Overview and first thoughts on the Edge Pro sharpener

STR

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I recently purchased the Edge Pro system from Ben Dale after many years of putting it off. Lately some of the harder blades have been giving me fits and after reading about the Edge Pro I decided to give it a try. Here are my thoughts on the system so far. I realize this may have been done many times before but I wanted to make a fresh post on it for anyone thinking about this system.

The Apex System by Edge Pro

What you get in the kit when you buy it is:

The apex sharpening system depending on what you order. It comes in a carry case with
whatever stones you ordered along with
the water bottle and manual to give basic instructions. A video tape is optional except on the more expensive kits.
I ordered my kit directly from Ben.

To start you off Ben Dale places a single new piece of blue painters tape on the table for you.
The kit runs appx. $135 to as much as $540 plus dollars depending on the one you opted to buy.

My kit included the Apex system w/ standard 220grit stone and water bottle with instructions. I also recieved the 320, the 600, and the 120 grit course stones, along with the ceramic rod. Ben was kind enough to throw in some of the polish strips for me to try on my wood carving knives. The total of my kit was $185 shipped.

But even after spending this much for the sharpener the kit is not quite ready to use just yet when you get it. Not if you want to do things right anyway.

You still need to purchase painters tape to protect the knives you sharpen from being all scratched up by the stone debris, and you still need to obtain some small riser blocks or make your own for smaller knives of less length than the table is wide. Since neither of these are included in any of the kits from Edge Pro they need to be obtained if you want to use the kit correctly. Even though these are not included Ben readily admits they are needed to sharpen the knives so they are scratch free when done, he also agrees that he uses these at the shows to do scratch free sharpening of usually close to 100 knives or more on a weekend. So all of this is in his personal kit he takes with him.

Personally, for the money I feel the tape and the riser blocks should be included with the rest of the kit or at least available as an option to purchase with the kit, particularly when the company that makes the kit knows full well that in order to use it without scratching up every blade you sharpen that it is a must have.

Does the kit work? Oh yeah. It gets your knives very sharp. The water stones work very well and control of the bevel angle is superb with this system. You have color coded marking on the system for 10 up to 24 degrees. The bevel is constant once set and using a felt tip marker to mark the edge before getting going is a simple enough chore. By seeing where the stone takes off the ink you can adjust it so that it is set correctly to the factory bevel or you can easily reprofile it to a steeper or less steep angle depending on preference. I might also add that you have to purchase or otherwise obtain your own marker.

Once the bevel is defined it is a simple process of sharpening. For some that are not amidextrous in nature it may be a bit tricky to get this system to work for you at first. This is especially true if you are all thumbs with your opposite hand. When you flip the blade you will have to switch hands to continue sharpening the other side.

I did learn the hard way not to set the system up on a good table top. After sharpening some 50 or more knives in my own home I did have some stone debris on the table and when removing that to throw it out the table did get scratched up some, so I'd suggest setting the system in a pan like a cake dish or some other such thing to catch any stone debris during use, especially if you are going to be doing several knives using the courser stones

The course stone cuts very fast. It will also readily absorb water although it doesn't require much. The 220 grit stone soaks in water readily also. The finer stones do not take in much water at all. In fact I've found those seem to fair better if you soak them first before use. Other wise the stones pores clog up and you need to stop often to clean them off.

My favorite part of the kit is the ceramic. I have never liked ceramic much but must admit that the 1200 grit ceramic in this kit does a wonderful job of setting the final edge to a nice bite. Used in conjunction with the 320 grit stone you can get a very very nice edge on most knives and maintaining the edge you just created is an easy task using the ceramic everynow and then as a touch up.

During the time I used the kit getting to know it I found that the knives I struggled with the most to sharpen are Spyderco folders. I feel that if Spyderco is your primary knife and the one you will sharpen the most you need to opt for the Sharpmaker as Bens Edge Pro is not really set up to accomadate the Spyderco opening hole on their blades. The easiest knife to sharpen by Spyderco using the Edge Pro system was the Native and it sharpened easy because it does not have the typical 'hump' formed by the hole in the blade. What I found troublesome using the EdgePro on Spyderco knives is making sure the blade is set in the same spot when flipping it. Due to the hump you have to give it your best guess to make it work. It was awkward to say the least.

On some of the longer kitchen knives it is also necessary to do the sharpening in steps because if the blade bends some from overhanging on the table it can make the bevel off toward the tip.

