Edge Pro Stone Quality

R

ricklee4570

Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
643
I bought the Edge Pro Apex after a friend recommended it. He has the Edge Pro "Pro" that he bought about 10 years ago along with a bunch of extra stones.

I bought extra stones as well and got to looking at them. First thing I notice is how they are not uniform in thickness. The 220 is considerably thicker than the 320. None of them are the same. My friend looked at his older stones and compared them. The consistency of his were much better. His coarse 120 stones were much much better. Mine don't remove much metal when compared to his.

I think the quality has gone down on these stones over the years. The thickness variance means you would have to "sharpie" mark the edge of the blade every stone change and adjust the angle. If you have a lot of knives to sharpen, that would really slow the process down.

I'm a little disappointed. I have heard that you should "lap" the stones pretty often as well.

Those of you that have recently purchased stones for this machine, have you noticed a quality problem?
 
I've noticed the uneven thickness as well, and I suppose it's inevitable if the stones aren't diamond or ceramic. One more reason why I feel my money would've been better spent on the Wicked Edge Sharpener. The next is the lack of a clamping system which would have made the angles slightly more consistent and more accurate without having to compensate for the secondary bevel(if saber, hollow, or FFG). Because depending on the edge thickness and the grind, the actual edge angle is lower than what you set it at.

Also recently, the newer blue 120 grit stones are said to be very poor in aggressiveness, even said to be less than the 220 grit stone. This, and more has made me neglect the use of my EP Apex and made me look more kindly upon freehand sharpening.
 
I have a Lansky and the clamps have their problems as well. They don't necessarily grip all knives well and they will leave marks on the blade.
 
Haven't noticed any issues with the Stones Quality wise.

The 120 and 220 Grit stones are thicker because they wear faster than the 320 and up.

Anyway the stones will be slightly different as sharpening happens over time because they wear and have to be flattened.

I use mine a lot and haven't had to do the sharpie trick all the time between stones as was mentioned above because the stones cut very fast and they even out the edge as they are changed.

Don't over think it and you will be fine, don't make it harder and more complicated than it really is. ;)

I have a Reprofiling series uploading now on YT, a 4 part series.
 
Ankerson said:
Haven't noticed any issues with the Stones Quality wise.

The 120 and 220 Grit stones are thicker because they wear faster than the 320 and up.

Anyway the stones will be slightly different as sharpening happens over time because they wear and have to be flattened.

I use mine a lot and haven't had to do the sharpie trick all the time between stones as was mentioned above because the stones cut very fast and they even out the edge as they are changed.

Don't over think it and you will be fine, don't make it harder and more complicated than it really is. ;)

I have a Reprofiling series uploading now on YT, a 4 part series.
Click to expand...

Please post links Jim, I really have a hard time reaching the edges. I get about 90-95 percent of the bevel done, but seem to be getting nowhere on the last little bit of obtuse edge.
 
singularity35 said:
Please post links Jim, I really have a hard time reaching the edges. I get about 90-95 percent of the bevel done, but seem to be getting nowhere on the last little bit of obtuse edge.
Click to expand...
It's not fun to hear this, but that's because the last little bit involves taking off the most steel. Keep going until you get there, it's worth it.
 
i'm pretty sure there is a consistency issue with the two coarsest stones.

ankerson saying that those wear faster is another clue, mine just DON'T wear at all. i've yet to see a stone other than those two that can't be lapped fast on a continuous dmt XXC. the still has some magic marker from the first lapping, i bought the EP a year ago and tried to make this B**CH work for hours and hours lapping, trying, lapping etc ... and still can see clearly the X i made at the first lapping.
it's really a pain because the EP is a great system.

the varying thickness is not an issue in my books as it's unavoidable with use and normal wear, unless you want to use only diamond, wich i don't really like.
 
sodak said:
It's not fun to hear this, but that's because the last little bit involves taking off the most steel. Keep going until you get there, it's worth it.
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Yes, exactly. :thumbup:

That's why I keep stating pay attention to detail. :)
 
sodak said:
It's not fun to hear this, but that's because the last little bit involves taking off the most steel. Keep going until you get there, it's worth it.
Click to expand...

I tried gluing on 80 grit wet/dry on a tape blank and wow, it cut fast. The only thing is that it doesn't cut flat. I don't know why. It's more an uneven convex. It it is a pain trying to take of metal with a slow cutting stone.
 
