I'm lusting after sharpener, really want wicked edge sport pro

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kvanpacker

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Jun 3, 2016
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So I'm novice knife guy, love my spydies and want to keep them $@)/@(&?!:$/ sharp

I want something that with a little effort and learning can get the best results

Can anyone give me some advice on whether or not I should drop the $$$$$ or just send knives off to someone else
 
If you want to keep your knives atom splitting sharp with the least amount of effort, the Sharpmaker is probably the best tool on the market. Go ahead and buy the diamond rods from the outset and you can handle pretty much any sharpening task. A system like the EP or WE will make reprofiles a bit quicker and they also make it easier to polish bevels if you're into that kind of thing, but they are not necessary. The Sharpmaker with diamond rods can handle everything and there is no quicker and easier way to do routine touchups.
 
I'm a relative sharpening novice myself but the sharpmaker was incredibly easy to pickup. Works great. Watch the video that comes with it, check out a few you tube videos, then fill in the blanks with helpful people like gringo and you'll be getting great results in no time!
 
I have an EP Apex. It works great for my "good" knives. Everybody's calculus is different, but for me the Pro doesn't give enough to justify its higher price over the Apex.

It take a while to set up an EP, especially flattening the stones. I have a full set of waterstones. You have to eventually flatten any stones, stock or upgrades. I choose to flatten stones at the beginning of any sharpening session. It's time-consuming but the results are awesome.

For my "beater" knives or the multiple not-fancy knives from our kitchen I use the Sharpmaker with its stock rods. For the results I'm trying to achieve with these knives the SM is adequate. Much much quicker, too.


In other words, buy both (you knew would get that advice sooner or later ;)). I think the Apex is a better choice than the Pro, based on my view of bang for the buck. You can go crazy on Pro + add-on stones if you brainwash yourself reading some other forums that are frequented by afficionados of mirror-finished bevels and ultra-low micron abrasives.
 
delphidoc said:
.......For my "beater" knives or the multiple not-fancy knives from our kitchen I use the Sharpmaker with its stock rods. For the results I'm trying to achieve with these knives the SM is adequate. Much much quicker, too.
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Hi delphidoc, when you say the sm is adequate for the results you are trying to achieve, are you referring to polished bevels or actual level of sharpness. I'm just curious as I have seen no advantage in achievable sharpness in a system like the edge pro over the Sharpmaker.

There are times when I wish I had a guided system like the EP but only for the sake of having prettier and slightly more perfect looking edge bevels. I have no illusion though that I could actually achieve a higher level of sharpness than what I get out of the SM.
 
If, as you state OP, that your objective is to keep your edges sharp with little effort, then I agree with Surfin, a Sharpmaker is the ideal tool.

I have a WE and it's a great system that cost a lot, particularly when including more stones and upgrade parts. I consider it to be more of an enthusiasts set up, one can do great things with it reprofiling and sharpening-wise, and I can enjoy hours using it to get the edge I want.
But once an edge is profiled how I want - at less than 20' per side - then I maintain the edges for a long time with the SM.

I would suggest you get an SM and maybe some extra rods for it, use it and as time goes by you will figure out if you want or need to spend the $$$ on a guided stone system, or occasionally send your knives to someone like Razor Edge for the full monty reprofile and sharpen, which you can then maintain yourself for a good long time with your SM.

Key to getting the best from the SM is, I believe, don't let your edge get too dull. So quick and easy to stay sharp with it.
 
Surfingringo said:
Hi delphidoc, when you say the sm is adequate for the results you are trying to achieve, are you referring to polished bevels or actual level of sharpness. I'm just curious as I have seen no advantage in achievable sharpness in a system like the edge pro over the Sharpmaker.

There are times when I wish I had a guided system like the EP but only for the sake of having prettier and slightly more perfect looking edge bevels. I have no illusion though that I could actually achieve a higher level of sharpness than what I get out of the SM.
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First off, I've got to say I love reading your posts. Many of us live the adventurous life vicariously through them. Way off topic, though.

By adequate I guess I meant the Sharpmaker gives a *useable* edge. Practical, what knives are for.

