Tell my I shouldn't buy a cheap guided sharpener

[Rob Babcock]

I just unboxed my new Xarilk GEN3 today! I haven't set it up or used it yet but I watched all the videos I could find, and just examining the construction it's shockingly well made for $85. It was kind of an impulse buy, bought it on a whim after reading a thread on Reddit. Strictly speaking I didn't have a huge need for it but it seems kind of neat. About a month ago I opened my new sharpening & laser engraving shop and while I do most of the knife sharpening on belts I do offer water stone sharpening for those that want it, mostly chefs with Japanese knives. It occurred to me that there was probably a market for doing super polished edges on safe queen and EDC folders so for a minimal outlay of cash I figured I'd give it a shot.

 

[cudgee]

I just unboxed my new Xarilk GEN3 today! I haven't set it up or used it yet but I watched all the videos I could find, and just examining the construction it's shockingly well made for $85. It was kind of an impulse buy, bought it on a whim after reading a thread on Reddit. Strictly speaking I didn't have a huge need for it but it seems kind of neat. About a month ago I opened my new sharpening & laser engraving shop and while I do most of the knife sharpening on belts I do offer water stone sharpening for those that want it, mostly chefs with Japanese knives. It occurred to me that there was probably a market for doing super polished edges on safe queen and EDC folders so for a minimal outlay of cash I figured I'd give it a shot.

Like to hear your thoughts when you get it set up.

 

[donnord]

One thing about all of these types of systems, is the backspace required for the rod/stone holder. I had just about finished up a Buck 119 last night when I knocked over a glass of water with the rod. Then I went to catch the glass and ran my forearm into the blade of the 119, got a little souvenir from that goof up.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Like to hear your thoughts when you get it set up.

I haven't used it yet but after setting it up I'm impressed! Before ordering it I watched many hours of videos and reviews. I was under the impression that I would have to go through every part and screw and adjust everything and make sure it's correct but it was pretty close to perfectly assembled out of the box. There is zero, zilch, NO play at all in the clamp arm! Everything is amazingly smooth and precise especially considering this thing was $85. It's [apparently] a fairly close clone/copy of the TSProf Kadet. There's some element of...I dunno, IP is being perhaps abused here a bit but since Russia is an international pariah I don't suppose anyone will complain much. And China has a long tradition of copying Russian hardware.

The 'stones' are diamond, and I was pleased that my machine shipped with the newer style on aluminum blanks instead of the older plastic ones. The plastic ones were bad about flexing but the aluminum ones are rigid and pretty comparable to those sold for Edge Pro. I was going through my stones and I have 60 of the 1x6 stones and at least a dozen 1x6 strops in leather, kangaroo, balsa wood and Nanocloth, so I'll have plenty of stuff to test out.

Tomorrow if I'm not too busy in the shop I'll do a mirror polish one on of my Spyderco knives with the Xarilk Gen3.

 

[cudgee]

I haven't used it yet but after setting it up I'm impressed! Before ordering it I watched many hours of videos and reviews. I was under the impression that I would have to go through every part and screw and adjust everything and make sure it's correct but it was pretty close to perfectly assembled out of the box. There is zero, zilch, NO play at all in the clamp arm! Everything is amazingly smooth and precise especially considering this thing was $85. It's [apparently] a fairly close clone/copy of the TSProf Kadet. There's some element of...I dunno, IP is being perhaps abused here a bit but since Russia is an international pariah I don't suppose anyone will complain much. And China has a long tradition of copying Russian hardware.

The 'stones' are diamond, and I was pleased that my machine shipped with the newer style on aluminum blanks instead of the older plastic ones. The plastic ones were bad about flexing but the aluminum ones are rigid and pretty comparable to those sold for Edge Pro. I was going through my stones and I have 60 of the 1x6 stones and at least a dozen 1x6 strops in leather, kangaroo, balsa wood and Nanocloth, so I'll have plenty of stuff to test out.

Tomorrow if I'm not too busy in the shop I'll do a mirror polish one on of my Spyderco knives with the Xarilk Gen3.

Thanks. For $85 sounds like great value.