Sharpened first knives on KME Sharpener

G

GearJammer

Joined
Mar 21, 2014
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14
I am blow away by the first three blades I had sharpened then stropped.
What an unbelievable edge. Well worth the money!
Had a little trouble with Mora Companion but that may have been operator error. Short learning curve. Excellent product made in the USA:thumbup:
 
The KME is indeed pretty awesome. I just got a set of the new low-pro jaws for my older model and it's even better. Need to pick up a new aluminum based stone holder soon, too. :thumbup:
 
I really enjoy my KME. I have put a razors edge on a bunch of my knives and because the sharpening rod is inserted in a gimbal there is no play in the system. It's very simple to use the KME and you have a lot of choices as far as the type of stones that you can use.
 
I have the diamond set with the additional hard black arkansas"surgeons" stone.
Then a double sided paddle strop with brown rouge then green 5 micron powder.
On my first attempt I made a $20 Walmart Gerber into a scalpel.
Sharpened a Schrade Sharpfinger so well all I could do was grin ear to ear:eek:
Tomatoes live in fear of all of my kitchen knives.
My EDC Zero Tolerance 0560 is shaving sharp.
The only knife I have had a problem with was with a Mora HD Companion. It aint pretty but it sure is sharp
 
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cbwx34 said:
I'm guessing he's referring to the new stone carrier.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the one. :thumbup:

edit: This is another thing I love about KME. They continue to improve their product, but they keep each new improvement or additional accessory easily retrofittable to the original base unit and sell each piece separately. In a world where things become obsolete overnight and a new one must be purchased if one wants the latest version, this is a really nice change. :thumbup:
 
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I think Ron could throw the baby out with the bath water, and start fresh. Having to remove the guide rod each time I rotate the blade, is a real nuisance.

He could keep this original design, which works in home, camping, on the go, and make a larger version, for people just wanting a home / industry version.

Got your ears on Ron?

EP has two levels, WE has three versions, four maybe.
 
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A new "super" model would be great, as long as they continued to improve and update the original along with it. :thumbup:
 
Ron says he has a few surprises up his sleve.

What is up with the guy named Dean on you tube? He is as legit as a 3 dollar bill.

I like his videos, but he must work for Ron as a plant. To many hints this guy is not doing the videos on his own.
 
Nah, Dean's just a junky and big KME fan. He does have a lot of good info and will point out failings and workarounds. I watched some of his videos when I heard about the KME. I think he's also a video and vid editing fan as he also talks about his recording gear. But, he doesn't work for Ron.

I've since switched from Edge Pro to KME starting with the Gold Diamonds and a kangaroo strop with 4 micron CBN emulsion. Like anything there is a little learning curve, but with just that setup and some practice you can get some seriously sharp edges. They will be frosty instead of polished, but those edges will be serious cutters with very even bevels.

I ended up getting the Chosera stones and three more strops so I can step through the 1.5, .5, & 0.1 micron emulsions. Oh yeah, and XXC/100 and XC140 Gold diamonds for recutting edges when the 300 isn't quite coarse enough. I'm also getting started doing some knives for folks too though. Much too early to have a real clue and finding my niche.

You can end up spending a lot of time working on a polish, same as on the EP. I know a guy who has made a very good business out of polishing and has Ken Schwarz and Ben Dale on speed dial. I've got a job or two for a high polish, but I'm more a sharpener who polishes rather than a polisher who also sharpens. Other than doing it for yourself or some high paying and/or specialist clients, I look at things as a balance between time spent, quality of the edge, and what you are using the knife for. (I use HF 1x30 with a 220, 320, and leather belt w/green compound from Pop's for my 70s vintage Interpur cheap kitchen knives and they cut very well.)

I just find the KME gives a lot go for the buck in a guided system. I much prefer the clamp to trying to keep some of the blades in place on the EP. I can pull the KME off the stand, lean back and watch a movie while sharpening with the diamonds and strop. I've even pulled the holder, arm still attached, and just freehanded some knives while kicking back.

As noted above, Ron is always working on new ideas and improvements. He listens and appreciates feedback, just as the other guys in the industry do.

One thing that did concern me at first was if I'd be limited in terms of stones and such. I talked to Ken one night and also looked at Jende. Between Jende (who gets much of it from Ken) and Ken Scwartz you can go crazy with Shapton Pro (not the glass, they have to be done by Shapton and can't be cut down), glass blanks, nano blanks, any number of Ken's alchemical emulsions, Nubitama. If it can be cut, Ken will cut it to fit the KME as he will the EP. Oh yeah, Stropman can do a custom set of strop inserts for the KME, but it's a special order thing. The ability to expand was critical to me making the change.

