Sharp things are handy for so many things in and out of the shop, so. . . .
Some years back, I bit the bullet and jumped right into the middle of that buyer's-remorse thing by way of buying a knife sharpening device called an Edge Pro [EP]. It was around $200.00.
The buyer's remorse dissipated quickly, as each pocket, kitchen and other knife edges grew sharper than they were, even when new, and more comfortable and enjoyable to use.
I was talking with the wife side of our family unit and the comment came up, "[t]here seems to be something wrong with the potatoes, because the knives seem to be all but falling through them." Keep in mind, this was said in a conversation between two people living in farm country and who got all the fresh potatoes they wanted free or on the cheap.
Too, we grew up in average households. Ones that had less respect and appreciation for sharp edges than people should have. That is, knives were tossed into sinks and drawers with other knives, and other metal devices and things that were mean to, as in, hell on, blade edges. Subsequently, using kitchen knives we grew up with required putting our body weight on the knife, while rocking the knife to work through a fresh, crisp potato. Essentially, many of these knives could have passed for splitting mauls.
While any attempt to keep an edge on a knife can be an excellent investment in time, using the EP was a game changer. It insured the sharpening angle never changed throughout the sharpening process. Since the angle doesn't change, when you use the jig, you don't set yourself back or undo what you accomplished up to that point by, inadvertently, tipping the blade a degree or two off the sought after angle. So sharpening is more accurate and repeatable, or even quicker.
ON A SIDE NOTE: I know enough about things grinding to know powered grinders are a quick way to mangle, or otherwise damage things of value, whether by eating most of it, by leaving crude edges, or altering the characteristics of the metal (i.e., temper) that I opted for a high end sharpener that would give optimum control over angle, the amount of metal removed, and how fast it was removed.
Even cheap knives (e.g., inexpensive steels) benefit from the attention given them with a good sharpening. For example, I have several kitchen knives I bought at yard sales merely because I liked their tanto points and they perform like high end knives, minus the long term edge retention thing.
It didn't take long, using sharp knives, before my wife expected top performance from our knives, so our knives get sharpened more in a few months than they did in any decade before.
Sharp is inspiring too. I liked how our kitchen knives performed, and that tuning the edges went quickly. I started reading more about edges and looking into better steels than my old Buck sported. Eventually, I bought a Spyderco Techno for my pocket. Its CTX XHP notably outperformed the other pocket knives I had, because of how much longer the blade held and edge. Its only con was, though it could be used to pry up manhole covers, that thick blade spine taught you all about friction. Dragging it through cardboard at, say, 90-degrees made it seem dull, but it went full on sharp when you reduced the angle of attack.
That friction thing inspired more research. A few more years in, I ended up jumping on the Spyderco Paramilitary bandwagon. The S110V blade metal version. WHAT AN EYE OPENER THAT HAS BEEN. I am not sure how many times longer the blade holds and edge than a good old case or Buck, but it runs in the many. The difference is even easily discernible when comparing performance to the CTC XHP, which, also, trumps the steels of pocket knives we grew up with.
As often happens, just as wanting a bit more comfort, performance, or dependability from our square bodies, I wanted improvements on my sharpening efforts.
On that rabbit trail, I, for years, have been eyeing Wicked Edge [WE] sharpeners. However, their prices are off the charts, compared to the Edge Pro. Too, there are concerning complaints that, to get around them, cost significantly more. Even just keeping good stones cost far more for the WE than for the EP.
As fate would have it, WE ran a sale on a prototype sharpener (WE 40], which included a couple sets of stones. I already had some counter top material they use in labs to act as a base, so the end price was $200.00.
Aside this WE has limitations the EP does not (e.g. the clamp can interfere with tight angles, unless you buy an adapter), it became a favorite for quick touch ups of the majority of my knives.
ON A WHIM, and recognizing my shop has a whole lot of unique materials stored in it (e.g. a few hundred pounds of plastics, jig knobs and guides, that lab counter material, etc.), I decided to build my own WE inspired sharpener capable of taking on most anything I could throw at it, aside lawn mower blades and such.
I bought a self centering vice, to insure the blade always ended up in the same spot, relative to the sharpening rods, so the angle would not change on both sides. I bent some heavy plastic, cut slots in it to allow the vice mounted on it to raise and lower, and. . . .
It works like a charm, and gets the job done as quickly as the commercial WE does.
It does not have the clamp interference issue the WE’s can have, because the vice (with soft jaws added) holds the handle, versus the WE’s method, which is to hold the blade. And, the unit accepts brass rods I had on hand to act as blade supports, when sharpening longer blades.
The con of my WE inspired sharpener is, it is not something you’re going to pack around to people’s houses, absent it being mounted in a cargo van.
And, it yet needs alignment marks to make getting to, say, 17 degrees, or 22-degrees quickly. I may use an knife used in woodwork to mark fine edges, then extend those marks down into that composite, where they would go off at angles and various lengths to allow labeling the various common angles used in sharpening.
One last thing to do is, add a means of insuring the blade is, 100%, at 90-degrees via being held in the vice. That could be as simple as making a Plexi square, or using a double caliper somehow incorporated into the vice.