When I first got hooked on knives I had several weeks off work due to surgery on my neck for a bulging disk. I passed a lot of the time digesting another forum more geared for achieving mirror edges on bevels. I drank the koolaid and ended up buying the EP Apex and a full set of Chosera stones for it. It's cool getting that kind of pretty edge but then I don't want to use the knife for fear of marring that pretty finished bevel. I still use it from time to time but for day-in day-out sharpening on everyday knives it's too time-consuming to flatten the stones and work the blade. Easily takes two hours per knife. I can do every knife in the kitchen drawer on the SM in less time. The knives work as intended, get dull as expected, and get resharpened on the SM without consuming way too much of my free time.

To the OP, my apologies for misreading your post. You were referring to the Wicked Edge, not the Edge Pro. I don't have a WE but my thought process goes double for the WE. It would take twice as long to flatten two stones for each grit level compared to the EP. Not to mention twice the price.
 
I agree. Once your edge is set, unless you are extremely rough on your edges, the sharpmaker takes over from there for a while. Just touch ups. re-setting the edge shouldn't need to be done very often at all.

I've been debating a Wicked Edge myself(Pricey - Pricey) as I have a Edge Pro, I hate dealing with wetting the stones. But I rarely pull out the EP, try to maintain with the SM due to ease of use.

Maybe there is a knives owned value to sharpener cost equation somewhere to validate the cost of a Wicked Edge.:p
 
Kvanpacker,

I would get the Wicked Edge and not look back. About 20 years ago, I bought a Sharp Master. I still have it to this day. I could never get a shaving sharp edge with the SM. I bought a Wicked Edge system about a year ago.

Here's the problem. The SM depends on you holding the knife at the same angle every time. The WE holds the knife and you move the stones that are attached to the sharpener. The WE is very repeatable. I sharpen all of my kitchen knives, Emerson knives, and Spyderco knives with the WE. Once I determine the appropriate angles and log them into my book, there is no guess work. Clamp the blade, set the angles and sharpen away.
 
Dapimpspimp said:
Kvanpacker,

I would get the Wicked Edge and not look back. About 20 years ago, I bought a Sharp Master. I still have it to this day. I could never get a shaving sharp edge with the SM. I bought a Wicked Edge system about a year ago.

Here's the problem. The SM depends on you holding the knife at the same angle every time. The WE holds the knife and you move the stones that are attached to the sharpener. The WE is very repeatable. I sharpen all of my kitchen knives, Emerson knives, and Spyderco knives with the WE. Once I determine the appropriate angles and log them into my book, there is no guess work. Clamp the blade, set the angles and sharpen away.
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Hi Dapimpspimp, what do you do when your knife starts to dull after a couple of days work? Do yo break out the Wicked Edge and resharpen the entire edge bevel again, or do you just keep using until it's relatively dull and another full sharpening is called for? I'm asking because this is the best use for the Sharpmaker in my opinion. If you have, for example, set your edge bevels to 15 degrees per side on the WE it is a very trivial matter to do a light touchup with the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. Literally 5 to 10 passes on the sharpmaker will bring the knife straight back to hair popping sharp. I would strongly suspect that any lack of results you saw before was a result of overly obtuse edge bevels rather than inability to hold the knife vertical. Even the most coordination challenged among us seem to be able to get amazing results with the SM when applying a micro bevel.

I keep the sharpmaker set up in my kitchen. That way, I can give any knife a couple of quick passes whenever they need it. The beauty of this practice is I almost never find myself having to do major sharpening jobs. I might touch my everyday knife up as often as several times a week, but each of those touchups takes less than 60 seconds (often less than 30 seconds). The result of this protocol is, whatever knife I am carrying is ALWAYS at an extreme level of sharpness and I probably don't spend any more total time sharpening than a guy who uses his knife until it is butter knife dull and then does a major edge overhaul.

I am not at all trying to disparage a system like the Wicked Edge. Like i said earlier, there are times when I'm doing a major reprofile that I would appreciate a system like that. My point is only that you might want to give the sharpmaker a chance to work alongside your WE. It is a perfect compliment to a system like the EP or WE. Do your big work on those systems and then you can maintain the microbevel with the SM with just a few seconds of work for touchups. Just set your edge bevel around 15 dps and it will sharpen up in seconds at 20 dps on the SM. It is a very nice combo and when the two systems are used together in that way, you will spend less total time sharpening and you will always be walking around with a scalpel in your pocket.
 
