- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,842
Well, since there's already been an excellent Skarb review posted, I was motivated to whip up mine ...
I'd like to start out discussing my personal philosophy of sharpeners.
I find that I can get an astoundingly good edge with a Spyderco
Triangle Sharpmaker. It does knives of any size and shape. It is
inexpensive. It is quick to set up. The quality is good. Coupled
with an x-coarse stone, it is fast even for massive metal removal. It
is easy to use. As a result, I've become somewhat curmudgeonly about
sharpeners. I don't care if another sharpener has much better production
values, or gives marginally better results, if it's more difficult to
set up.
Okay, on to the skarb, which is viewable at www.skarb.com. Since most
people want to compare the Skarb to the Edge Pro Apex, I'll do that
explicitly throughout the review
Overall Description
-------------------
The skarb, as you can see, is a clamp-based system. However, the
clamp works better than what you're used to with the Lansky-style
faire. The Skarb comes with an oilstone, but the base will accept any
2" wide stone. That's a great feature, I was able to use my Spyderco
8"x2" ceramic hones, and DMT 6"x2" diamond hones. Production values
were excellent, and I'm told there's a newer version out that's even
better. But neither the Skarb nor any other system I've used quite
lives up to the Apex's production values; however, quality on the
Skarb is excellent and certainly makes the cut overall.
How it Works
------------
Slide the stone in the base. Clamp the knife, put the pivot on the
guide rod. The angle is infinitely adjustable from 15 to 30 degrees,
marked on the pivot with a sticker. You sharpen by dragging the knife
width-wise across the stone (you drag the knife across the 2" wide
portion), not back and forth across the long portion. As that part of
the stone fills up, you just pull the stone out of the base slightly
and you get a fresh piece of stone.
The system comes with a video which is all the instructions you need.
After raising a burr on each side, you then switch to alternating
sides. On many systems, from Lansky to Apex, this can be a bit
awkward, and the Skarb is no different. There's a lot of motion
involved, twirling the knife from one side to the other along its
pivot. You do get used to that quickly though and the motion becomes
ingrained.
For The Beginner
----------------
For beginner or expert alike, I believe the video tells you all you
need to know. Like on the Apex, you will definitely need to sharpen a
few knives to develop some skills due to the non-intuitive movements.
However, again like the Apex, if you go slowly you should start seeing
acceptable results immediately, and really great results after a few
knives.
Versus the Apex
---------------
Push vs. Apex:
- Both systems work extraordinarily well
- Both systems take a little practice, but are generally useful from
the get-go and get easier to use with time.
- Neither system does serrations
Advantages versus the Apex:
- Quicker to set up
- Not as messy (water stone not required)
- Can use any stone you want
- Small system, easy to store, doesn't take up much counter space
- On small blades with short flats, the clamp works well, whereas
sometimes the blade tends to jiggle on Apex's table
Disadvantages versus the Apex:
- Both systems are infinitely adjustable, but I *think* the Apex had a
wider range of angles.
- Skarb has the best clamp I've seen, but you'll still have problems
with some blade profiles, like daggers. 'course, those kinds of knives
might cause problems on the Apex, too
- Neither system is tops for recurved blades, but the Apex can handle
recurve blades pretty well, whereas the Skarb can't at all.
- Both systems have excellent quality, though nothing beats the Apex
here.
- Can sometimes be tricky to sharpen the last inch near the hilt on
the Skarb
Setup:
Apex Procedure--
- Take out base and setup legs and suction cups
- Put in guide rod
- Put stone in sharpening arm
- Put sharpening arm on guide rod and set angle
- Fill up water bottle and water stone
- Adjust blade stop to blade height
- Mask off blade to prevent scratches
- Sharpen
Skarb Procedure--
- Take out base
- Put stone in base slot
- Clamp blade
- Put sharpening arm on guide rod and set angle
- Sharpen
Triangle Sharpmaker Procedure--
- Take out base
- Put stones in base
- Sharpen
Conclusion
----------
The Skarb is a great system. Fairly quick setup, coupled with the
ability to use any fast-cutting or super-fine stone you'd like, really
makes it a nice choice. Once a little skill is developed it's a very
solid system, with the only tricky part being sharpening the last inch
or so of blade (the folks at Skarb have some technique tricks,
outlined below). After my evaluation the Skarb folks offered to sell
me one at a used price, and I took them up on it, despite the fact
that I already own more sharpening systems than I really need
On
the other hand, do any of these more expensive systems provide a lot
of value over the Sharpmaker? I'm not so sure, but for those inclined
towards these systems, the Skarb is a fine system to try.
Addendum
--------
Occasionally, you'll have problems getting a burr on the last inch or
so of blade near the handle, since that's the part that gets the least
amount of friction. When this happens, the folks at Skarb say you can
try grinding that portion of the blade vertically along the edge of
the stone (which will round out the edges on natural stones,
unfortunately). Once you finally get the burr, you can proceed as
normal.
