Review of the KMFS Vantaedge.

Status
Not open for further replies.
wade7575

wade7575

Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
1,125
I purchased a KMFS Vantaedge because I have been getting tired of the way my K03 miss's parts of a blade that has a big curve section plus you need so much other crap to sharpen with a K03 or other guided system's.

From what I found is that the KMFS Vantaedge is very well made and I got their Multiangle Angle Head which allows you to sharpen from 10 to 29 degree's where as the included angle selector only has 15 17.5 20 and 22.5 degree's.
I also purchased their Hover Spring kit which I think was released about 1 year after the sharpener but I could be wrong on that.

The main advantages of the KMFS Vantaedge are that it will always give your blade an even bevel everytime even if you have a blade with a big curve because of the way the sharpener works,with a K03 the angle of sharpening is locked in at the back mast and when the angle changes when you start to go around the curve the problem is the mast doesn't move up and down which cause's the missed or uneven bevel.

With the KMFS Vantaedge the angle is set at where the guide rods and angle selector are connected,if you watch this video at the 4:19 point you can see the rod that goes threw the frame of the sharpener and it moves up and down and that's the sharpener automatically compensating for the angle change.


Another advantage of the Vantaedge is that you doesn't need to adjust anything for different stone thickness's you plain and simply just change to the next stone and you don't have to worry if the stone is thicker or thinner you just sharpen and that's it.

I was also able to sharpen my Manix 2 in about half the time it takes me to sharpen with my K03,I also sharpen my Manix 2 at 15 degree's and with my K03 and I use an angle cube and with the Vantaedge's Multiangle Head attachment the angle was bang on 15 degree's as well or very very close to it.

The only thing I found with the Vantaedge is that you need to press down and not really hard but with firm pressure on the stone holder when sharpening and if you don't the stone want to tip to one side and sharpen with just the edge of the stone,I found that the Hover Spring fixed that problem and I was able to use lighter pressure when sharpening and also the amount of pressure that you would expect to have to use.

The other thing that the Hover Spring helps with is with longer knives and when the rod that goes threw the back of the frame of the sharpen dips down the spring push the rod back up automatically.

The Vantadge also use's ball bearings where the screw goes into the angle selector or the Multiangle Head and the guide rods use linear bearing and the as well as in the backend of the frame of the sharpener where the single rod goes into it it also has a linear bearing,I think the linear bearing are 6x12x35mm and I found them to very smooth.

You also get a 240 600 and 1000 grit diamond stones and I just them once and I couldn't get a very sharp edge with them and that could have been my fault but I'm not sure,I use all 3 of the stones that came with the sharpener then moved to the Venev 800 1200 and 1500 and they were the 100% concentration stones and I stropped with green compound and got a very sharp that I feel sharper then what my K03 produces and I attribute that to the angle always being extremely consistant with the Vantaedge.

The 240 grit diamond stone impressed me that came with the Vantage as far as how fast it removed metal from my Manix 2's blade which is M390 steel,I wouldn't say the 240 grit stone hogged the metal off but it did remove it fairly quickly without chipping the edge or leaving it exessively rough.



I purchased my KMFS Vantaedge from one of their dealers in Finland because if you purchase the sharpener from KMFS directly you have to pay a 21% Vat tax as well and from the dealer in Finland you don't have to pay a 21% Vat tax and they also have free shipping on orders over 200 dollars and mine was shipped to me to Canada via UPS and it took 4 or 5 days to arrive.











This is the upgraded angle selector which KMFS calls it the Multiangle Head Attachment,I also have the hover spring attached to it and it simply slides up and down if it need to be adjusted.



This is the guide rods attached to the stock angle selector that comes with the kit.



This is the stock angle selector not attached to the guide rods so you can get a better idea of how the angle's are set.



This is what the inside of the case looks with with everything in place and the case that comes with the KMFS Vantaedge is best case I have gotten with anything where the case was included,I'm not saying there aren't better case's out there but for an included case it's very very nice and solid and the locks work very well also.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
wade7575 said:
I purchased a KMFS Vantaedge because I have been getting tired of the way my K03 miss's parts of a blade that has a big curve section
Click to expand...
Are you referring to a blade with an inward recurve section, or just any outward curved belly in general?

If you are referring to a recurve, I don't understand what this sharpener is doing differently than any clamped fixed angle system that would help with a recurve.
 
Dutch87 said:
Are you referring to a blade with an inward recurve section, or just any outward curved belly in general?

If you are referring to a recurve, I don't understand what this sharpener is doing differently than any clamped fixed angle system that would help with a recurve.
Click to expand...
I'm referring to a blade that has an outward curve,however if you had a blade with a recurve and narrow stones it would still give you an even bevel by the way compenates.

I know for the longest time know one including myself could never figure it out as to what caused a guided sharpener to miss a bevel when going around a curve and why we would get uneven bevels all the time.

I have owned many different guided system's over the years and this system give a perfect bevel everytime and I may end up getting rid of my TSProf K03 I like the Vantaedge that much so far.
 
