexity and it costs a little
bit more money too.
Now, both units come with a set of white fine ceramic alumina stones.
They don’t need any oil or water to work, and they create a very fine edge on your blade.
Even novice users typically have no problem achieving hair-shaving results with these
stones.
They’re great for general maintenance and keeping your cutting edge as sharp as it can
be.
The Sharpmaker also comes with a set of brown medium rods, and these are great for general
edge repair if you need something more aggressive.
Typically employed if your knife is especially dull to start with, or has any small chips
that you need to get out.
Now, the Gauntlet is actually available in two different configurations.
The base model, Gauntlet Select, comes with just the white stones, while the Gauntlet
has the same base and white stones, but adds a set of very aggressive cubic boron nitride
rods.
Now these cut even faster than the brown rods that the Sharpmaker comes with, and they’re
the way to go if you need to repair a wonky edge or even reprofile the blade.
These are available separately if you want to upgrade later, but you’re going to spend
a little bit more money if you go that route, and it should be said that the Sharpmaker
also has a cubic boron nitride rod as an upgrade, as well as a diamond rod, too, if you want
either of those for your system.
Now the way that these sharpeners work is if you hold the blade vertically, and draw
it back and down through the stone on both sides, hitting the whole edge as you go.
Now, since you aren’t guessing and having to hold the blade at a specific angle as you
would on a typical bench stone, which can be a little difficult, anyone can see straight
up and down very easily.
That makes these sharpening systems very simple and easy to use effectively.
Now, we dow have a full instructional video on how to use the sharpmaker if you want to
go more in depth.
We’ll be sure to leave a link in the description to that video, and the principles you learn
there transfer over to the Gauntlet just fine.
With a plain edge knife, you’ll usually start with the edges of the stones first before
rotating the stones to the flat sides on the Sharpmaker and to the curved sides on the
Gauntlet.
Those edges, as well, are going to be what you use if you’re going to sharpen a serrated
blade, which both of these systems can handle just fine.
Now, it’s pretty obvious at first glance that both of these systems do have different
shaped rods, and the shapes of those stones between the two systems does change things
up a little bit in terms of what they’re best at.
Now, because of the triangular shape of the Sharpmaker rods, you have three flat surfaces,
and on one of them, they actually fit a groove down the middle.
Now, you can use this to sharpen the points of things like ice picks, skewers or darts,
and you don’t get that with the Gauntlet rods.
Those elliptical rods of the Gauntlet do have their advantages, though, and they do a few
things better than the flat sides of the Sharpmaker.
Now, first and foremost is the ability to sharpen recurve blades more easily, as the
shape of that ellipse can ride that type of edge better than a flat surface.
Also that elliptical shape is a little more forgiving if you aren’t perfectly lined
up at a ninety degree angle to the base.
In fact, there’s a few different slots on the base itself that allow you to rotate the
gauntlet rod partway so you can expose fresh material.
Now, admittedly, the Sharpmaker is already an easy to use system, but because of that
built in margin of error on the Gauntlet, there’s even some folks on the Spyderco
forums that are saying that it’s even easier to use.
Now, the other main difference between the Gauntlet and the Sharpmaker is the portability
factor.
The Sharpmaker has long been appreciated for its ability to break down and store all the
rods within the base itself with the option to close the lid and take it on the go wherever
you need it.
Now, the Gauntlet is a bit more stationary in nature.
The stones are able to nest in the slots in the hand guard, but that’s as compact as
this unit gets.
It’s certainly good enough to pop in a drawer or a cabinet when it’s not in use.
I really see the Gauntlet being really at home either on a work bench or on a kitchen
counter especially.
I really love the white rods that these systems offer for quick touch ups when prepping food.
They’re fine enough that you really have no need to reach for a honing steel when you’ve
got these at your disposal; they’re that good.
And the Gauntlet is even easier to keep clean, which is especially important in the kitchen,
as it has fewer nooks and crannies for gunk to collect in.
Now, it may seem a little bit odd that these two products can coexist, but the Spyderco
line of sharpeners has been so successful that they can afford to tailor the Sharpmaker
and the Gauntlet each to a different target audience.
Personally, I think the Gauntlet is a great birthday or Christmas gift for someone who
may or may not be a knife person, but they still want something simple and uncomplicated,
but very effective.
The Sharpmaker has always been simple to use, but the Gauntlet is even simpler.
It’s easy to understand and hard to mess up, and offers even more hand protection with
its full plastic shield.
The Sharpmaker, on the other hand is the knife nerd’s choice.
For a little bit more money than the base gauntlet, you get extra rods, more options
for your choice of angles, more versatility, and more portability, too.
Be sure to let us know which of these systems gets your pick in the comment section, and
let us know if you’re planning on picking one up for you or for someone else in the
future.
And if you want to get your hands on either of them right now, you can use the links in
the description to head over to KnifeCenter.com.
I’m David C. Andersen, signing off.
See you next time.