Best sharpening system?

I use dmt diamond stones to set my bevels and remove burrs, then I maintain a micro bevel with the sharpmaker. My whole "system" is two little dmt diafolds and a sharpmaker. I got this setup at the suggestion of many on here and after a couple of months of practice there's no knife I can't get hair popping sharp with this minimal setup.

I agree with several on here that it is worth the effort to learn to freehand. Even if you go with the wicked edge, you should buy a dmt coarse/fine diafold and start practicing free handing some cheaper knives. Do a bit of reading, watch a few videos and give it some practice. You might surprise yourself. :).
 
The Edge-Pro has served me well for over 10 years. Straight razor sharp, mirror polished edges every time.

The WE is excellent as well, but not vas versatile, IMHO>
 
Love my EP, it taught me to free hand sharpen, no joke, I learned to apex, I learned what angles look like, I learned what grits I like.

No sharpener is idiot proof, there is always a way to get sliced/stabbed or a way to mar/scratch/scuff a blade, round off tips, remove more metal than needed etc.

I support any means of getting a knife sharp, even the stupid ones, not for me, but if you want to hold the stone to your face while you sharpen and you're an adult and it works, great. (I want to see that on YouTube!)

There are always the grit elitists, the speed elitists, angle nazis, sometimes all in the same person. (For some fun look up the Murray Carter shaving videos.)

The bottom line is always getting an edge that meets and for most exceeds your requirements, some are happy with pull through sharpeners, some build systems that look like oversized Edge Pros, some will happily take an edge of unknown grit and angle with who knows how much time from the rim of a coffee cup, some will run well into the tens of thousands grits with perfect lighting and hours upon hours of work.... All for an edge that will be permanently scarred by a couple cuts into cardboard, not that those edges will ever see such extreme use of that edge.

Buy what you like, I'm sure the edges you get will more than meet your standards and soon you will learn that factory sharp means horrible to okay and that steel is a lot of fun to play with, that it feels different when you sharpen at different hardnesses and that you will scare people when you start talking about angles and grits and when you cut stuff. Very small crowd of sharpeners even in the knife world, start tree topping hairs and showing off, people are amazed by edges that are 'as sharp as samurai swords'.

Enough of my wall of text, just don't forget to give lower grit edges to friends and family, they're used to sawing through things and it'll save you sharpening time after they mess the edges up.
 
The wicked edge propack 2 is worth it, not sure if i had to do it over if I would get the base wicked edge. If that doesn't fit the budget, then the edgepro apex is the way to go.
 
I am in the same position, i have a few kershaws , spyderco tenacious and cold steel lawman. I have a couple sharpeners smiths field, benchmade , smiths 3 in one and noticed one sharpener works ok and they other sharpeners dull my blades. It is time to find a system that is easy to use and can consistantly sharpen my blades. Also find one that has the smallest learning curve.
 
Kaju Blade said:
I am in the same position, i have a few kershaws , spyderco tenacious and cold steel lawman. I have a couple sharpeners smiths field, benchmade , smiths 3 in one and noticed one sharpener works ok and they other sharpeners dull my blades. It is time to find a system that is easy to use and can consistantly sharpen my blades. Also find one that has the smallest learning curve.
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Just have to define what your goals are and what restrictions you might have. If a clean edge that's reasonably refined is all you need, a hardware store silicon carbide combination stone will do wonders and works on virtually every steel and edge type (Scandi, convex, V bevel). Downside is that it doesn't refine to high level, upside is that it works well with a short learning curve and is very inexpensive. Beyond that you really need to narrow it down to what you're willing to pay, what sort of edges you want to turn out, and what overall profiles you want to put those edges on. The most simple is to just use a SiC or AlumOx hardware store stone. Wrap a sheet of paper around the stone and apply compound to that for a strop. Its not sophisticated but satisfies the basic criteria of coarse (repair and working edges), medium (EDU and transition to finer abrasives), and fine (carving, chopping, shaving). For fine compound one need go no further than some Flexcut Gold or Ryobi white. Once you get things in context and can use the basics, then start going after fancier stones etc. Yes, freehand is difficult at first but there is a wealth of info available to make it as easy as to learn as possible - hundreds if not thousands of videos posted in this subforum alone, not to mention Murray Carter and other professionals with comprehensive videos for sale or free on the internet. I have a bin full of stones and mostly only use a combination SiC stone, a Norton combination India stone, and/or my Washboard. These methods are simple, fast, consistent, inexpensive and extremely flexible.
 
Free-handing aside. (cause sky's the limit on stones)

For a V-Edge I like the Spyderco Sharpmaker and the Wicked Edge Both seem consistent for the price groups.

For a convex edge.. I like the cheap 1x30 or 1x42 belt sanders (harbor freight) with super fine sanding belts or possibly the new Ken Onion Worksharp (haven't tried but looks very straightforward and I read good things).
 
Has anyone used the Worksharp or the worksharp KO edition? The main difference looks to be an adjustable sharpening angle, ability to accept a thicker blade and multiple belts. Its also twice the price as the normal worksharp. $150 is still way less than a WE wich I personally think $400 is to much.

I have the sharp maker and its OK, some knives I can get a good edge others I fail. Oddly FFG blades I can get it to work, convex edges I usually have an issue.

Smith sharpener, is not good. I tried and tried to like it but never had good results.

I am finding free handing has been a bit easier and might get into a set of nice stones but it does take some time to get it perfect.
 
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lemonslush said:
Has anyone used the Worksharp or the worksharp KO edition? The main difference looks to be an adjustable sharpening angle, ability to accept a thicker blade and multiple belts. Its also twice the price as the normal worksharp. $150 is still way less than a WE wich I personally think $400 is to much.

I have the sharp maker and its OK, some knives I can get a good edge others I fail. Oddly FFG blades I can get it to work, convex edges I usually have an issue.

Smith sharpener, is not good. I tried and tried to like it but never had good results.

I am finding free handing has been a bit easier and might get into a set of nice stones but it does take some time to get it perfect.
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There are lots of threads about the WSKO. Here, here, here, here, here, and here are some examples.
 
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