I'd like to start out discussing my personal philosophy of sharpeners.
I find that I can get an astoundingly good edge with a Spyderco
Triangle Sharpmaker. It does knives of any size and shape. It is
inexpensive. It is quick to set up. The quality is good. Coupled
with an x-coarse stone, it is fast even for massive metal removal. It
is easy to use. As a result, I've become somewhat curmudgeonly about
sharpeners. I don't care if another sharpener has much better production
values, or gives marginally better results, if it's more difficult to
set up.
Okay, on to the skarb, which is viewable at www.skarb.com. Since most
people want to compare the Skarb to the Edge Pro Apex, I'll do that
explicitly throughout the review
Overall Description
-------------------
The skarb, as you can see, is a clamp-based system. However, the
clamp works better than what you're used to with the Lansky-style
faire. The Skarb comes with an oilstone, but the base will accept any
2" wide stone. That's a great feature, I was able to use my Spyderco
8"x2" ceramic hones, and DMT 6"x2" diamond hones. Production values
were excellent, and I'm told there's a newer version out that's even
better. But neither the Skarb nor any other system I've used quite
lives up to the Apex's production values; however, quality on the
Skarb is excellent and certainly makes the cut overall.
How it Works
------------
Slide the stone in the base. Clamp the knife, put the pivot on the
guide rod. The angle is infinitely adjustable from 15 to 30 degrees,
marked on the pivot with a sticker. You sharpen by dragging the knife
width-wise across the stone (you drag the knife across the 2" wide
portion), not back and forth across the long portion. As that part of
the stone fills up, you just pull the stone out of the base slightly
and you get a fresh piece of stone.
The system comes with a video which is all the instructions you need.
After raising a burr on each side, you then switch to alternating
sides. On many systems, from Lansky to Apex, this can be a bit
awkward, and the Skarb is no different. There's a lot of motion
involved, twirling the knife from one side to the other along its
pivot. You do get used to that quickly though and the motion becomes
ingrained.
For The Beginner
----------------
For beginner or expert alike, I believe the video tells you all you
need to know. Like on the Apex, you will definitely need to sharpen a
few knives to develop some skills due to the non-intuitive movements.
However, again like the Apex, if you go slowly you should start seeing
acceptable results immediately, and really great results after a few
knives.
Versus the Apex
---------------
Push vs. Apex:
- Both systems work extraordinarily well
- Both systems take a little practice, but are generally useful from
the get-go and get easier to use with time.
- Neither system does serrations
Advantages versus the Apex:
- Quicker to set up
- Not as messy (water stone not required)
- Can use any stone you want
- Small system, easy to store, doesn't take up much counter space
- On small blades with short flats, the clamp works well, whereas
sometimes the blade tends to jiggle on Apex's table
Disadvantages versus the Apex:
- Both systems are infinitely adjustable, but I *think* the Apex had a
wider range of angles.
- Skarb has the best clamp I've seen, but you'll still have problems
with some blade profiles, like daggers. 'course, those kinds of knives
might cause problems on the Apex, too
- Neither system is tops for recurved blades, but the Apex can handle
recurve blades pretty well, whereas the Skarb can't at all.
- Both systems have excellent quality, though nothing beats the Apex
here.
- Can sometimes be tricky to sharpen the last inch near the hilt on
the Skarb
Setup:
Apex Procedure--
- Take out base and setup legs and suction cups
- Put in guide rod
- Put stone in sharpening arm
- Put sharpening arm on guide rod and set angle
- Fill up water bottle and water stone
- Adjust blade stop to blade height
- Mask off blade to prevent scratches
- Sharpen
Skarb Procedure--
- Take out base
- Put stone in base slot
- Clamp blade
- Put sharpening arm on guide rod and set angle
- Sharpen
Triangle Sharpmaker Procedure--
- Take out base
- Put stones in base
- Sharpen
Conclusion
----------
The Skarb is a great system. Fairly quick setup, coupled with the
ability to use any fast-cutting or super-fine stone you'd like, really
makes it a nice choice. Once a little skill is developed it's a very
solid system, with the only tricky part being sharpening the last inch
or so of blade (the folks at Skarb have some technique tricks,
outlined below). After my evaluation the Skarb folks offered to sell
me one at a used price, and I took them up on it, despite the fact
that I already own more sharpening systems than I really need
the other hand, do any of these more expensive systems provide a lot
of value over the Sharpmaker? I'm not so sure, but for those inclined
towards these systems, the Skarb is a fine system to try.
Addendum
--------
Occasionally, you'll have problems getting a burr on the last inch or
so of blade near the handle, since that's the part that gets the least
amount of friction. When this happens, the folks at Skarb say you can
try grinding that portion of the blade vertically along the edge of
the stone (which will round out the edges on natural stones,
unfortunately). Once you finally get the burr, you can proceed as
normal.