On knives that are double edged such as my Atkinson hand made the Edge Pro system simply will not work. If you can't sit the knife flat on the table there is no way to evenly control where the bevel goes. It is hard enough at times to keep from moving the blade when it is flat. But when compounded with a Spyderhole or a double grind it becomes quite tricky to say the least. I could perhaps make a special block for this one double edged folder so it would allow the knife blade to sit flat but it seemed too much trouble to go to for just one knife in my collection. I'll just free hand that one like I've always done in the past.

After owning and using the Edge Pro for 5 days it is readily apparent to me that the edges it produces are top drawer. It does particularly well on kitchen knives. I can honestly say my kitchen is lethal now. On smaller knives it is a bit of a struggle and somewhat cumbersome yet still possible to do using the Edge Pro. I often wondered why many people that own the Edge Pro system also owned one or more of the other sharpening systems on the market. Now I know. No one system covers all knives completley or conveniently. The Sharpmaker and the Edge Pro system compliment each other quite well. It seems where one leaves off the other picks up nicely. Unfortunately by the time you acquire both systems and the accessories needed to make them work you are well above the cost of three of four good USA made knives though. Perhaps a great deal more depending on what kit and what accessories you go with.

Overall the EdgePro is a good system. I would have to say that it is the fastest way to sharpen by hand that I have ever seen. To get any faster than this would require motorized equipment and even then the heat produced by such systems can be damaging to the blades. I don't see any way to ever heat up a blade using this system. For the money it is a good one to consider. Just be aware of the shortcomings of it before the purchase and you'll be that much farther ahead when it arrives.

STR
 
As someone who just "pulled the trigger" on an Apex (it should arrive in the next day or two), I appreciate your review immensely.

Could you clarify what you meant by the following two statements?

You still need to purchase painters tape to protect the knives you sharpen from being all scratched up by the stone debris

you still need to obtain some small riser blocks or make your own for smaller knives of less length than the table
 
Ted. Ok simply put.

Ben told me both on the phone and in an email that these items were necessary. If you want to sharpen the knives and not scratch them you have to tape the flat parts of the blade as well as the tang of each and every blade to prevent the grit from the stones (especially the course one) scratching up your blade. This occurs from the grit laying on the table and in on or around the guide where you set the blade.

After sharpening one side of your blade you flip the blade over and switch hands and if you have not taped up the blade you set the other side of the knife right down on the grit from sharpening the first side. This isn't so noticed with the fine stones as it is with the two courser ones but it happens over time with all of them. This is the case even if you wipe the table between flips. Believe me I've tried without tape and you can't avoid scratches if you don't do this step of taping the blade.

Ben says he sharpens about 100 per show on a weekend scratch free so it is obvious to me after using the system that he is doing this by taping up the blades first, which means he has a roll or several rolls of tape on hand at the shows. One of his employees told me I am the only customer to ever mention this problem but Ben seemed more than versed in his answer to me about it when I mentioned my concerns with scratches on the blades. It seems to me he is fully aware of it or he would not see the need for the tape.

Here is a paste of his exact words to me on how to answer your questions.

I like to tell customers not to sharpen knives you don't want to
scratch until you have really gotten comfortable with the machine. You do
have to be careful but it is totally possible to do it without to much
effort. I will do as many as 100 knives at the knife shows in a weekend, and
I have never made a mark on one yet. If I get a knife I do not want to make
any marks on I put the painter tape on the blade, especially if I have to
move the knife during sharpening. The second trick is not to move the knife.
That is very easy to do if the blade is longer than the BLADE TABLE is wide.
Put a clean piece of tape on the BLADE TABLE, set the knife on it and
sharpen the whole blade and do not move the knife. If the knife is a stiff
blade, it can be up to 4" long and you don't have to move the knife, just
walk around the tip, leaving it off the side of the machine. This will give
you a slight angle gain, which is a advantage on all sporting knife because
they tend to very thick at the tip. If the blade is shorter than the width
of the BLADE TABLE, you can make a RISER BLOCK (RB) to set the knife on. I
plan on putting these instructions on the web site as soon as I get home. I
use garden stakes, but you can use any small piece of wood, it just needs to
be thicker than the handle of the knife on one side. Cut a piece the length
and width of the blade. Lay the knife on the RB and draw the shape of the
tip and round the corners to that shape. If the knife has a thumb stud,
notch out the opposite corners. Center the block at the edge of the BLADE
TABLE and tape it in place. Bring the KNIFE GUIDE up against the RB with the
GUIDE CLIP on. If the GUIDE CLIP does not stick up above the RB put
something under the KNIFE GUIDE to raise it and lock it in place. Now you
can set the knife on the RB and sharpen the knife without moving it, so no
scratches. It usually only takes a couple of different size RB's to fit all
of you knives. After you make then it just takes seconds to put them on.
 
