I am SLIGHTLY LESS Inept now...

If your bevels already match the degree settings on the sharpmaker than yea the sharpmaker will perform great and get you razor sharp edge. Its just when you need to do a complete reprofile that the sharpmaker is pretty useless unless you have the diamond rods and even than will take a long while to reprofile.
Thats why the edge pro/ sharpmaker combo words really great. Edge pro to reprofile and sharpmaker for touch ups.
 
I had to get it figured out tonight. It is midnight and I have to get up in 5 hours, but it was killing me. My suspicions were correct--one bevel was slightly off so that the stone was NOT hitting the apex. I have now come to realize just why a Sharpie is an important tool when sharpening!

I took the edge all the way down to a 120 stone before it hit the apex on both sides evenly. I worked my way, slowly, up through 1K stone and then through the polishing tapes.

It is an edge I can live with now. Not perfect. There are still some uneven parts on the bevel that will eventually get sharpened out, but I have already removed enough material. The heel needs a little help too, but this edge is 100 times better than what I was able to achieve before!

Pics:
Pretty cleanly sliced copy paper, notebook paper, and newsprint.


That's arm hair! (Gross)


A few shots of the edge:


 
The SM is great till you get a knife that's too obtuse for it and you stand over the thing for hours trying to reprofile. I got fantastic results with the EP but hated the stress of doing a nicer knife with the water and tape and blade scratching and such. Went to the WE and couldn't be happier. Sharpening is a hobby in itself for me so it's worth it to me. It's paid for itself anyway. I wholeheartedly disagree that using a guided system gives you "false confidence" or whatever because a jig is holding the angle for you. Is the thing sharp? Then you seem to know what you're doing, I'd say. You still have to know the basics of sharpening with whatever you use including a SM so I don't understand that. With any system practice makes perfect, and poor technique and/or not being familiar with the basics of sharpening is generally the culprit when it comes to not getting sharp edges. MT&E is a good place for info and to ask questions. Don't throw in the towel just yet, and you're certainly brave for throwing a CRK on there right from the start. ;)
 
My primary sharpening tool is the Sharpmaker followed by an aluminum oxide strop. I have a DMT "aligner" but I only use that to totally reshape an edge, it takes off a lot of metal very, very fast.
 
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