Edgepro

basjoo said:
When you guys get extra stones do you get the unmounted? If so, how hard is it to remove the old and what adhesive do you use to mount the new ones?
Click to expand...

I've bought mounted and unmounted.

Not that hard to remove I used a wall scraper/mud knife worked a corner in and gave it a tap it popped off in a couple taps in each direction. Used contact solvent to clean the blank off.

I used 3M77 spray adhesive to glue them down with just follow the directions. etc use in well ventilated area of course. Never have popped a stone of unintentionally though I'm told it happens.
 
nedocervar said:
Tormek? Edge Pro? Fantastic tools certainly.
Unfortunately I am a poor man.
Click to expand...

For shaping, a $50 one inch belt grinder works very well, much faster than wet wheel grinders and an order of magnitude better than the Edge Pro. A wet wheel grinder does allow you to grind very thin though, which is difficult to do on a belt sander without overheating the edge, get less than 0.010" for example.

-Cliff
 
With helps from my friends far and near, instructive books ("The Complete Giude to Sharpening" by Lee, "The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening" by J.J. etc.), good internet sites like www.antiquetools.com, very educational threads find in BF and a true passion about sharpening discipline, in relative short time I have understand the basic knowledge. Repeat, the basic knowledge and skill.
I am able to sharpen free hand now (often better than professional knife-grinders, because they must save a great deal of time perhaps) every type of knives, axes for spleet wood, scissors of any type (if very wear they can't seriously sharpened with a sharpmaker), wood gouges and chisels, snips, surgical gouges for beauticians etc.
My basic tools are these: protractor, cheap slow wet wheel grinder, very wide coarse and medium SiC benchstones, ceramic stones from Spyderco, SiC papers, honing leather charged with CrO, smooth steel from Razor Edge, 10X magnifing glass.
Please, may you to advise me about others effective tools? I am grateful to Cliff Stamp for his information concerning the $50 one inch belt grinder.
Thanks in advance.
-Nedo Cervar
 
I assume, maybe incorrectly, that GWO is not getting into the sharpening business....yet.[/QUOTE]

You are correct. Not yet anyway. Thanks to all for the input. Very helpful.
 
tim8557 said:
I'm a huge proponent for the Edge Pro as it allowed me to throw away the hundreds of dollars of "crap" I've accumulated over the years....some more expensive than the Edge Pro. I bought the Apex Ultimate #2 offer from : http://www.bronksknifeworks.com/Edge-Pro_Knife_sharpeners.htm.

It has everything you'll ever need at a fair price.
Click to expand...
I'll be darned, that guys shop is right here in my town. Guess I'll have to stop by and check it out.

Wayne
 
Cliff Stamp said:
For shaping, a $50 one inch belt grinder works very well, much faster than wet wheel grinders and an order of magnitude better than the Edge Pro. A wet wheel grinder does allow you to grind very thin though, which is difficult to do on a belt sander without overheating the edge, get less than 0.010" for example.
-Cliff
Click to expand...
Do you normally us the edge pro (or freehand) to finish the job after using the belt sander for shaping?

A one inch width is preferred because it allows greater control and visibility of the blade during the process, as well as doesn't heat the blade up as badly? Compared to say a four inch width belt sander? Seems like a four inch width would be awkward to use for shaping blades?

Thanks
Wayne
 
My only concern with the edgepro is that the blade isnt clamped onto the device. You have to hold it with the other hand?
 
Wrace said:
Do you normally us the edge pro (or freehand) to finish the job after using the belt sander for shaping?
Click to expand...

I rarely use a belt sander at all, it is only for when I want to do a major reprofile on a bunch of knives. Last night I reworked three kitchen knives for a friend, one decent Case, two taiwan-stainless. I used the belt sander to create an edge bevel at ~10 degrees per side. That angle simply because that is what is created in the slack belt region, more acute would be better, but if you grind on the platen thin kitchen knives will overheat near instantly. Ideally, if I had one, I would hollow grind them out on a wet wheel setup.

Once the bevels were created, 1-2 minutes per blade (some chips had to be ground out), I evened the bevels with a 200 SiC waterstone, polished with a 1000 and then finished with a sharpmaker at 15 degrees per side. I left the two stainless blades with a medium finish as they are mainly draw cut slicers (plus they won't hold a high polish anyway) and I brought the Case up to a fine polish as it is more of a push cutting chopper.

I had an Apex and sold it awhile ago as it wasn't getting much use. It's main advantage is the ability to create very even and crisp bevels for cosmetic purposes compared to the method just described. That is of little interest to me. The wider stones also will burr edges less than the more narrow Sharpmaker hones which can be of benefit on some problematic steels.

A one inch width is preferred ...
Click to expand...

It is just cheaper, and it is overkill for sharpening anyway. Sharpening a blade with a belt sander is like digging a hole for a fence post with an excavator. It is only really useful if you are regrinding a lot of knives, especially large ones.

-Cliff
 
nedocervar said:
Maybe we have forgotten the knowledge of ours hands...
Click to expand...

My neighbors has you beat for simplicity. He sharpens knives on the edge of his sidewalk. When I see him I run over with my machete and hatchets and let him have a go. (they really don't work well on the Sharpmaker).

Problem with power equipment is that it is faster than my brain can keep up with and I'll ruin the temper of the knife, and lose mine in the process.
 