I've been very happy since and just sort of sync better with the KME that I did with the EP. I still have the Apex around and will keep it as there are limits to any system. The KME can comfortably do an 8 inch knife, or if you use Dean O's little angle trick you can do up to a 10" knife before the gimbal is at full lock. I have a chef's knife sitting in the KME right now using that trick that I finished with the chosera 10K. I'll start with the roo strops in a bit or maybe wait until tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm a fan and sound like a koolaid drinker, I know. I just have really come to love the system and feel that for the price a person could get the device with diamonds, stand, and the 4 micron/roo strop combo and make clean, seriously sharp edges for a long time.

I did see on here that someone had crossbred a KME and an Edge Pro. They took the KME clamping system and mounted to a different board and modified it to use an EP type post and arm and use the longer EP stones. I'd like to see something like that be tweaked and produced commercially. Maybe Ron and Ben can create a joint project. :D

One thing I have learned though is that whichever system you get. Keep the box of Band-aids handy. ;)

No, I don't work for Ron either. I just appreciate when you can call the head man and get advice, give feedback, and make suggestions and be taken seriously. I also appreciate someone who won't try to upsell you. A fellow on another forum who heard about the KME when I did a review there after I got mine, pros and cons. When the guy called Ron and wanted to buy the KME and a bunch of extra goodies for it Ron advised him to start with the basics and learn to use them well first, then get more goodies later.

So it's both the ease of use and the results with the machine, as with the Edge Pro that gets people excited combined with people right here in the U.S. who not only stand by their products, but are accessible and upfront with folks. It's such a rare and happy thing to find in modern business these days you can't help but get a little excited over it.

Oh yeah. Someone mentioned the jaws. The penknife jaws were just introduced. Lets you do even a SAK Classic now. Not something you could do before. You're still limited to 17 degrees as the smallest per side angle, but you can do the small slippies now. Which matters to me as I prefer slippies.
 
True and there's the flip the ball joint holder trick you can use and the only real limit is how low you can go before hitting the jaws and even that depends on the blade. Per specs it's a 17-35, but that's only if you're behaving. ;)

Scary thing is how all these sharpening things seem to grow on the bench. I don't quite have your collection, but I've still got oil tri-stones, 1K & 6K Japanese bench waterstones, EP, and the KME, the HF, thises and thatses, and more stones, strops, belts, and machines on the wants list.
 
Bump. Another addition I'd like to see come with the KME knife system: a small wrench to tighten the locking nut that holds the rod into the stone carrier. I keep an adjustable wrench next to where I sharpen for this purpose, but I was using my Dremel for the first time in a while last night, and it reminded me that Dremel includes a little stamped steel collet wrench with their rotary tools. It's only about 2" long and about 1/16" thick. I'd like to see the same sort of thing come with the KME. It's hard to tighten the locking nut sufficiently by hand, and the rod tends to come loose from the stone carrier. With a light twist of a wrench, it stays in place like a champ. :thumbup:

edit: I see they include a similar item with their broadhead sharpener. I'm thinking of the same thing, only open ended, for the knife sharpener.

edit 2: Pic.

1420KmeSharpenerS2.jpg
 
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Well, I've used the pen jaws now and they work great on the small stuff. I had to switch back to the standard jaws (newer style) to hold a Tracker type (not TOPS) type knife for some reshaping the smaller, rear blade portion. But before that I found the pen jaws essential when doing the tiny pen blade on a small canoe.

So far I've gotten feedback from two clients who mailed me their knives, a Benchmade and a vintage Henckels. I polished the BM, and near mirrored the Henckels after recutting the bevel on it. Both people were elated with the bevels, finish, and sharpness of the blades. I'm liking the machine a lot.

I didn't think I would appreciate being able to set a knife in place, get the initial cleanup or recut of the bevel on the stand, them pull the machine off and lean back in the chair and watch stuff on the computer while doing the sharpening. This is with the diamonds and leather strops. When I use the Chosera stones I'm over at the bench and on the stand since I'm dealing with a lot more water and mud then.

After using this thing most days of the week I think I will be taking Dean O's suggestion of getting the threaded ball handle for the stone holder to give my hands a break. Being pinched up on the holder for hours gets to the hands. I'll probably also with a ball on the back over the spring on the clamp shaft instead of the long handle there. I've learned to use the trick Ron told me about to use one hand to press and flip the knife when hand holding without having to take the stone rod out and put it back on each flip. You do have to be careful though because if you drag the back knob with your thumb as you are press and spinning you can unscrew it to the point things fly apart. Don't worry. You will probably only do it once and then you will be a LOT more careful and check it now and then while working. Yeah. I found that out the SURPRISE-PING! way recently.

I'll be passing my EP Apex on to one of my adult boys probably next month. I just jive better with the KME. Now if I can just figure out how to come up with 1/2" wide Chosera stones for polishing recurve blades that would be great. I'm sure Ken could set me up, for a price. ;) For regular recurve cutting the Hewlett will work fine.
 
The KME system flat out works. It's affordable to get into and has been stated had a shallow learning curve. I want to get a set of strops from Ron soon.

KME rocks.
 
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