professional sharpener

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swasenko

Joined
Dec 12, 2005
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I was looking at spending a good amount of money on a really nice sharpener. I was wondering what most of the knife makers use? I'd like to be able to put a perfect edge on my knives. No small blemishes. I looked at the Tru Hone sharpeners, but $15k seems pretty rediculous unless you're a manufacturer. I wouldn't mind spending $1-2k though if it was worth it. How do most guys hollow grind? Grinders and sanders seem easy, but keeping the knife at a consistant angle seems more difficult. Are there jigs to use?

Thanks
 
In that price range? I'd invest in a good belt, say a Bader BIII, and a selection of belts. It depends on how you define "small blemishes", really, and if you want V-bevel or convex edges. If you don't mind spending the time and you're willing to spend the money, an EdgePro Pro with a set of Chosera or Shapton aftermarket stones (in the range of 1K by the time you're done) will definitely impress you, and holds angle exactly.
 
you might want to check into the paper wheels. i have been sharpening on them for the past 20 years and with a little practice you can put nice edges on knives in just a few minutes. check out this thread where i sharpened 241 folders over a weekend in a total of 17 hours. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=651061 one member who bought a knife was so impressed that he sent me some of his knives to sharpen.

here is my paper wheel thread. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787
 
If you don't care to shell out that much, or have that much space on your bench, my next suggestion down the list would be a Kalamazoo model SM1, and a good selection of Trizact belts. You'll only run around $300 for the whole package there, and it can easily handle any sharpening chore you'd wish to toss it, from pen knives to axes and lawn tools.

Burr king also makes excellent hardware, as Ben mentioned, it's on par with the Bader. A lot of it depends on your intended use: Are you ONLY going to be using it for sharpening knives, or might you be looking to make your own in the future?
 
Review John VerHovens treatise on sharpening. He seems impressed with The Tormek.
As am I. I have a WE for really good knives where I'm willing to put the required time.
But, for quick sharpening for my customers at the Farmers Market, it's Tormek all the
way, following VerHovens technique. I've never had a blade come back because the
customer was not satisfied. This includes professional chefs who keep bringing other
knives to be sharpened.

I'll probably get flamed for suggesting the Tormek, but for my customers, it does a great job.

Bill
 
I've never had a chance to use one, although I think that if I was doing plane irons and stuff like that regularly I'd probably look into it. For knives, I'd be hard pressed to think that anything works better than the belt, especially given the massive versatility. I love being able to go from re-profiling a tip or grinding out chips, to stropping with ultra-fine white compound in an eight-second belt change.
 
I use my KMG grinder to sharpen, but that's probably more than you want to spend. However, you could actually use it to eventually make knives if you wanted.

The Edge Pro system is good if you are patient.

I've heard good things about the paper wheels though.
 
i have a buddy that has a tormek that he uses to sharpen his wood chisels. i was showing him some of my knives one day and he couldnt believe how sharp they were compared to his wood chisels done on the tormek. he asked me what i used to sharpen with and i showed him the wheels since i always carried my portable setup with me in a box.

he asked me if i would touch up his chisels and i did. when i did the first chisel he couldnt believe how much sharper it was just by running an already sharpened chisel on the slotted paper wheel.

a buddy in minnesota sent me a knife that he had sharpened by a local shop that sells mainly kitchen knives. he said they used some kind of motorized stone wheel on it. the edge was so screwed up he thought it was ruined but i fixed it up for him. he said he would never take his knife back but a buddy talked him into letting his buddy that works there sharpen his knife again. the next day he calls and tells me they screwed up his knife again and will be sending it back to me for sharpening.

i decided to call up the store and talked to the owner to find out exactly what they use. i told him about the wheels and sent him some vids of knives i sharpened push cutting newspaper and of one knife i made cutting free hanging newspaper (http://knifetests.com/kII.html).

he has now moved all of his previous equipment to the back of the store and has several paper wheels set up for sharpening.
a lot of his customers are chefs and they love the edges the wheels put on a knife. if you wish to talk to the store owner i can send you his number. i'm sure he will tell you to go with the wheels.

if you want a belt sander made just for sharpening convex edges, i can send you pictures of mine that i made.
 
If you save up you could get a Dozier Grinder. You could sharpen and make knives. Now the grinder is only for working up the burr and you would need to remove the burr before you were finished.
 
Thanks guys. I think I will buy a belt sander and some paper wheels. What paper wheels should I get? Is there a thread on how to use them well? Do I use buffing compounds with them, or just use them dry?
 
So i just use different rouge's on the wheels? I have quite a few different rouge's here. That leaves a polished edge. What about a toothed edge? How do the pros do that? The striders and microtechs I have come with very toothed edges.

What's the best way to do serrated edges? Right now I have round and convex ceramic stones abd that sucks. How the professional companies do those?
 
The wheels come with everything you need to get rolling. :) One is a silicon-carbide grit wheel, one is a paper wheel used with the supplied white polishing compound.

That's where the belt is rather handy, just pick whatever belt corresponds to the finished edge you want (play around with it a bit to find exactly what performs best for you) and use that belt as your finisher. Then use a leather belt and strop to remove the burr.
 
swasenko. i posted the link to my paper wheel thread. if you are in the states send me a pm with your number and i'll give you a call and fill you in on the wheels. here is the best brand of wheels out there as far as i'm concerned. i bought a cheap set once and thats exactly what i got. i wore out the cheap slotted wheel but my good slotted wheel is still going strong. http://www.sharpeningwheels.com/
 
+1 for the paper wheels... richardj will get u set up, contact him. for serrated knives? check out Post # 9 ... again, paper wheels take the cake =).
 
Now *I* am quite interested in the paper wheels for serrations, actually. I love my belts for edges, but it's next to impossible to do serrations with it. I mean, you can kinda take a shot at it with the edge of the belt, but it doesn't work well. Does someone sell a combo pack of the profiling wheels that are already gritted, etc? I don't use serrated knives myself, but I do sharpening down at a local sporting goods place, and I occasionally have someone bring in one that is.
 
i sent you an email kom... you will have to profile and grit them yourself, but they work great!
 
Thanks! They're cheap enough that I'm just tempted to order a handful and experiment a bit. If nothing else, could be a really interesting excuse to play with more knives. :D
 
i used to use my 1" slotted wheel for touching up serrations and i still do if they are not that bad. for serrations that are bad i have some special stones for my dremel for reshaping serrations. i try not to use them unless i have to since i am not able to get anymore of them.
 
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