Ready To Spend Some Money, Help!

Sulaco

Sulaco

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
2,421
I have been a member here for a while now and have owned and used knives for years and years. I have mostly made do with an old Lansky sharpening system and some sort of "firestone" pull through contraption (that actually works ok). Other than that, I have send knives off to be sharpened or just replaced them.

Needless to say, I have drawers worth of knives, both kitchen and utility that need to be sharpened. I NEED a good method that will last.

Some of my knives have good edges and just need to be touched up while others are totally screwed and probably need to be thrown out. But, I would love to be able to bring them all back up to working order.

I am hearing a lot about the Spyderco Sharpmaker and the EdgePro systems lately. Given what I need and wanting of course, some sort of method to do long term maintenenace, what should I do?

I am not against learning how to use a flat stone and have a few donor knives I could use, but I also want to be able to reprofile and ocassionally just knock out a quick cutting edge. I guess I want it all. Is the EdgePro the answer? Should I get both!?!

I can afford to get both if I can find the best prices online. Can someone tell me where to go?

Thanks for the help!

Oh and one last thing, Natchez Shooter's Supply had some great prices on Puma knives. I bought a Skinner for less than half of what they sell for on regular sites. The only problem is it shipped with a not so great edge. It had a good profile (probably somewhere between 30-40) just not too sharp.
 
Just use a belt grinder and some files. They'll make short work of your knife sharpening.



















I mean........they'll make short work of your knife. :D

I'd say go EdgePro.
 
Your Lansky should work for what you want. Why cann't you use that?
 
The Lansky seems to take for freaking ever. Maybe I need some of the Diamond stones for it? I think I will just go with the Sharpmaker for now and see what happens. Thanks for the info!
 
If you think the Lansky takes forever your not going to be happy with a Sharpmaker. The Sharpmaker will take alot longer unless your edges are fairly sharp and thinner than the preset angles. You could get the DMT clamp and rod system it will work with the Lansky clamp and rods. The DMT hones are very nice and do remove steel pretty fast. Or if you really want to spend some $ the EDGEPro is thought of by many to be the best, I've never used one. I personally think a few bench hones coarse med and fine and sharpen free hand is the best way to go. It's not even close to as hard as people think to learn. If I can learn to do it anyone can.
 
I have both a sharpmaker, and an EZE Sharp system (1/2 price 87.00 at wolf industries). for large knives, the eze sharp is phenominal, and the sharpmaker (which is actually pretty quick if you start on the diamond triangles) is the cat's meow for maintainence. Once you do the initial sharpening on the sharpmaker, which will take awhile, and get the angles set correctly, the future sharpenings are quick and painless. One more thing you should get as it will make you a better sharpener, and will reveal the source of many frustrations is a loupe at least 10x, I really like the one at lee valley 15x lighted loupe for 21.50, but you can buy a 10x at wolf camera for 8.00 here is the link to the lee valley loupe. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=51092&cat=1,43456,43351

since I have had one of these, I have improved my sharpening technique and time by an order of magnitude.
 
What is the EZE Sharp System?

I went ahead an ordered the Sharpmaker. If it doesn't do what I want, I will probably just go ahead and get the EdgePro.

The loupe is a good idea. I may have to "borrow" one from work. ;)
 
I've done the belt sander and sharpening wheels thing for a number of years. It isn't for everyone and great care must be taken to do it right. Heating up the blade is a problem for some, but the real problem doing things this way is that it takes far too much steel off than is necessary to properly sharpen a blade. Buying this type system is not the end all to sharpening systems and in fact I only use my wheels and belts for when I'm making a knife to put the first edge on a blade, or for when I'm doing a whole kitchen's worth of knives and time is an issue. If you are talking about a sharpener for your hunting knife and folding knife don't bother with the expense of motorized equipment.

It is best to go to hand sharpening for a number of reasons really. One is, there is little chance of heating up the blade this way. Two, you can do your sharpening in a much more convenient way and there is little chance you will need to do it with a machine run wheel except for major reprofile work to start a new edge to maintain or change the angle of the old one.

