EdgeMaker Pro...

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The Edgemaker pro system arrived at my house about 10 days ago, I have been trying it on various knives to see if there is a difference in the results on different steels. The pakastani made jack knife that I use for a beater went thru all four levels of sharpening, completely rebeveling the edge on the coarse handle. The results were good but not spectacular, cuts ribbons on paper but does not shave. The soft steel that knives from this country may have a lot to do with that.
Next I tried several inexpensive kitchen knives that got much better results, the Chicago cutlery and Kitchenaid knives will pop hair.
I am still working thru my edc collection, putting a sharp edge on several knives that were received that were less than sharp.
The Edgemaker pro system consists of four preset sharpening steel Vs. The one I saw 10 years ago at a gunshow had crock sticks in the v but now they are using Steel rods. I am not sure I want to trust a highend collectable to the Steel rods but kitchen knives and my low to middle cost edc knives they seem to do a very good job. Once an edge is put on the knife, you use only the last step honing V to touch up the blade.
I never would assume that anyone that has learned how to sharpen on benchstones to be interested in this system, but this is a system that is very portable and can be learned in about two minutes by the average person who just wants to put a sharp edge on their knife quickly.
 
Your results mirror my own, timsclips. There are some crappy knives that just won't take an edge with any method. Those won't work well with the Edgemaker Pro's, either. But decent blades will respond well. Not every knife I've tried thru them has taken a hair popping edge, but most do.

I don't think it gets knives quite as sharp as the Spyderco Sharpmaker, or at least not most knives. Of course the Sharpmaker is also a bit fussy at times, and it's not ideal for all knives, either. The Edgemaker Pro is very fast and effective, and is ideal for someone who can't afford or can't justify the time and trouble of waterstones and/or devices like the Edge Pro.

Even though I have an Edge Pro I always keep a couple of Edgemaker Pro's in the knife roll I take to work. They work great for keeping the "beater" knives sharp.
 
If this system gives you a satisfactory edge, what could be easier. It's not very satisfying for those of us who enjoy the sharpening process. Stroking back and forth, slowly, deliberately. Relaxing to the rhythm. (wake up) Becoming one with steel and stone. It's a zen thing. :D Wham-bam-sharp-go cut something just doesn't do it. :grumpy: To each his own.

Be glad they no longer use ceramic rods. Ceramic loads up with metal and loses its effectiveness when not cleaned. Cleaning that tiny V at the critical point where the blade's edge meet the rods is a nuisance.
 
I enjoy freehand sharpening, too. And I have fun with my Apex. But at work, it wouldn't be much fun to have to use stones to sharpen a whole rack full of $12 knives. It's like eating- sometimes you want to sit down for an elegant meal, but sometimes you gotta hit the drivethru at McDonalds.

The Edgemaker Pro gets good results quickly with a minimum of effort and almost zero learning curve. That makes it a great tool to keep in my knife roll.
 
Rob Babcock said:
I enjoy freehand sharpening, too. And I have fun with my Apex. But at work, it wouldn't be much fun to have to use stones to sharpen a whole rack full of $12 knives. It's like eating- sometimes you want to sit down for an elegant meal, but sometimes you gotta hit the drivethru at McDonalds.

The Edgemaker Pro gets good results quickly with a minimum of effort and almost zero learning curve. That makes it a great tool to keep in my knife roll.
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Ah, nothing ruins a good theoretical discussion (where time and money are inconsequential) like the harsh light of the real make-a-living world.:D:D:D

Does the Edgemaker use rods or retangular blades to form the V.
 
annr said:
I am wondering what the pre-set angles are.
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That's something I've wondered for a long time. Pressure causes them to flex somewhat, perhaps "conforming" to a degree like a mousepad causes the sandpaper to conform. I don't know. It probably creates a microbevel on knives that don't fit this angle (or more or less fit). That's a potential "problem" on anything with fixed angles, like the Edgemaker Pro and the Sharpmaker.

My ignorance of the actual angle used is the main reason I never tried to put any of my Japanese knives thru them (except on cheapie that I used for a test mule). I emailed Rangel but never got a reply. Unless someone has better luck, or checks with the factory, we won't know. I guess someone with ambition and time on their hands could probably rig up a way to measure the angles with a protractor of some kind.
 
Rob Babcock said:
That's something I've wondered for a long time. Pressure causes them to flex somewhat, perhaps "conforming" to a degree like a mousepad causes the sandpaper to conform. I don't know. It probably creates a microbevel on knives that don't fit this angle (or more or less fit). That's a potential "problem" on anything with fixed angles, like the Edgemaker Pro and the Sharpmaker.