A tip from a user of many years. Make a note of the angle used for each blade. Trust me , this is easily forgotten. Also I actually measure the distance from the table lip to the leading edge of the 'guide'.

This allows one to exactly reproduce the angle on a knife sharpened months previous and speeds up the re sharpening time with minimum metal removal.
 
Got it. Thanks.

Got the Apex today. I managed to get a sharp knife really dull before I made any gains. It will take a little practice to get it exactly right, but so far, at least I have an idea as to what I'm not doing exactly right.
 
STR said:
One of his employees told me I am the only customer to ever mention this problem ...

It has been discussed as long as the sharpener has been mentioned, for example :

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1565203&postcount=7

is three years ago, it wasn't new then. It was commonly brought up because one of the advantages of the Edge Pro is the ability to make bevels look really nice and even and taken to a mirror finish and thus some argued for it for presentation grade sharpening for which you likely don't want scratches on the blade.

-Cliff
 
Yes. I knew the the scrathes had been something of an issue because shortly after seeing what was going on with my own knives I did a search and found several other mentions of it.

In defense of the girl that told me this, it is possible that she was referring to the mention of scratching up the table top and not the knives when she said I was the only person to ever complain about it.

Either way I doubt I'm atypical on these points but to give the benefit of the doubt it is possible no one has ever bothered to tell them when they noticed they scratch up the area they sharpen in.

I also fail to see how adding a roll of tape can raise the price that much. This argument was presented also to me. To me the kit is not complete without the tape and it should be there to get people up and running with a ready to use kit when they first get it in the mail. I mean they provide the water bottle because you need that so why not the tape? The riser blocks Ben mentioned are somewhat of a specialty item so those could be another accessory item sold as an option like the diamond stones but as far as I'm concerned if tape is needed to do the sharpening correctly without damage to the blade then it should be included in the kit.

The assumption that everyone has tape on hand that will work for this job is rather a bit of a leap. I have packing tape and fiber glass tape and maybe some scotch tape in my home. None of which are appropriate for the job due to several reasons but that is another story. To make the kit useable for me it required a trip to Lowes to pick up some painters tape like that recommended by Ben.

To be perfectly honest it seems a bit ridiculous to this buyer to have to hop in your car and make a trip to the local hardware store for tape to complete the kit after already spending more for the kit than many of the competitor kits available. Tape should be in there with the water bottle and the wiping cloth when you buy the kit.

Other than this one thing though it is a fine system and certainly does get the knives sharper quicker than any other hand method of sharpening I have seen or used.


STR
 
Mine arrived but I got sidetracked by a small but tastefull blizzard (16 inches in the driveway). I have always taped my good knives using other sharpeners because it only takes one slip to have to do a ton of polishing. I usually use masking tape or packing/wrapping tape and wipe what little goo it put on the blade off after sharpening when I wipe the blade down anyway.

Did you notice any difference in the way different types of knife steel sharpened?

I'm going to reread you post because I'm a little foggy about the "blocks" part.
 
I must admit I'm fuzzy about the riser blocks too. I have not made any.

The system doesn't seem to care what steel you sharpen. The stones make short work of anything you use them on.

STR
 
I've never taped any of my knives, and never scratched any of them either. Masking tape would work just as well, if you're worried about that sort of thing. Markers and masking tape are items that most homes would have in them anyway, I would think.

The edge pro is by far the best non-motorized system that I have ever come across. It's not perfect, but much, much better than any others, IMO.
 
Since making this post I've found several other posts mentioning the same issue of scratches.

For example: Every knife I used the edgepro on has tell tell signs that it was sharpened on the edge pro. Even my wife can tell which ones were and were not sharpened using my new sharpener. Granted all these are ones sharpened during the learning curve of my getting to know the system.

Perhaps over time you've gotten better than I am at holding the blades still. That or maybe you just haven't looked closely at the knives you have sharpened. On used knives it is not so noticed or even a worry, but when you take a NIB knife out and sharpen it and then notice how it looks after sharpening the difference is quite profound. I might add that it is usually more profound with the course stone and not so much over the others.

I guess I should also add that I'm not mentioning this to complain about the system so much as to just make people aware. The sharpener is the best I've used so I'm not saying it doesn't work. It really can bring a better edge back to a blade than the factory edge on most every knife sharpened on it.

STR
 
I've scratched a few blades with the EdgePro, but not much. That water bottle and a little dab with the enclosed facecloth are scratch-avoiding magic. Roshi and Cliff have the two knives I did scratch (EdgePro and Extrema Ratio are not friends in my house).

To me, the EdgePro is the ultimate in 'keeping uber-sharp knives looking pretty,' but I've gotten knives as sharp or sharper with a belt sander and a strop.
 
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