I still get a good edge using the Apex. Im still getting better the more I use it. I do wish I had a Wicked Edge Sharpener to compare it too. I believe from what I know about the W.E. that it is probably more precise. With everything locked down, it takes more of the human error out of the scope of things.
 
I like my edgepro enough but the stones werent that great. They were messy and the coarse one seemed to be wearing out fast. So I decided not to buy anymore. I took some dmt diamond "stones" I had and epoxied them to some scrap metal I had cut to roughly the same size and angle as the aluminum backing on the stones (you could probably even use those once the stones are worn off) and now have goodsized diamond stones on the edgepro. They stay flat, work faster, dont wear out and arent messy. I think it makes the whole system about twice as nice. At his request I put some together for a buddy and he agreed too. You should give that a shot.
Josh
 
j_d said:
I like my edgepro enough but the stones werent that great. They were messy and the coarse one seemed to be wearing out fast. So I decided not to buy anymore. I took some dmt diamond "stones" I had and epoxied them to some scrap metal I had cut to roughly the same size and angle as the aluminum backing on the stones (you could probably even use those once the stones are worn off) and now have goodsized diamond stones on the edgepro. They stay flat, work faster, dont wear out and arent messy. I think it makes the whole system about twice as nice. At his request I put some together for a buddy and he agreed too. You should give that a shot.
Josh
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Don't the diamonds get ripped out from the media? Isn't pressure just a bit heavy on the EP with the weight of the arm? And finally is there a 1"X6" DMT stone at 120 grit?
 
2"x6".

it works but is a bit heavy, you have to relieve the arm a little bit i guess.

jendeindustries sell some already glued to custom blanks along with custom cut shaptons and naniwa chocera.
 
The diamonds have worked great for me for a number of years, they are 2" wide and good on anything but recurved blades, they are heavier but I dont find them too heavy at all and I dont know what the coarse grit is but it works great. Easily twice as good as the stones they come with and want to keep selling you as you wear them out.
 
From what I understand the coarse ones were always thicker because they wore faster.

My 120grit cuts great, only got mine few months ago, cuts nice and fast, does a great job.
Very happy with it all.

I have seen sites that cut other stones and sell them for the Edge Pros as well, you can get Shaptons and DMT's as well.

Might have a look at them next time, although I'm pretty happy with the standard Edge Pro stones.
 
I just ordered a new 120 grit stone and some of the SiC lapping grit. I want to see what happens with this. I will probably eventually give the mounted DMT stones for the EP that jendeindustries sells. Just the XC for setting the bevel because I do like the way the water stones cut. I don't know if they ship to the Philippines though.

If you guys were to choose, which would you get for bevel setting? the XC coarse DMT or the Naniwa or Sharpton waterstone?
 
singularity35 said:
I just ordered a new 120 grit stone and some of the SiC lapping grit. I want to see what happens with this. I will probably eventually give the mounted DMT stones for the EP that jendeindustries sells. Just the XC for setting the bevel because I do like the way the water stones cut. I don't know if they ship to the Philippines though.

If you guys were to choose, which would you get for bevel setting? the XC coarse DMT or the Naniwa or Sharpton waterstone?
Click to expand...

I have heard that if you get the XC you can use it for lapping in addition to profiling blades.
 
If you guys think your 220 cuts differently than your friends, and your new one feels different it does. The 220 and 120, sometimes even the 400 are VERY sensitive to their surface. When freshly lapped on the SiC kit they cut like crazy, if you use them a bunch they smooth out, and start to "glide" on your knife. I also found that they do not cut well on certain steels. Any s30v knives I've tried the 220 and 400 stones just skate and glide, even when coarsely lapped, however if I throw on a cheap kitchen knife instead of the s30v, the stone cuts like crazy. You can hear the difference in sound when they are cutting vs skating. They are sensitive to how you lap them guys, try that. Their real touch and go. The finer stones seem to be okay but keep your 120 especially lapped with a VERY Coarse surface, or it becomes almost glazed over and starts to burnish/polish rather than rip scratch patterns!

All of this is part of the reason I spent almost 300 bucks on the shapton glass stones. But I will say the stock stones have provided me with some of the best edges I have ever created still to this day! So don't give up on them! The 220 is blue now?!?!?
 
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