Need thoughts on a sharpener

M

mylastregret

Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Messages
31
What is the best Sharpener to start out with? I'm looking for one that can get the best angle and I was looking at the KME and Edge apex pro.
 
If you're really on a budget, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is a great sharpening tool.

But I'm a big fan of the Wicked Edge. After many years of using Lansky and Gatco systems, I could always get a decent edge, but nothing to brag about with those systems. I ended up with a Wicked Edge and after reading, learning and breaking in the stones, sharpening has NEVER been easier for me. It's extremely easy to put a consistent angle on knives. For me, the hardest part of using the Wicked Edge was fixing the edges of kitchen knives that were sharpened every inconsistent way possible. Once I was able to re-profile the edge to a set angle, resharpening only takes a few passes with the stones. I never go past 600 grit for my kitchen knives, so the Standard package may be good enough for you. On the other hand, once you add in the base and the strops, you're getting close to the price of the Pro Pack I. You could always add pieces in the future if you need more.

Also, buy an angle cube. They're well worth it.
 
The sharpmaker was my first and only sharpening system.

It's good for maintaining knives, not re-profiling. I've been able to bring a dull edge to hair-popping, but there's no way I could repair a rolled or chipped edge/tip. To me, I had to get some good use out of it to appreciate how hard it is to get a good edge on a knife, and I couldn't justify spending that much on a machine that sharpens knives. Now I can understand, and I would go straight for an edge pro or wicked edge if you can muster up the funds.
 
As stated, the sharpmaker is nice to have to touch ups. If you need to reprofile, the best stone system is the wicked edge. Pricey, but well worth it in my opinion.
Another option, one that I just got, is the ken onion worksharp. I have only had it for about a week and can get nice edges on it. It is hard to get the edges perfectly even, but the knives I have sharpened are phone book paper cutting sharp. It is in between the price of a sharpmaker and WE.
 
is the edge apex pro like the wicked edge though in a sense? Though the KME reminded me of a mix between the wicked edge, and the edge apex, because it holds the blade for you. I can get powerful magnets from work that wont budge and are a pain to get off of a metal surface. I could essentially use that to hold the knife into place. I would like to try to sharpen by hand so the ken onion might not be right for me. I feel like with the edge or wicked I can learn to form a sharp and consistent method by getting the exact angle right. I would also like to use it camping and outdoors etc.
 
If you want to try sharpening by hand than just pick up something like a Norton India or Crytolon combination stone and a strop and start practicing. If you feel the need to have something help you pick up a DMT Aligner clamp as you can use that with a benchstone. Once you understand the basics of what you are doing you can start getting some good edges from free hand sharpening with some practice. As a perk this is a lot more useful when you go outdoors as you don't have to lug around your sharpening equipment as you can probably make do with a small pocket stone or some sandpaper.

I am still in the learning process, I can make edges that will shave arm hair to varying degree's of ease. Though that probably will change soon as I realized I've been making a mistake in my sharpening process so once I correct that I imagine it will improve quite a bit. And this is just using the small pocket stones from my DMT Aligner so far. It's far less scary learning how to sharpen by hand than it seems, though I highly recommend using some cheap knives you don't care about to learn on or buy a dedicated knife to practice on.
 
I have a KME and I like it very much. There are a slew of stones that you can choose from and I have been able to obtain a razor sharp edge with no problems. Since the guide rod is inserted into a gimbal their is absolutely no play or slop in the system. I believe that you could train a monkey to use this system and obtain a razor sharp edge. Simply sharpen until you raise a burr and then rotate the knife on it's holder and begin the process again.
 
Bob6794 said:
If you want to try sharpening by hand than just pick up something like a Norton India or Crytolon combination stone and a strop and start practicing. If you feel the need to have something help you pick up a DMT Aligner clamp as you can use that with a benchstone. Once you understand the basics of what you are doing you can start getting some good edges from free hand sharpening with some practice. As a perk this is a lot more useful when you go outdoors as you don't have to lug around your sharpening equipment as you can probably make do with a small pocket stone or some sandpaper.

