- Joined
- May 13, 2019
- Messages
- 7,969
Where did you actually place the grease. Was it inside the hole on the fine tuning adapter the runs up the rod holding the plastic Edge Pro adjuster and guide rod holder?
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Sharpening system modifications
- Thread starter Realysm42
- Start date
First time posting...been lurking for awhile.
Started a neighborhood sharpening side-hustle last October and been doing a few hundred inches of blades a week. Been sharpening knives, axes/hatches, chisels, planes, food processor blades, rotary lawn mower blades, garden tools, etc.
Started doing knives mostly on DMT diamond and Spyderco ceramic stones. Eventually got a bench grinder and Multitool 2 x 36 belt sander attachment. I took off the grinding stones and use the Multitool attachment on one side and a wire wheel on the other for cleaning off rust and matching the brushed finish on bolsters. Was initially using the belt sander just to set the bevel, reprofile/repair broken tips, reduce bolsters, and sharpen axes. I would finish the knives on my stones. I had played with finishing knives on the belt sander, but overheated a couple of tips on practice knives I got from the thrift shop (not on any customers knives thankfully). Have since moved most of my sharpening to the belt sander after adding water cooling. I'm running 36, 80, 180, 400, trizect A16, and leather stropping (with white compound) belts. The grinder is just a cheap Delta 8" variable speed that I got from Lowes and has been working great. Water cooling is provided by a Solo 457 sprayer with the nozzle positioned to drip water on the leading edge of the platen. I used the material from the red "wax" top of a Maker's bottle to create a new nozzle tip that would drip at exactly the rate I wanted, which can be adjusted by using more or less pressure from the sprayer. The sprayer arm is mounted on a bicycle repair stand that allows it to rotate away from the grinder when not needed. Made a backsplash out of coroplast to catch the spray coming off of the belt sander, which drips down into a cardboard box that allows the water to evaporate without rust build-up on my concrete garage floor. This setup works like a Japanese water wheel. I also have fans set up to blow air over the grinder motor to keep it running a bit cooler and blow any metal particles away from me and out of the garage.
With the water cooling, I'm able to hold things down on the sander as long as I want without worrying about overheating. This is especially handy for repairing badly dinged up chisels and axes that require a lot of material removal. My working time is greatly reduced thanks to not needing to repeatedly dip the knife or chisel into water. Belts also run a lot cleaner with water. The polyester backing on most of my belts (Red Label ceramic with X and J weights) don't seem to have any issue with the water, but the trizect belt will be a bit warped if it is allowed to dry off the sander. Not a big deal...I just let it dry stretched out on the sander.
I've especially enjoyed learning how to sharpen axes. Learned a lot about geometry and heat management by watching YouTube videos from Hoffman Blacksmithing and am now able to get axes shaving sharp. Still need to practice chisels more...it's a challenge to keep the bevel flat and square even though I can get to a mirror polish fairly easily. Also need to practice more on Japanese single-bevel knives. I get those every once in a while. I do have a King whetstone I can use for that.
The most interesting knife repair that I've had so far was a Zwilling Twin Cermax MD67 (ZDP-189) that came to me with a super deep chip right in the middle of the belly. I had to take a lot of material off of it, which was back before I added water cooling to the grinder. That thing took quite awhile to fix because it was so hard.
Have learned a lot from this forum, hence wanting to log-in, share my setup, say hi and thanks. It seems to be one of the first things that come up every time I try to find answers on Google. There's a wealth of knowledge here about metallurgy, technique, etc.
Thanks again.
T
Started a neighborhood sharpening side-hustle last October and been doing a few hundred inches of blades a week. Been sharpening knives, axes/hatches, chisels, planes, food processor blades, rotary lawn mower blades, garden tools, etc.