I think I know what you mean. When my K03 or Worksharp takes a while to grind in a bevel on a belly, or a heel, I have been attributing that to the variance in the grind from the factory, which was probably done by hand on a belt. As I'm sure you know, the fixed angle systems have to grind in that new bevel profile at the set angle, instead of following the original bevel. And sometimes the factory grind ends up being a little higher on the blade, and still visible above the completed new bevel.

I've read plenty of opinions on blade placement in the clamps as well, and how orientation of the blade can effect how thick the bevel around the belly can end up.

I'll have to watch some videos of this sharpener in acion to understand how the stone interacts with the blase differently than I am used to.
 
I seen the links I posted were deleted because I forgot about posting links to sites that don't advertise here.

If you google KMFS and then put lamnia next that will give you results to the dealer in Finland,you can also put KMFS Vantaedge Integral Sharpener into google and that will take you to the KMFS website.
 
Dutch87 said:
I think I know what you mean. When my K03 or Worksharp takes a while to grind in a bevel on a belly, or a heel, I have been attributing that to the variance in the grind from the factory, which was probably done by hand on a belt. As I'm sure you know, the fixed angle systems have to grind in that new bevel profile at the set angle, instead of following the original bevel. And sometimes the factory grind ends up being a little higher on the blade, and still visible above the completed new bevel.

I've read plenty of opinions on blade placement in the clamps as well, and how orientation of the blade can effect how thick the bevel around the belly can end up.

I'll have to watch some videos of this sharpener in acion to understand how the stone interacts with the blase differently than I am used to.
Click to expand...
When you say the belly area of the blade if you talking about the curve that's the problem and that's what the Vantaedge fix's perfectly,so long as your sharpening an area that is straight there will be no angle change and any guided system should handle that area with ease it's the curve they struggle with and sometimes at the tip.

If you email me at wadenorton2007@yahoo.ca I don't mind taking picture's if you want to see a knife clamped in a certain way or anything like that,if your on Facebook and want me to videochat with you so you see something better or me sharpening a knife to help understand anything better I don't mind.

Also with Spyderco knives they always leave a little metal nub right where the edge starts by the ricasso and that can be a pain and your best to use the edge of a really fresh 80 to 200 grit diamond stone or plate in a guided system and grind it down flush with the bevel.

With Benchmade knives the Benchmade Mini Barrage or the Osbourne 940 or the Benchmade Hunt Mini Crooked River the problem is that the cutting edge extends back to far,the problem is when you try and sharpen them on a guided system the stone rides up onto that curved section of the blade and I have seen people after 30 to 50 sharpenings wear a recurve into the blade,the recurve happens because when the stone rides up onto the curved section of the blade the edge of the stone is only making contact with edge about 3/4 of an inch ahead of the curve.

The best way to fix a Benchmade that has a curve is to get a grey or green grinding stone for a Dremel tool that is meant for sharpening chainsaw chains because they are silicon carbide,I have tried with the pink stone and they won't touch the metal at all.
I take the blade out of the knife mark blade so that I will be grinding ahead and there's a line you can see and I go about 1.5 to 2mm ahead of that,I put the knife in a vice and use the edge of the jaws as a stop and you only want to push forwards and not downwards as you just trying to shorten the blades cutting edge length overall by a small amount,trust me don't do it freehand either as I did one knife and thank god it was my own and that dremel bit rode up onto the edge like it was nothing before I knew it and I said never again always going to use a vice from now on no matter what.
 
I picked one up before Christmas from a USA dealer, totally happy with it. I ordered the multi angle adapter a week after I received the Vantaedge unit. I did experience some roll-over of the stone also - the hover spring helps, but I found that making sure the angle head is facing center to start with and allowing it to pivot from center to follow the curves and tips prevents the rollover. Best part is you can take out knife, put it back in, not same position on clamp and it works. I experimented and played with several blades.

The USA dealer has mixed reviews on Blade forums. They do not follow up on emails after the order except to tell you when it ships. The prices changed daily during December. The dealer is from the “Windy City”, but it ships from VA a week later.

Just my experience.
I am totally pleased😎
 
Gottagofishn said:
Can you flip the knife over? Does it attach to a bench?
Click to expand...
You also buy a bigger aluminum base that thes stock attach's to or you can make one out of plywood and some Tee Nut's like did in this picture,I still have to throw a few coats of Varathane on it.

I drilled the holes in the plywood using a normal twist drill bit then on the back side of the plywood I used a pade bit to countersink holes for the Tee Nuts to go into,the plywood I use tends to splinter a lot but the Varathane will help with that and also make it easier to clean.





 
That website is a scam. I ordered some things from them last week that seemed "too good to be true," and it was. They deducted $200 preliminarily from my PayPal account to someone named "WeLoveCostaRica," and the full purchase is still awaiting authorization a week later. I'm not going to hold my breath, and if my purchase doesn't arrive soon I will dispute it with PayPal or my credit card company.
 
This thread is locked.

There is a reason we don't promote or link to vendors who are not site supporters here.

Caveat Emptor.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top