I am still in the learning process, I can make edges that will shave arm hair to varying degree's of ease. Though that probably will change soon as I realized I've been making a mistake in my sharpening process so once I correct that I imagine it will improve quite a bit. And this is just using the small pocket stones from my DMT Aligner so far. It's far less scary learning how to sharpen by hand than it seems, though I highly recommend using some cheap knives you don't care about to learn on or buy a dedicated knife to practice on.
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I see what your saying, but I would like to learn the form or the angle of the technique so that I can quickly do it by hand. I don't mind spending the money on a system that would gradually teach me, but I can still sell to someone or modify it to make it better. I also think it would be cool to implement all the ideas and roll it in to one concept. I have friends and family that are engineers that can help with making a rig, but will be hard when he is traveling with the IRL.
 
I am actually learning how to sharpen using the Aligner and free hand at the same time. I actually find this beneficial as when I get better in one I can apply it to the other and I have definitely learned things faster this way. Typically when I learn something or find a technique that works better for me I try to apply it to the other system which is usually met with an improvement in that as well. And both things have their strengths and weaknesses so it allows me to find my flaws easier.

Mention this just to make sure you don't think you have to think of it as entirely separate skills. The core principals behind sharpening a knife remains the same and I find learning both at the same time to actually be beneficial to me rather than counter productive like most things.

This is what worked for me, it's not the same for everyone. I just wanted to point out that learning both at the same time may not be the worst idea depending on how you learn.
 
Wicked edge and edge pro are def top of the line, but also alot of money.
If your just starting then I recommend you get a spyderco sharpmaker.
 
I have the sharp maker and I could get a good edge. Make sure you get the extra fine ceramics. I wanted to get a better edge so I sprung for the Wicked edge. It is an amazing system and after about an hour of practicing on old knives you can get a mirror edge. It is easy to use and their website give great tips for sharpening angles. If you have the money it is worth the investment. You can always upgrade the stones as you go as well.
 
I have a Sharpmaker and the WEPS.I can freehand also.The Sharpmaker is the best bang for the buck and tough sledding re-profiling with the stock ceramics.....
 
They all have their good and bad points, you'll find knives and angles etc. that none of them are perfect for. You'll find people out there that swear by and at every one of them. In the end I think the individual needs to find what works best for their needs by trial and error.

One thing that can help is to look at what you own for knives and what you cut everyday and how much time you want to spend sharpening. For example I see a lot of people talking about 5000, 10000, etc. stones but in my experience for general everyday cutting such a finely polished edge is impractical for most tasks I do. I much prefer a medium grit stone say 600 to leave a more "toothy" edge and then maintain it with medium ceramic stones on the sharpmaker. For me the same is true for stropping, I can strop and edge and get it to glide through phone book paper, but during a day of cutting various other things it gives up long before the toothy edge will on the same blade. Perhaps using a black coarse compound would allow stropping to maintain but still keep some tooth in the edge. Now for a deboning knife that super polished edge glides through meat.

For years I used the lansky and sharpmaker combo and honestly it never really failed me. I recently decided to step into the spendy sharpener market and picked up a Edge pro, and a work sharp, and I had some time on a borrowed wicked edge.