DGG said:
My neighbors has you beat for simplicity. He sharpens knives on the edge of his sidewalk. When I see him I run over with my machete and hatchets and let him have a go. (they really don't work well on the Sharpmaker).

Problem with power equipment is that it is faster than my brain can keep up with and I'll ruin the temper of the knife, and lose mine in the process.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine teach me the use of my sidewalk to flatten watherstones, sprinkled with some fine sand on the surface to speed up the process.
A power equipement with a low RPM motor (about 1,000) does't heats things up.
-Nedo Cervar
 
nedocervar said:
A friend of mine teach me the use of my sidewalk to flatten watherstones, sprinkled with some fine sand on the surface to speed up the process.
A power equipement with a low RPM motor (about 1,000) does't heats things up.
-Nedo Cervar
Click to expand...


Most of the grinders I have seen seem to come with 3000 +/- rpm motors with no way to control the speed (unless you get into some very expensive ones which are way beyond my budget).

I have use the sidewalk to flatten whetstones and it works very well. I have never sharpened on knife on the sidewalk though I have touched some edges up on smooth river rocks when I was hunting deer.
 
jhiggins said:
My only concern with the edgepro is that the blade isnt clamped onto the device. You have to hold it with the other hand?
Click to expand...
Jeff, Yes, you use one hand to slide the stone forward-and-back across the edge while the other hand holds the knife on the ramped "table" of the Edge-Pro.

To see the technique pictured in action, click link below from the Edge-Pro website.
http://www.edgeproinc.com/apex model.htm

HTH.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
It is just cheaper, and it is overkill for sharpening anyway. Sharpening a blade with a belt sander is like digging a hole for a fence post with an excavator. -Cliff
Click to expand...
ROFL - that sounds like something I'd do. :) Bladeforums is such a great resource with so many people willing to share their knowledge with others.

I don't need to become a master blade sharpener, but would just like to have enough rudimentary skills so that I can keep my few blades sharp, and occasionally re-profile a blade that has those evil serrations into a plain edge.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with that big Caterpillar track-hoe sitting in my driveway, now that I'm done with my 10 post holes for my fence. ;)

Wayne
 
I make knives and sharpen them on my 2x42 belt sander (called a grinder when using it on metal.)

I also have an Edge Pro Apex, a sharpmaker, and some other gear. I use it all.

I find th eEdge Pro is a great tol to get nice bevels quickly and you have the ability to go with toothier edges or with much much finer edges if you get all of the stones. Definitely a good piece of equipment. Definitely isn't as "plug and play" as a sharpmaker, but a few knives worth of practice and you're good to go.

One thing I share with Cliff is that the Edge Pro (and most systems out there) still requires a rough stone of larger stize for quickly reshaping an edge. I use a 200 grit waterstone for doign this by hand, though I think I will look for an x-coarse or coarse diamond stone from DMT instead.

I also use my grinder for this purpose. It is just way faster than a stone. I find that a light touch, a quick smooth movement and dipping the blad ein water after every pass allows you to really thin an edge out quickly. You can go from the grinder to a Sharpmaker and have a sharp blade in no time flat. With different grits of belts you can smooth uop that relief grind as well, always a good idea.

The essential thign about using a grinder I think is going fast, but doign it smoothly. Like Cliff mentioend, you can heat up an ede very quickly if you are not careful. Go with a light touch and a very smooth movement and do it quickly and you can do an excellent job.

A 1x30 belt sander and a pack of belts is a good investment I think. Especially when it comes time to work that machete, shovel tip, axe, etc.

But defintiely if you have an edge pro or a Sharpmaker or whatever, get a large coarse stone for the thinning work by hand. It makes the job easy and very fast.
 
Late to the party but I love my Edgepro Apex. I was able to test the Pro version in a passaround, and would have liked to own one, but for 1/3 the cost, I am very satisfied with the Apex.

I must be lazy though, because I mostly use the 1st, 2nd and 3rd stones (120, 180 and 320 I think) then when the bevel is set and smoothed, I go straight for the Spyderco sharpmaker to finish.

I do keep several coarse stones as they seem to be the only one that I have worn out. I sacrificed a coarse stone to grind out the serrations on a Buck Strider, turning it into a PE recurve and couldnt have been more pleased with it. I had to lift the stone on angle to work the recurve though. Its the only weakness of the system in my opinion. I saved the blanks and recently glued a round ceramic stone to one. It will hopefully work better where a flat stone just won't.

Couldn't agree more with the sentiment here about buying good tools. They are better in the long run. Heck, they are often better in the short run too.
 
Hi, I am kinda new to the forums (have lurked for a while) and have a question about the preparation of the waterstones before sharpening. Can you use the stones dry or do you have to soak them? I am really thinking about getting an edgepro but would like to know the maintenance and prep work up front so I don't have any surprises. As many others have said before, this is a wonderful forum for information. Thanks.
 
I use an 8X8 baking pan half filled with water and pre-soak the stones I'm going to use while I'm setting everything up for a sharpening session. This seems more useful for the coarser stones.
 
basjoo said:
I use an 8X8 baking pan half filled with water and pre-soak the stones I'm going to use while I'm setting everything up for a sharpening session. This seems more useful for the coarser stones.
Click to expand...

How long do you soak the stones? Do you periodically wash them off during the sharpening process as they load up?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top