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Help me pick a sharpening system.
- Thread starter marsalla
- Start date
This is not an answer, but it reminds me of when I asked a similar question a couple of years ago and got annoyed by people answering "learn free hand sharpening" or "get a bench stone". In the end (after owning a sharpmaker and an edge pro) I ended up using bench stones (water stones), so in the end they were right 
.
On the topic: the edge pro works great, but it's a bit fiddly and technical if you want to maintain the same angles. I pretty much only used it for setting new edges on knives. Not so much for maintenance, although it can be used for that as well. I needed to set a new edge on a new folding knife recently and considered pulling out the edge pro (I mostly sharpen kitchen knives and fixed blades by hand), but then I thought that I want to be able to easily maintain the edge, so I ended up sharpening it by hand instead.
.On the topic: the edge pro works great, but it's a bit fiddly and technical if you want to maintain the same angles. I pretty much only used it for setting new edges on knives. Not so much for maintenance, although it can be used for that as well. I needed to set a new edge on a new folding knife recently and considered pulling out the edge pro (I mostly sharpen kitchen knives and fixed blades by hand), but then I thought that I want to be able to easily maintain the edge, so I ended up sharpening it by hand instead.
Hello I have never used a kme but it looks good. I have an apex EP and it's a great sharpener. However mrdeus is right, it can get tricky maintaining a constant edge. It's easy if you have knives that have flats in the grind. Hope this makes sense. I also mainly freehand sharpen using bench stones.
It's fairly easy to maintain the angle for one sharpening session. That's the strength of the system. It's a bit fiddly to get the same angle the next time you sharpen the knife if you just want to touch it up. You can get the same angle, but to me it feels like too much work for touching up the edge.
I can only speak from my own experience. I have had a KME system for several years now and have sharpened countless knives on it. For me, it has performed beyond expectations and can produce exceptionally sharp edges. There is a wide array of "stones" available as well as strops and a jewel stick to do recurve blades on. Very consistent and easy to adjust and it's quite an affordable system to get into. I do not have any experience with anything else other than a sharp maker and free hand. I use my KME to reprofile and then free hand for touch ups and maintaining my edges.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,287
Have you ever sharpened a knife before?
Do you own any abrasives ( sandpaper , stone )?
What kind of knives do you plan to sharpen, are the sides flat like a kitchen knife or swiss army kinfe, or are the sides angled every which backwards and forwards ("fancy" non-slip joint type folding knife)?
I thought about buying a system, or even expensive stones, but all the knives that survived in my kitchen are under $10 , so I bought a norton economy stone (~$7)
I even thought about making a fancy angle jig, but materials would cost me more than I paid for the stone
if you have a dollar store knife
if you have some sandpaper to glue to a stick,
or if you have a dollar store that sells sharpening stones (lucky)
all you need is a paper wedge angle guide to help you make up your mind
1287394-Sharpening-stone
1282908-freehand-sharpening-help
Do you own any abrasives ( sandpaper , stone )?
What kind of knives do you plan to sharpen, are the sides flat like a kitchen knife or swiss army kinfe, or are the sides angled every which backwards and forwards ("fancy" non-slip joint type folding knife)?
I thought about buying a system, or even expensive stones, but all the knives that survived in my kitchen are under $10 , so I bought a norton economy stone (~$7)
I even thought about making a fancy angle jig, but materials would cost me more than I paid for the stone
if you have a dollar store knife
if you have some sandpaper to glue to a stick,
or if you have a dollar store that sells sharpening stones (lucky)
all you need is a paper wedge angle guide to help you make up your mind
1287394-Sharpening-stone
1282908-freehand-sharpening-help