Sharpener dilemma

Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
247
Hello everyone,
I recently joined this forum and have been lurking and reading quite a bit of information on sharpeners. I don't have anything close to what the vast majority of you have as far as knives, two hunting knives; a Gerber folding gator and a Browning fixed blade, a Browning filet knife and just the run of the mill kitchen knives. Although I must admit that after reading your posts, my interest in the finer version of knives has been perked. I currently have a bench grinder with an expanding drum with 400 grit and a paper polishing wheel on the other end. It does OK but I'd like to take the next step and get a good sharpener. And yes, I have done a search of the sharpeners. From reading all your posts, I know that I'm going to get either a Sharpmaker (along with a set of ultra fine stones) or the Edge Pro Apex (with the polishing tapes). It appears that most of the members seem to use the Edge Pro for more initial rework and resetting the bevel angle and then use the Sharpmaker for routine touch up resharpening. My concern or dilemma is that I don't want to spend all the extra money on the Edge Pro just to use it once or occasionally on a knife and then have it sit there and end up getting the Sharpmaker to resharpen/touch up with.

I appologize for the long winded explanation but I did want to let everyone know I did the search thing and just need a little guidance from the much more informed forum members based upon my situation.

Thanks in advance,
Art
 
The "Famous Sharpening Conundrum". I have both, plus enumerable other stuff. My advice to you would be to buy the Edge Pro APEX. It is so much more versatile than the Sharpmaker. The ideal is to have both, but if only one...the Edge Pro Apex is the answer. It just takes a little longer to set up than the Sharpmaker, that's all.

If you keep lurking around this forum, as I did starting about a year ago....you'll discover that the quality and quantity of your knives will start to grow exponentially. Your desire to put the maximum sharpness on them will grow likewise.

Read this thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3426961#post3426961

My recomendation would be the Ultimate Offer #2 at this site:http://www.bronksknifeworks.com/Edge-Pro_Knife_sharpeners.htm. It includes everything that you'll need. This is where I purchased mine a year ago and got great service.

Lastly, invest in a strop

Good luck and Welcome to the Forum as well as "The Edge Pro Maniacs Club".
 
If you are just going to be touching up your knives every once and awhile, I would get the sharpmaker. Although at some point I would definetely get both.
 
The Sharpmaker is an invaluable tool. I love mine. But it is more for touch ups and light sharpening. You can't reprofile an edge on it in any reasonable ammount of time.

But, depending on your desire to learn, I still think you can get a better edge on traditional benchstones, finishing with a strop. It takes some practice though, but is a skill worth learning.

If you enjoy sharpening, I'd suggest taking the time to learn to freehand sharpen. If not, there's nothing at all wrong with the Sharpmaker or Edge Pro and both are very good.
 
adilione said:
I know that I'm going to get either a Sharpmaker (along with a set of ultra fine stones) or the Edge Pro Apex (with the polishing tapes).

It's good to use the ultra-fine stones and/or polishing tapes, but the big difference between the two is at the other end of the grit spectrum. You just can't dramatically reprofile a blade on the 204 as it comes from the factory. You can rig up a solution by attaching sandpaper to the rods with binder clips--I did it for a while--but it's a PITA and has its drawbacks.

It took me more than an hour to get a polished 10-degree bevel on my Paramillie when I used the EdgePro and the 120-grit coarse stone. Using the very conservative estimate that it would take 100 times as long to achieve the same metal removal with the 204, you're looking at about two straight weeks of eight-hour days to dramatically reprofile.

Needless to say, you'll wind up getting both. And the $45 for the 204 isn't much once you're in EdgePro territory anyway. But if you absolutely had to choose only one, I'd recommend the EdgePro because it can do things that the 204 just can't.
 
I really appreciate your responses. I also read Shmackey's Holy Crap post as indicated. It seems that the EdgePro can do more than the Sharpmaker can while still being able to maintain a sharp edge. I've been convinced that this is the way to go and this seems to go along with my philosophy of getting the best quality tool for the job. I'm going to go on Bronk's website and order it tonight.

My birthday's coming up in a couple of months....maybe a sharpmaker and strop?? or add a new knife to use the EdgePro on!! I can see that this is going to get expensive quickly.

Thanks again for all the insight and information. Now I just need to find the time to research strops and knives.

Cheers.
 
Welcome to the party. It's always good to get another knife sharpener's opinions or things get dull around the forum. I like your knife collection.

The EdgePro is the cat's meow but I can't justify the cost.

I have the Sharpmaker (and others) and a good homemade strop/hone (piece of leather glued to a wooden paint stirrer, rough on one side, smooth on the other). For reprofiling I use a DMT x-course whetstone 2'" x 6" but I rarely have to reprofile. I don't have the extra fine rods as the regular white fine rods and the strop/hone give a very nice edge.

Here is some info that may be of assistance in sharpening.

http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?showtopic=26036

http://knifeart.com/geomofcutedb.html

http://www.dmtsharp.com/general/basicsharp.htm

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/Juranitch1977Feb.htm

http://knifeart.com/knifedfaqbyj1.html

http://knifeart.com/sharfaqbyjoe.html

http://www.mhcable.com/~yocraft/sosak/convex.htm
 
I think starting with the Sharpmaker is a good idea. It's great gear for the money and you'll get a lot of use out of it. If it's not meeting all of your needs, you can always get the Edge Pro later.
 
Well, I ordered the EdgePro last night. Along with the wide range of uses, I like the ability to produce a constant angle throughout the blade.

This is going to be a Christmas present from my wife which made her happy since she always says she doesn't know what to get me. Worked out all the way around. Now I can't wait for it to get here to try it out.

Thanks for all the hot links. It saved me a lot of search time. I'm especially interested in looking into the strops and curious to see what the other sharpening links bring as well.

So many links, so little time. Too bad I've gotta work to afford this stuff!!
 
Just wanted to give an update on my new EdgePro. Finally got some down time today, broke out the DVD and then started sharpening. I went with the 18 degree (green mark) and started on one of our kitchen knives. After some serious reprofiling with the 120 grit, I worked on up through the 180, 320 and the 600 grit. Finished with a 1000 polish tape. I realize now that I never knew what a sharp blade was and it even looked great to boot. Spent the next couple of hours doing the same thing to three other knives. I still can't believe how great they turned out.
My wife used one to cut potatoes for dinner and even she remarked how so much sharper it was than my other sharpening attempts.
I'll finish the remaining kitchen knives for a little more practice and then start on my Brownings and Gerber. I'll try for that real mirrored edge that's scary sharp (hopefully) on these. This sharpener is fantastic and has a new loyal follower.

I wanted to thank everyone for their input on a sharpener and the hot links.

Happy sharpening.
 
Great ! I new that you would be happy !


You are now an Official Ben Dale cultist !
 
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