The work sharp KO is great for re-profiling, or kitchen knives, it's fast, but for me my technique isn't consistent enough that after sharping several sets of kitchen knives that I'd feel comfortable doing an expensive knife start to finish. For some reason my angles are always skewed a bit. For example I can set the guide to 18 degrees and when I'm done I go to touch it up on the sharpmaker and the right side is always steeper than 20 degrees on folding sized knives (I end up with like 16/22 even if I try to adjust my technique), no problems with kitchen knives. The guide is not ideal on thicker blades. I've used an angle cube on the sharpmaker stones and they are right on at 20.X each side. This isn't a deal killer except again the sharpmaker is the perfect fast edge maintainer for me, so a system that I can't get consistent angles on to work with the sharpmaker isn't ideal. I had no issues rounding tips in fact I thought it was very easy to keep a nice point, and I like that you can keep the angle the same for the whole blade easily by rotating the knife as you draw it through and the idea of convex edges. I'm keeping it for kitchen knives and those knives you want sharp but don't "love". Also while it's very fast, almost scary fast, a lot can go wrong in a hurry. I've also used it for putting a quick regrind bevel on knives that were very steep before moving to the edge pro so it goes faster.

The edge pro gives amazing results, but it's slow, it's messy, and it's high maintenance (having to flatten stones, etc.) It's also very knife specific, it works great for knives with big flats on them, but many folding knives don't have that these days, and even with putting powerful magnets in the base some knives just don't sit on it solidly. Having to hold the knife on the platform solid and using the other hand on the stone to me just introduces too much variation (admittedly a personal issue, plenty of guys do it without problems). I have a couple of folders where the thumb stud does not allow the stone to hit the entire blade length. I don't use it as it's intended in that I don't move the knife blade on the base, I tried that and it's too inconsistent except with big kitchen knives. Especially as you move to the tip there isn't enough knife blade to ensure it stays flat, so now you're moving the blade in and out with variation and it's not sitting flat on the base letting it move up and down. To me it would be better served with a clamp to hold the knife still, though magnets help a lot. It's far too much of a "process" to use for a quick touch up unless all your knives were at the same angle so you could keep the thing setup.

Lansky, it's portable, gives pretty good results, and is pretty cheap even with diamond stones. The new versions seem to be lacking though, the new blade clamp is pretty poor compared to the old one, and even the case is made of cheaper more brittle plastic. Lots of knives don't have good places to solidly clamp to and the new clamp is even more picky about it than the older version. You get a lack of edge angle options.

Sharpmaker, to me it's more of a maintenance tool, I'd hate to have to reprofile an edge with one. It's perfect for a weekly touch up, but there's not much for angle options, and over time it's very easy to round tips off. The more narrow stones (lanksy, sharpmaker etc.) easily slide past the tip and round them over time. I rarely use the fine stones, much less the ultra fine that seem so popular these days. The medium ones give an edge with bite that still easily shaves and slices paper. Many folding knives I get come with a factory edge over 40 degrees inclusive so it's not ideal for that, you can angle the blade but it's hard to do consistently and that's key for a sharp edge. I would not want it for my only sharpener.

Wicked edge, I hate to say it but it's a lansky on steroids, which isn't a bad thing the lansky is a good sharpener. Now it does give much better results, on par with the edge pro, but it has the same problem of having to re-clamp the blade, or deal with changing angles, which is significant on blades with a lot of belly, and few folding blades are solidly clamped toward the tip with bevels, tapers, false edges etc. I like the diamond stones, that need no maintenance. For me I didn't like the blade position, I'd rather have it tilted toward the user at about a 30-45 degree angle, on knives with belly it was too hard to ensure I was getting the tip without sliding off it rounding it, that could be accomplished with an angled base to mount it on easy enough. Plus I'll just say it, price, if you want the fancy parts it's $700. You could buy all the options for all the other sharpeners I've talked about and not spend that much.

The weakness to all these systems is that so far no one has come up with a way to secure a variety blades solidly but also allow the movement needed to keep the stone perpendicular to the edge on blades with belly. I've always thought guides like the one on the worksharp need to be larger, with more flat area to align the knife with to increase consistency.

I guess the moral of the story is they all work and they all have problems. In the end having spent a silly amount of money on sharpeners over the years I honestly don't think I've gained much in real functionality of my edges over my original setup of the lansky/sharpmaker combo. Mostly what I gained was versatility and a bit of consistency, but with a very high price tag.
 
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