Gringo

Just thinking out loud

With wicked edge for edge touch ups, you set knife in clamp according to records and use the 1200/1600 stones or maybe even the strops to bring back silly sharp edge after use
 
I would get the Sharpmaker and maybe get a Lansky guided system to see if a guided system is really needed or preferred. And it's cheap. The Lansky will give you an idea about the "process" needed to just touch up a knife. You can always sell if and move up. Some people love the process of sharpening a knife to a mirror edge over an hour or two. One knife! In contrast, I can sharpen and entire set of maintained kitchen knives to shaving sharp in about 20 minutes on the Sharpmaker. Do they have a mirror edge? No. Do they cut with like I want/need them to? Yes.

My perspective on sharpening systems is this. You need to decide if sharpening is going to be a hobby for you or if it's just a necessary requirement for owning your knives.

If you want a system to sharpen your knives because you love the technical process or the "art of sharpening" and that's where you get your enjoyment, get a Wicked Edge, EP, Lansky, etc.

If you simply want to get your knives really sharp quickly and effectively and don't really care about the "art of sharpening" or the process, get the Sharpmaker.

Either is fine and there is no right or wrong way. Just depends if you want to spend the time and effort with a guided system.
 
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I have been carving duck decoys for many years and I've always sharpened my carving knives with Japanese wet stones. And not to brag but I'm pretty good at it.

For Father's Day the kids heard me talking about the Sharpmaker and got me one along with some extra stones. All I can say is wow. The learning curve for me was about 2-3 knives. I'm use to free handing the sharpening angle, but going from horizontal on the wetstone to vertical on the sharpmaker took a minute, but it not a hard system to use. Holding the knife straight up and down is much easier and accurate than horizontal.

Many people test knives cutting paper which is fine for the most part. What I like to do is cut paper very thin like a 16th to an 8th which I think can't be done unless your knife has a razor edge. The sharpmaker had no problem getting knives to that point.

I don't recommend to many products on the forum but for the results (and the price!) the sharpmaker is hard to beat....

***Also my wife was thrilled when I did her scissors and gardening shears!
 
kvanpacker said:
Gringo

Just thinking out loud

With wicked edge for edge touch ups, you set knife in clamp according to records and use the 1200/1600 stones or maybe even the strops to bring back silly sharp edge after use
Click to expand...

Hi kvanpacker, you can absolutely do that and you will get good results. I would note though, that the same process takes about 20 seconds on the sharpmaker that I keep set up in my kitchen. Thats 20 seconds to get it back to the same "silly sharp" you are describing. ;) One of the best sharpness tests I use is to touch the edge to the hair of my head like I am combing it. A properly sharpened knife will immediately and firmly bite into the hair and stick there...even when sharpened at a lower grit like 600.

Anyway, I will touch up my daily user several times a week and i am a pretty lazy guy by nature, so the sharpmaker is a much better option for me when it comes to edge maintenance.
 
Surfingringo said:
My point is only that you might want to give the sharpmaker a chance to work alongside your WE. It is a perfect compliment to a system like the EP or WE. Do your big work on those systems and then you can maintain the microbevel with the SM with just a few seconds of work for touchups.
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I agree, they complement each other well. Set the bevel with the EP or WE, set and maintain the micro bevel on the SM.

I have an Edge Pro Apex, but if I had to do it over again, and wanted to save a considerable amount of money, I would instead just get a few DMT diafold X-coarse & coarse & fine stones. The diamond stones have no problem to cut any of the high carbide steels, you don't need to soak them, you don't need to level them. Learn how to set the bevel freehand, which is not difficult with a bit of practice, and then set and maintain the micro bevel with the SM.
 
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Brock O Lee said:
.....Learn how to set the bevel freehand, which is not difficult with a bit of practice, and then cut and maintain the micro bevel with the SM.
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Yes sir, this is exactly what I do when I have a lot of stock to remove, but I use the Lansky bench stones instead. Typically, after I have set my bevel freehand I will then clean it up with the diamond rods at 30 degrees on the SM (just to make sure things are perfect), but that usually only takes a couple of minutes. If I have less material to remove, I will often just reprofile with the diamond rods and the SM.
 
9/10 days it feels like too much work to setup the EP, soak the stones, level them, etc etc etc, before I can start with the actual sharpening.

But then there is the 1/10 days where I enjoy the precision of a guided system and don't mind the extra effort to achieve those perfect bevels.
 
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