edgepro and my money

L

licensed to chill

Joined
Dec 14, 2008
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Fixing to drop $200 on the edgepro 4 kit. Tried several cheap sharpeners and not happy with results. i can't freehand worth a flip so i need a mechanical sharpener. Is this the ultimate sharpener or am i throwing my money away?
 
Great device. I have very little patience so it's perfect for rebeveling. Use the sharpmaker for touchups.
 
A LOT of people recommend the Harbor Freight $40 belt grinder and an assortment of belts that still come to less than an edgepro. Could some of those who have tried both tell us what they think?
 
The EdgePro Apex 4 kit is great. Of all the sytems that I have tried I get the best results with the EdgePro and I get them quickly.
 
MVF said:
A LOT of people recommend the Harbor Freight $40 belt grinder and an assortment of belts that still come to less than an edgepro. Could some of those who have tried both tell us what they think?
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im not real handy with those types of tools. i have to think the belt grinder has a much wider margin of error.

i find the edge pro to be pretty much idiot proof. the stones are set and remain at the desired angle. the blade is also set, unlike the sharpmaker.
 
I use both the Edge Pro and the Harbor belt grinder. I like them both. For no particular reason, I seem to use the Edge Pro more for kitchen cutlery.
 
If you are mainly intereted in applying a consistent, repeatable, straight bevel, then the Edge Pro is without question the way to go. Even if you want to start applying convex bevels by hand, the Edge Pro is a good starting point.

Unless you want to get into power or freehand sharpening, I think the EP is the best tool. Have had mine for about 10 years, and can sharpen fine freehand, but not like with EP.

What I do with most of my knives is start them out on the EP, and then maintain them freehand with a variety of stones, strops, ceramic rods and steels. Specific tool depends on the specific blade. The exception would be a fully-convexed edge, which obviously you can't maintain with a non-resilient, flat medium.

If you are already relatively into bench tools, and tend to spend time in your shop anyway, then I could see going the grinder route. But I would get a nice grinder, not some H/F POS, lol. H/F is good for things like the $7.99 set of pry bars... things without moving parts (or fixed parts that you wish to remain fixed).

If you're more the kind of guy who wants to play with his knives in the kitchen, sip a little wine, listen to the stereo, chat with the spouse... you will dig the EP.
 
I have sharpened a thousand for so knives with that POS Harbor freight belt sander. I guess a poor workman always blames his tools instead of himself. Not a problem one so far. The Edge Pro is a great system, we have one of those too. I can sharpen most knives in a minute or less with the HF Sander.
 
The EdgePro Apex with all the goodies is a great way to go. It lets you take holding a consistant angle out of the equation of sharpening so you can focus on the other attributes (such as how light and how slow to go).

Is it a good use of your money? Very few people use it without getting their money's worth and then some, but you won't know unless you take that leap. If you have a lot of recurved knives, take that leap.

udtjim,

I've had more than my share of spookysharp edges from a belt-sander (especially with a leather belt loaded with buffing compound :cool: ), but ever since my wifey found a ton of black behind our washer and dryer which we thought was mold, but turned out to be airborne steel particles that settled behind the appliances (which I don't sharpen near), I don't use it. If all of that steel was all over an area I wasn't near, it was probably drifting in the air hours after I was done sharpening and milling around without a respirator. It's not the fault of the sander, but it was a disturbing discovery.
 
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I've been using a $200 EP Apex for a couple of years.

I like it well enough that I've decided to upgrade to the edge-Pro "Pro" model!

I also have a HF belt sander. It get's used three or four times per year with leather belts and compound for power stropping. I don't use it for sharpening anymore since I got the edge-Pro. :thumbup:
 
udtjim said:
I have sharpened a thousand for so knives with that POS Harbor freight belt sander. I guess a poor workman always blames his tools instead of himself. Not a problem one so far. The Edge Pro is a great system, we have one of those too. I can sharpen most knives in a minute or less with the HF Sander.
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Don't believe I said anything about results from the H/F tool, let alone results I had gotten with it - just that I would personally be inclined to buy a higher quality tool.

Maybe give a little thought to the fact that you have no idea of the quality of my work... or even what my work is, before passing judgment.
 
The EdgePro sharpeners will be the very best investment you will ever make in knife sharpening. :thumbup:

Do you want a perfect edge? Do you want to be able to get that perfect edge quickly? Do you have many different knives requiring different edge angles? Are you tired of trying to freehand sharpen and not get the results you want? :( If the answer to these question is 'yes,' don't hesitate to get the EdgePro. It's not the only sharpening system that works. It's just the easiest and the best. :)

Stitchawl
 
its a half convex edge that i put on with a belt sander. i just finish off the edge with the paper buffing wheel. the guy doing the cutting in the vid is cjpgeyer. he said you can shave your face easily with that one.
 
I was silly enough to think that since you said it was a H/F POS that you had actually tried it. Sorry I should have known better.:rolleyes: I assume that the quality of your work matches your opinion.
 
I have used many systems in the past: Gatco, Razor Edge Systems, waterstones (Stone Pond from Lee Valley Tools), Edge Pro Apex system, belt sander, DMT bench stones and a Sharpmaker.

ALL of these systems work.

I think it depends on what you are after. All of my sharpening nowadays is done on my belt sander when convenient or my DMT coarse stone + Sharpmaker. I also use a strop with both setups and will be adding a hard felt wheel for power stropping (or maybe a leather belt on my belt sander.)

I like this kit because with my belt sander and the sharpmaker I can sharpen a knife in less than a minute. Whem not feasible, I use my DMT coarse stone to thin out edges (usually only a few minutes again) and then the sharpmaker to set an edge (minute of work here gain.)

The Edge Pro does beautiful, perfect work on an edge. For my purposes, I can get more than acceptable results quicker, faster and cleaner with my DMT/Sharpmaker setup than any other kit I have used. I can shave hair off my arm with my Buck Strider 880 tanto, having just spent 5 minutes last week on a touch-up with my DMT/Sharpmaker setup.


By all means, as others have said, get the Edge Pro if you would like. It is a great system that yields quick, impressive results. But realize that it isn't magic, and you can get great edges with all kinds of kits out there. Find the one that is right for you.
 
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