Started doing knives mostly on DMT diamond and Spyderco ceramic stones. Eventually got a bench grinder and Multitool 2 x 36 belt sander attachment. I took off the grinding stones and use the Multitool attachment on one side and a wire wheel on the other for cleaning off rust and matching the brushed finish on bolsters. Was initially using the belt sander just to set the bevel, reprofile/repair broken tips, reduce bolsters, and sharpen axes. I would finish the knives on my stones. I had played with finishing knives on the belt sander, but overheated a couple of tips on practice knives I got from the thrift shop (not on any customers knives thankfully). Have since moved most of my sharpening to the belt sander after adding water cooling. I'm running 36, 80, 180, 400, trizect A16, and leather stropping (with white compound) belts. The grinder is just a cheap Delta 8" variable speed that I got from Lowes and has been working great. Water cooling is provided by a Solo 457 sprayer with the nozzle positioned to drip water on the leading edge of the platen. I used the material from the red "wax" top of a Maker's bottle to create a new nozzle tip that would drip at exactly the rate I wanted, which can be adjusted by using more or less pressure from the sprayer. The sprayer arm is mounted on a bicycle repair stand that allows it to rotate away from the grinder when not needed. Made a backsplash out of coroplast to catch the spray coming off of the belt sander, which drips down into a cardboard box that allows the water to evaporate without rust build-up on my concrete garage floor. This setup works like a Japanese water wheel. I also have fans set up to blow air over the grinder motor to keep it running a bit cooler and blow any metal particles away from me and out of the garage.
With the water cooling, I'm able to hold things down on the sander as long as I want without worrying about overheating. This is especially handy for repairing badly dinged up chisels and axes that require a lot of material removal. My working time is greatly reduced thanks to not needing to repeatedly dip the knife or chisel into water. Belts also run a lot cleaner with water. The polyester backing on most of my belts (Red Label ceramic with X and J weights) don't seem to have any issue with the water, but the trizect belt will be a bit warped if it is allowed to dry off the sander. Not a big deal...I just let it dry stretched out on the sander.
I've especially enjoyed learning how to sharpen axes. Learned a lot about geometry and heat management by watching YouTube videos from Hoffman Blacksmithing and am now able to get axes shaving sharp. Still need to practice chisels more...it's a challenge to keep the bevel flat and square even though I can get to a mirror polish fairly easily. Also need to practice more on Japanese single-bevel knives. I get those every once in a while. I do have a King whetstone I can use for that.
The most interesting knife repair that I've had so far was a Zwilling Twin Cermax MD67 (ZDP-189) that came to me with a super deep chip right in the middle of the belly. I had to take a lot of material off of it, which was back before I added water cooling to the grinder. That thing took quite awhile to fix because it was so hard.
Have learned a lot from this forum, hence wanting to log-in, share my setup, say hi and thanks. It seems to be one of the first things that come up every time I try to find answers on Google. There's a wealth of knowledge here about metallurgy, technique, etc.
Thanks again.
T
777 Edge
Dealer / Materials Provider
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2019
- Messages
- 1,178
Keep an eye out on Gritomatic, it seems they will shortly have adapters to use better clamps for the Work Sharp precision adjust.
777 Edge
Dealer / Materials Provider
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2019
- Messages
- 1,178
Some 3D printable upgrades for the Edge Pro Apex:
Edge Pro Upgrades by leadingedge
Updated - 4 April 2021 This is a scissors sharpening attachment, chisel sharpening attachment, large blade attachment and knife guide for the Edge Pro Apex Sharpening system. I also added a fine tuning adapter for micro adjustments of your sharpening angles, and a retractable magnetic holder...
www.thingiverse.com
And many others:
Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects
Download files and build them with your 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC. Thingiverse is a universe of things.
www.thingiverse.com
This thread has some cool modifications. Mine are not as intricate as previous modifications but I enjoy them. I prefer to and want to improve on freehand sharpening on pocket stones. But I got sick of stones like my DC4 wearing down too fast. Then I bought the worksharp field sharpener. I really liked this tool but I didn't want to always rely on the angle guides, so I took the two diamond plates off and cemented leather to the back of both sides. Put green compound on one and rouge on the other and now I have two really nice diamond pocket "stones" and strops that fit perfectly into my old dc4's pouch. I made these years ago so they can do with some maintenance.
- Joined
- May 13, 2019
- Messages
- 7,969
Like your thinking and your work.This thread has some cool modifications. Mine are not as intricate as previous modifications but I enjoy them. I prefer to and want to improve on freehand sharpening on pocket stones. But I got sick of stones like my DC4 wearing down too fast. Then I bought the worksharp field sharpener. I really liked this tool but I didn't want to always rely on the angle guides, so I took the two diamond plates off and cemented leather to the back of both sides. Put green compound on one and rouge on the other and now I have two really nice diamond pocket "stones" and strops that fit perfectly into my old dc4's pouch. I made these years ago so they can do with some maintenance.
Thanks a lot.Like your thinking and your work.