Help me choose a guided system

T

Twinsdad

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Jul 13, 2015
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I’m trying to decide on a guided system. I was all set on the kme deluxe set then I went to the gritomatic site. Man they have tons of cool stuff. Was checking out the tsprof household kit with chosera stones, the edge pro custom kits, and that vector kit. They all seemed to have the same chosera stones and a couple other choices. What is so special about the tsprof over the others? Will the jaws that come with that kit work with typical folders? Are those chosera stones easy to work with or will I get a slurry mess. I had a wicked edge years ago i got second hand it was a pain to get set up in the jaws but I think the original owner jacked it up somehow. Budget is mid 5s but don’t really want to. The kme is like 320 or so. Are any of the others worth the difference? Thanks guys
 
I've had edgepro, wicked edge, kme and now tsprof - I like the tsprof the best and use venev diamond stones
 
harivney said:
I've had edgepro, wicked edge, kme and now tsprof - I like the tsprof the best and use venev diamond stones
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Thanks for your reply. Do you think it’s 200 more dollars better then kme? I also see a outdoors kit but I can only find it in stock at the manufacturer it seems it has more jaws included. Are the basic jaws good for most knives? Another question how long does it take to get one from the manufacturer? What’s the difference with the k02 wrangle star system dlt has in stock?
 
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I bought my KME years ago, when it came with just the ceramic and natural stones. As I started buying higher alloyed steels I set about getting the diamonds and then started getting multiple strops and was beginning to eyeball the water stones and films. That's when I realized I much, much prefer lower grit edges. Once you manage to polish the edge and that sense of satisfaction is gone, you go back to focusing on performance. That sort of got lost as I chased shiny bevels. For me, polished edges just don't perform general purpose cutting very well. I remember one of my super shiny kitchens knives sliding off the skin of a tomato. It was extremely sharp but it had no bite.

I don't use my KME all that much any more as I prefer freehand sharpening but I rarely go above the 300grit and almost never past the 600.

I wouldn't want to use water stones with a clamp system but I know a lot of folks do.
 
Eli Chaps said:
I bought my KME years ago, when it came with just the ceramic and natural stones. As I started buying higher alloyed steels I set about getting the diamonds and then started getting multiple strops and was beginning to eyeball the water stones and films. That's when I realized I much, much prefer lower grit edges. Once you manage to polish the edge and that sense of satisfaction is gone, you go back to focusing on performance. That sort of got lost as I chased shiny bevels. For me, polished edges just don't perform general purpose cutting very well. I remember one of my super shiny kitchens knives sliding off the skin of a tomato. It was extremely sharp but it had no bite.

I don't use my KME all that much any more as I prefer freehand sharpening but I rarely go above the 300grit and almost never past the 600.

I wouldn't want to use water stones with a clamp system but I know a lot of folks do.
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I was kind of on same page as u with water stones. The one set I do have are so messy.
 
Twinsdad said:
Thanks for your reply. Do you think it’s 200 more dollars better then kme? I also see a outdoors kit but I can only find it in stock at the manufacturer it seems it has more jaws included. Are the basic jaws good for most knives? Another question how long does it take to get one from the manufacturer? What’s the difference with the k02 wrangle star system dlt has in stock?
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200 more - it depends how acute you want to go. IMO, we, edgepro, and KME are not my choice when sharpening at acute angles. For example, if I sharpen at 6 degrees per side (12 inclusive), I use the filet clamps on Tsprof. Search their website and find out the lowest angle the std jaws can handle. If I needed to sharpen only at 18 or 20 degrees, the KME would suffice. Take a look at tsprof blitz model that supposed to be available soon. I don't know its capabilities. Its much cheaper than std tsprof. Jende also has one.

tsprof is built like a tank and will hold up for your grand son and great grand son
 
I've used Edge-Pro and Wicked Edge extensively. Both are truly superb.

I prefer the Edge-Pro, and today, that's what I use 90 percent of the time. But if an Edge-Pro wasn't available, I;d be perfectly happy with a WE.

And I must respectfully disagree that a finely polished edge doesn't cut as well as a rough edge.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. Either does well if used for the type of cutting that it's best suited for. Some of my knives are finished fairly rough. (2,000 Grit)

Others are stoned to 15K, then stropped to .25 micron and shine like a mirror. Both do what I expect of them and do it well.
 