My ignorance of the actual angle used is the main reason I never tried to put any of my Japanese knives thru them (except on cheapie that I used for a test mule). I emailed Rangel but never got a reply. Unless someone has better luck, or checks with the factory, we won't know. I guess someone with ambition and time on their hands could probably rig up a way to measure the angles with a protractor of some kind.
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It looks like you could just turn it upside down and measure the complimentary angle, the angle between the table top and the intersection of the two rods. Since it is pressure sensitive I guess you could take another set of measurements in the 'open position' to see how much the angle increases.

Can you tell if all of the angles are the same from pair to pair?

The other thing I might do is more of an empirical test, the magic marker test, and see where the thing hits a bevel of known angle.

It seems that w/ the Sharpmaker you are able to sharpen each bevel separately and vary the angle by hand if desired. Is this possible with the Edgemaker Pro?
 
I had forgotten about this thread;)

Thanks for the update Timsclips:thumbup: I’m still waiting on mine, yeah I’m that broke:(

Thanks again to all that have posted:)

-sh00ter

I've been wondering myself what the angle is:confused:
 
annr said:
It looks like you could just turn it upside down and measure the complimentary angle, the angle between the table top and the intersection of the two rods. Since it is pressure sensitive I guess you could take another set of measurements in the 'open position' to see how much the angle increases.

Can you tell if all of the angles are the same from pair to pair?
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Well, they sure seem to be. Presumably they come off the same mould so I wouldn't expect much variation. And they work well, which would indicate they must be close.



annr said:
The other thing I might do is more of an empirical test, the magic marker test, and see where the thing hits a bevel of known angle.

It seems that w/ the Sharpmaker you are able to sharpen each bevel separately and vary the angle by hand if desired. Is this possible with the Edgemaker Pro?
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I imagine you could do the magic marker test but I never have. Maybe I will, just to see. Problem is you'd need to know the bevel angle of the knife, and even then you'd only know if it was higher or lower, not an exact figure in degrees.

I don't think there's really a way to do each side separately, at least not easily. The abrasion is generated by the pincer action of both rods applying pressure in unison.

All this would be interesting to investigate, but for most people it's overthinking it.;) Any budding sharpening geeks will probably move on to stones or other contraptions, and those who just want sharp knives will continue to get sharp edges without launching a full Senate probe!:D
 
Rob Babcock said:
"..All this would be interesting to investigate, but for most people it's overthinking it.;) Any budding sharpening geeks will probably move on to stones or other contraptions, and those who just want sharp knives will continue to get sharp edges without launching a full Senate probe!":D
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I spent a lot of time and did a lot of reading from some generous contributors on this forum...read your last thought above...and purchased the $26 Edgemaker combo.

Thanks for setting me straight as to what "I" might actually need; as my recent knife selections have been in a similiar vein....best bang for the buck while still appreciating/lusting after the rest.

I hope that this turns out to be the right decision for a newbie knife owner.
 
Skeletool said:
I spent a lot of time and did a lot of reading from some generous contributors on this forum...read your last thought above...and purchased the $26 Edgemaker combo.

Thanks for setting me straight as to what "I" might actually need; as my recent knife selections have been in a similiar vein....best bang for the buck while still appreciating/lusting after the rest.

I hope that this turns out to be the right decision for a newbie knife owner.
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I think you'll be happy with them.:)
 
sh00ter01 said:
Udtjim- Glad to hear the system works so well for you. I haven’t ordered mine yet (little too broke right now), but am planning to. Do you just use the yellow handled tool to “freshen up” your edges when you knives start to dull or do you go back to the orange handled, then yellow?

-sh00ter
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I think this might not have been answered. I know that for the most part Udtjim mostly uses the Yellow one; that's how I do it, too. You really only have to drop back down to the coarser ones for very dull knives. The Yellow can be used like a steel but it's really a sharpener, albeit one that removes very little metal. Once a knife is truly sharp you could probably maintain it for years with just the Yellow. The only time you'd need more is if you damaged the edge somehow.

One other note- the grits are analagous to waterstone grits. That is to say you could sharpen a very dull knife on a 1,000 grit waterstone if you weren't in a hurry. Same for the Yellow; given time it will remove enough metal to sharpen even a very dull knife. But it will take an eternity. :p
 
Rob Babcock said:
I think this might not have been answered. I know that for the most part Udtjim mostly uses the Yellow one; that's how I do it, too. You really only have to drop back down to the coarser ones for very dull knives. The Yellow can be used like a steel but it's really a sharpener, albeit one that removes very little metal. Once a knife is truly sharp you could probably maintain it for years with just the Yellow. The only time you'd need more is if you damaged the edge somehow.