I finally broke down and bought the Edge Pro Apex sharpener just about a month ago. I own the Ready Edge sharpeners, DMT, and EZELap diamond sharpeners and a very old very well used Sharpmaker. Of all of these I'd rate the Edge Pro the best, but the diamonds are certainly capable and inexpensive to own by comparsion. The Sharpmaker is particularly good if you own a lot of Spyderco knives. For me the Edge Pro is harder to sharpen my Spydercos on. The opening hole makes it awkward.

I think the Ready Edge ultra fine dry hone is a great stone. I almost wish I could mount that one on my Edge Pro but for ease of use, and speed the Edge Pro beats out the Ready Edge system hands down. Actually the Edge Pro and the Sharpmaker compliment each other quite well and if I had to do it all over again those would be what I'd go for now only I'd include a diamond sharpener in each kit.

STR
 
I added a pair of the diamond rods and the ultra fines to my Sharpmaker. Glad I did.

Still want an Edge Pro someday, but more knives first!
 
I am keeping my blades sharp with my Sharpmaker. It's great for maintenance but I would not want to redo a really worn blade. Mr. Riley at SEVERTECH is planning on marketing a new sharpener. If it's anything like his knives it oughta' be a real "meat eater".
 
Sulaco said:
What is the EZE Sharp System?

I went ahead an ordered the Sharpmaker. If it doesn't do what I want, I will probably just go ahead and get the EdgePro.

The loupe is a good idea. I may have to "borrow" one from work. ;)
Click to expand...

The EZE Sharp system is a Heavy duty adjustable angle sharpening system similiar to the edge pro except that the blade is clamped in place in a "flip" rather than being held in place on the blade table. Here is a link to the sale page http://www.wolffind.com/6A370D81538...RPENER&sc_id=6F5CBEAA45684F398BA52C9D52E5578B

here is a link to the manufacturer's site

http://www.ezesharp.com.au/

The biggest problem I have seen people have with the sharpmaker is their initial use. First, it can be hard for some people to get the motion used for sharpening down (usually only a knife or two to work that out). Second, people sharpen for many, many, many strokes, and still don't have a sharp knife and wonder why. The answer to the second problem is that very few knives come with angles matching the sharpmakers options, so the first sharpening usually takes awhile to work the bevel to the angle of the sharpmaker (If you have a loupe this is easily observed) once you get the bevel to the angle of the sharpmaker rods, all subsequent sharpenings take hardly any time at all. Best thing to do when you get a sharpmaker is buy the diamond triangles (way too much money, but they are the only ones that fit lol so you can only get them from one manufacturer 62.95/pair is the best price i have seen for them) and you may want to get the ultra fine triangles as well. Places sell them as each so make sure you order two of them and not just assume they come in pairs like I did the first time :o
 
Keep your Lansky and get their diamond "pro" set of hones. Get the Sharpmaker for maintenance. I use both and they work well. Get the diamonds for one set or the other but get a set for profiling ... when they really get dull you'll need them. The trick is to not let them get that way. Regular maintenance is the key. :D
 
I went to the store at lunch today to get the Lansky Diamond Pro stones but they didn't have them.

They did have a DMT benchstone though so I got it instead. I went with the Course thinking I could kill two birds with one stone (pun intended) by both learning how to use a stone and by having the ability to quickly (eventually) re-profile blades in bad shape.

So, once I get my Sharpmaker I should be good to go (I hope)!
 
Ive got a sharpmaker as well as DMT and Ezelap diamond hones and a bench grinder with an aluminium oxide wheel and a veritas hard felt wheel for chromium oxide compound honing.
Ive also got the furi tech hone system which works extremely well.
I try not to use the carbide cutters too much, especially with harder steel cause they tend to pull chunks out of the edge if you apply too much pressure but the diamond fingers and hones work very very well.
The good thing about the system is you dont have to worry about trying to hold a constant angle, the fingers compensate a fair bit for any alignment errors you might make.
shaving sharp knives are pretty much a snap now with that or the sharpmaker.
 
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