Ben Dover said:
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And I must respectfully disagree that a finely polished edge doesn't cut as well as a rough edge.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. Either does well if used for the type of cutting that it's best suited for. Some of my knives are finished fairly rough. (2,000 Grit)
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I agree various types of edges exceed at certain things, but for me, and my general use, I do not like polished edges in most cases.

My only point was to offer something else to consider that might save some money. I say that because when I was diving into that stuff I got super caught up in the idea that shinier meant sharper and I started thinking that I had to obtain those kinds of edges to obtain ideal sharpness. It's easy to get sucked into that idea when you're researching. So just offering my own experience in case others find themselves in the same spot.

But if someone wants to get their bevels all mirrored up, more power to them.
 
I recently bought the KME and I love it. It might not do everything with the Deluxe kit in a stock setup but for starting out it is great I think. I was tempted by iirc a gritomatic model but cost of it vs the KME I felt that the KME was a better investment. If I had more money to spend and more space to store and use the sharpener I would have looked more at the gritomatic option. I have the water stones from the deluxe but so far I only use the diamonds and the strop.
 
STATELLC has the TSProf Outdoorsman kit for 499 with stones and wrench's with free shipping,the only other thing you need is an angle cube and I would also get the reinforced spring's as well.

I have had the KME and the short stones really suck as well as the stone selection for the KME,the KME also has problems with the rubber pads on the jaws coming off as well,I also did a review of the Vector and trust me your money would be better spent on a TSProf system.

I have tried many different systems and out of all of them the TSProf is by far the best,the selection of stuff you can get afterwards is second to none if you ask me,I would get the Outdoorsman Kit and the reinforced spring's for the single and double clamps that come with that kit and also an angle cube then wait a month or 2 and get some better stones.

https://www.statesllc.com/products/new-k03-outdoorsman-kit-free-shipping-conus-out-stock

You can the spring's on the page in this link.

https://www.statesllc.com/component
 
I disagree with the KME sucking. It's a quality system. Yes, longer stones will generally go faster but all things are a trade off.

There is zero need to spend $500 to get outstanding edges on your personal knives.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Statellc is out of stock,hopefully they get some in soon. I think I read your review on the vector+.
 
Twinsdad said:
I’m trying to decide on a guided system. I was all set on the kme deluxe set then I went to the gritomatic site. Man they have tons of cool stuff. Was checking out the tsprof household kit with chosera stones, the edge pro custom kits, and that vector kit. They all seemed to have the same chosera stones and a couple other choices. What is so special about the tsprof over the others? Will the jaws that come with that kit work with typical folders? Are those chosera stones easy to work with or will I get a slurry mess. I had a wicked edge years ago i got second hand it was a pain to get set up in the jaws but I think the original owner jacked it up somehow. Budget is mid 5s but don’t really want to. The kme is like 320 or so. Are any of the others worth the difference? Thanks guys
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I went with the Hapstone R1 with diamond plates - it’s very similar to the TSProf. So far no regrets and the price was a little better.
 
I was checking the r1 out too. They only have it with the boride stones or chosera. I don’t know much about boride at the moment but the chosera seem messy.
 
Twinsdad said:
I was checking the r1 out too. They only have it with the boride stones or chosera. I don’t know much about boride at the moment but the chosera seem messy.
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When I bought mine from GritOmatic you could choose the base model and add any stones you want - I went with the diamonds.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I ended up finding a kme on the exchange for a good deal. Will see how I do with it. 99% of what I’ll be using it for is folders like hinderers and spydercos etc
 
Twinsdad said:
Thanks for the input guys. I ended up finding a kme on the exchange for a good deal. Will see how I do with it. 99% of what I’ll be using it for is folders like hinderers and spydercos etc
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Hope you like it. If you haven't already, go on YouTube and find Dean O. He hasn't posted in some time but his KME videos are excellent. he even has one on customizing it with different knobs and such. I don't put in as much time as he does (strokes, flips, etc.) but it is till a great resource for KME sharpening. KME also has a YouTube channel.

With your Spydercos, something I sharpened a lot of on my KME, be sure to pinch the tip-end corner of the clamp really hard when tightening. The distal taper means the clamp will bite hard on the handle end but might be loos on the tip end. People will say you cannot get them tight. That's largely untrue. Just pinch the Hell out of the corner and tighten. If that fails, you might need some tape but I found that rarely necessary.
 
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