One other note- the grits are analagous to waterstone grits. That is to say you could sharpen a very dull knife on a 1,000 grit waterstone if you weren't in a hurry. Same for the Yellow; given time it will remove enough metal to sharpen even a very dull knife. But it will take an eternity. :p
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Thanks again for the response Rob:thumbup:

-sh00ter
 
Hello Gentlemen..I am Rangler, the guy who owns the edgemakerpro.com website and I would be happy to answer any questions about the edgemaker products. A basic discription: The grits are semi-coarse, medium, fine and ultra fine. The first three grits replace the same style grits as the tri-angle stone, without the guess work. The Ultra-Fine is the repacement for the steel..with the advantage of polishing off the burrs instead of raising a burr for a temporary edge. The grit rating is around 2400 fine..or appox 5 times smoother than a ceramic rod! - without loading up like a ceramic rod.
The angle is consistant on all rods of course and that angle is 22.5 degree...what we consider the standard 'field' or 'utility' edge that a lot of knife makers use..within a few degrees. Remember that angels are 'compound' that is to say doubled..so each rod is set at 11.25 degrees. So if you see an angle to sharpened expressed at say 30 degrees
then you need to half that and place a 15 degree angle on EACH side to give you the
compound angle of 30 degree..but I am sure you old salts all know this..and I only meantioned because for the newbies their is a LOT of misinformation about this out there.
I really enjoy this forum and am available to answer any questions that you may have about the edgemaker and the edgemaker pro knife sharpening systems.. i worked with the original inventor of this tool and have been his representive for the last 22 years!
www.edgemakerpro.com or you may email me for special pricing for forum members at edgemaker_pro@yahoo.com
Thanks, Rangler
 
Thanks, Rangler! I personally have three or four yellows, one blue, three reds and one black (identical to the red AFAIK). In addition, I buy 'em for stocking stuffers around Xmas time! As a matter of fact, I should get a commission I've "sold" so many!:D I emailed you about the angles once but you probably didn't get it. Thanks for the info.

BTW, I've bought all mine from Rangler aside from a couple of the reds that I bought locally. They cost more locally but I was short and needed 'em for gifts. He's a solid seller and a fast shipper.
 
Rangler. I am glad to hear from you. I got the system about twenty years ago. A guy at a sport show was selling them. He sharpened my old Case knife in about two minutes and I bought a set then and there. Since then I have shown or told a few hundred other people about them and many have them in their arsenal. To a man, anyone who has given them a real test has been amazed at the job they do for the input it takes. Not even one knife in a hundred will not respond well to their use.

Rob B and I were talking the other night about them again and one point that could be improved is deepening the V on the newer Green one where the fine hone is inside the other hone. Larger chefs type knives do not, or just barely fit inside the sharpener. Would hogging it out a little deeper effect the strength?

It is to easy for some and makes them feel guilty:D. However like Rob said and I can second, when your up to your elbows cutting meat or veggies and you need to keep your sharp knives sharp, there just is no quicker easier or better way to do the job than these simple effective tools.

Last but not least, NOTHING sharpens fillet knives like the edge maker pro. This alone would keep me a customer for life. It's to bad that FILLET knives do not fit Rob Babcocks hand.:D:D:D His knife skills deteriorate as he gets close to a fish cleaning table.
 
What is this "fillet knife" of which you speak?;) I've never actually tried one- every time someone gives me one it seems to get lost...especially if there are fish to be cleaned!:D

Last night I actually had to break out the blue Bevelmaker for the first time in a long time. Normally a knife doesn't get dull enough to need it but a couple cooks where I work asked me if I could "do something" about the crappy knives the place supplied. Seems that when I'm not there and my roll is at home there are no decent knives. So I grabbed a handful of the house knives and whipped out all three Edgemaker Pros and went to work. Now these were mostly Dexter Russells and probably hadn't been sharpened in years. And they had been the victim of some type of grinder. I actually started with the Bevelmaker and hit every one of the four stages- the Blue, both grits of the Black, then the Yellow Handy Honer. Given about one or two minutes per knife, all of them would shave hair. Not like a razor, but pretty well given the low quality of the blades and the decades of abuse.

The results you get definately depends on the quality of knife. Use Japanese waterstones if you like, a poor knife won't take a great edge. Or it will get sharp but lose the edge rapidly.
 
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