Thread: Sharpener edge test

Originally Posted by Pixie Z

Cheers for the advice guys. Think I’ll perhaps pass on the Lansky then. I’ve been using a regular wetstone up til now. Get decent results but would really like to take it to the next level. I like the premise behind the Lansky, being able to precisely get certain angles. But sounds like it’s quite a fiddly system.

Stick with the whetstone man, what grits are you using? Get a good polishing stone and a strop. Takes a little practice but really not that hard once you get it down.

A 3k finish and a strop when properly done will whittle hair. Keep it a bit courser/toothier for knives used on meet etc. A bit of tooth isn't a bad thing. I go to 1200 and strop on my filllet
and boning knives. They will still shave.

So where are the best places to get water stones.
I've been trying to use a lanskey and I find it crap.
So I want to give wet stones a try.

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Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

So where are the best places to get water stones.
I've been trying to use a lanskey and I find it crap.
So I want to give wet stones a try.

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Blademaster.co.nz or Top-Gear.co.nz is where I got mine. Went for middle of the road quality wise. 600/1000 and 1000/6000 grits. But I think a good 1000grit and stropping would be the ticket now
I think the only think I would like now is a DMT Extra Fine stone for the harder steels just to make the sharpening process a bit faster

Originally Posted by mikee

Blademaster.co.nz or Top-Gear.co.nz is where I got mine. Went for middle of the road quality wise. 600/1000 and 1000/6000 grits. But I think a good 1000grit and stropping would be the ticket now
I think the only think I would like now is a DMT Extra Fine stone for the harder steels just to make the sharpening process a bit faster

Awesome thanks

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Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

So where are the best places to get water stones.
I've been trying to use a lanskey and I find it crap.
So I want to give wet stones a try.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

@25/08 IMP prochef has a good selection of high quality Japanese stones. King is good value. A 1000/6000 is great for kitchen knives, but I like a bit courser for hunting/field knives.

A 2 sided dmt in fine/extra fine(600/1200) and a home made strop is a great place to start.

Just make sure you get a full size stone, it's tempting to buy the smaller stones as they are cheaper but they are no where near as good. Having plenty of stone to work on both helps consistency and speeds up the job.

So my final test was to cut through some rpm thick natural fibre rope, no idea what it was but it came out of a gym, the stuff you used to climb up as a kid then fall onto the hard wood floor underneath, school of hard knocks stuff, anyway once I cut through that I thrived to cut paper.

The one sharpened on a knife makers belt sander went first (that ones now sold), it cut though but it wa quite a bit of work, a lot of sawing back and forth to get there, but get there it did in the end, this one is full flat no secondary bevel and the edge took a beat of a beating, well bending actually, it would not cut paper afterward, however maybe 10 seconds of stroking on the edge of the bench and the edge was restored and it sliced paper fine, needed a tough of the stone and a second strop before I let it go to the new owner though.

Next up was the one sharpened on the tormek, a toothy edge, and it ripped though the thick rope without hesitation, and hacked through paper happily afterwards too.

Then came the wicked edge, this cut about the same as the tormek, the paper it sliced a tad better but I would call them even on performance.

Finally the Tsprof, this sliced straight though the rope, lest amount of work needed and also cut paper as if it had not just been s icing thick rope a few seconds before.

So to conclude: the 84 engineering bench sander is the quickest to use (once you know how to use it), is the largest, and the most expensive, for a knife maker it’s great, as a sharpener it’s only so so, I prefer to almost finish on this then do the final edge on a different tool, unless you are actually wanting to make knife I would avoid.

The tormek is the second fastest to use, take a bit of practice to get the hang of it and you need to buy a variety of jigs to sharpen different things, it it is by far the most versatile, allowing you to sharpen knives, scissors, axes, chisels, planes, gauges, drill bits, lawnmower blades...and because it runs through a trough of water you will not ruin the temper of the blade. The catch is you need a different jig for each tool and you need to practice to get it right.
For someone who uses a variety of tools and does not need a razors edge but just want a sharp or toothy edge this is a great option, it’s not cheap, it needs both water and electricity to work, but it does give a consistently very good edge.
It’s not super portable though, being heavy and needing power.

The wicked edge is the cheapest, third slowest, most portable option, if you upgrade the diamond paddles that it some with it makes a fantastic edge, polished mirror edges that glide through produce with ease and the norm with this tool, repeatedly excellent edges will before the norm with a little effort, it’s not fast I use something like 3000 strokes per blade (it’s hard to count too!).
You are locked in to a system though (like the Tormek), and your options are diamonds or ceramic, you can make a toothy edge with less effort or a beautiful polished edge with more effort, I would recommend a digital angle measuring tool with it. It’s beaut. It’s not cheap though and I would only get it if you use a lot of knives and a precise edge is important to you.

The Tsprof k03...this won my test at 1000 grit. Why. Well partly I think it lets you cover more of the blade with each stroke, so the edge from the ricasso right to the tip gets done, however care is needed as it would be easy to do one part of the blade more than another, creating a dip that would need to be corrected, care is needed, it’s the slowest system I have, it’s also messy as the stones I currently have need to be soaked in water and create a slurry as you sharpen. It’s not cheap either, coming from Russia, mind you the tormek comes from Sweden, the wicked edge from USA and the 84 engineering from Australia, so for all of them you need to factor in freight, although the tormek is held in stock here, maybe the wicked edge too, and the 84 engineering is quick to get here.
The system is slightly fiddly and not super portable, although it is packaged better than anything else. My wicked edge is much easier to transport.

Another aspect to consider with the Tsprof, which has nothing to do with why it performed well, is that you can get a huge variety of different stones you can get to go with it - diamonds, yup, boride, no problem, aluminium oxide of course, whet stones, would you like Indian, Arkansaw, Japanese, Chinese or European? Oh you wanted some waterstones no problem, maybe you had you heart set on some rock from the bottom of the ocean made from crushed and hardened crustaceans, not a problem. Of course this adds cost to your set up and time to the sharpening process. I have some of these on order, but thanks to the virus they are taking a long time to get here.

So there you have it, still can’t decide? No problem send me your knives and I’ll do them for you, you can choose how you want them sharpened or let me choose, if the edge is under 100 mm long then it’s a fiver per blade, same price for chisels, plane blades, scissors or axes, longer knife blades are seven fifty and it you want any major chips or a broken tip fixed it’s another two fifty on top, you need to pay postage too, I do a moneyback guarantee, not satisfied your money back.

Shelley 021727546

I want one of these: https://www.edgeproinc.com/Professio...Pro-System-c2/

Got this from aliexpress for a try. Not that happy. Clamp doesn't hold all knives well, and I seem to struggle to get sharp blades same as sharpmaker. I am probably not even and need to count strokes each side or one side until a burr produced. The selection of cover 200 to 6000 and they do seem good for smaller knives.



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Make sure you are getting a burr before you flip to the other side, try soaking the stones in water beforehand, when I am going up progressions I usually aim for 100 strokes per side.