Thinking about picking up a Wicked Edge Sharpener... Any interest in sharpening?

[ez bake]

I've got some DMT/Ceramic stones and a Lansky that I upgraded the stones to Diamond (for some of my newer harder steels), and I've become half-way decent at either free-hand or the Lansky. Touching up is hit or miss (I don't have a super steady hand, and the Lansky has its own problems with line-up and maintaining angles). With free-handing, I often just re-profile rather than do too much touching up because I can rarely hit the exact same angle twice in a row and I hate having multiple bevels or a convex edge when I'm not trying achieve that . I do end up with a very nicely polished edge and a very sharp knife and when I re-profile, it looks as good as it gets every time.

I do however get to the point where using all of my knives introduces the same problem as shooting all of my guns (where I have to constantly clean/maintain them) which is all part of it and I'm cool with that, but I've got enough knives now that I catch myself getting lazy when it's time to sharpen and I just move on to the next knife. This leaves me with a bunch of them to sharpen at one time and I'm starting to look at it more as a chore than a cool-skill or relaxing pastime.

So lately, I've been toying around with the idea of upgrading my sharpening kit. The Edge Apex Pro is nice, but is still some work in setting up and the kit comes with natural stones as opposed to diamond (which means I have to upgrade for super-steels or just put in the extra time/work which goes against the previous statement about my laziness).

The Wicked Edge is just plain bad-ass, but it's up there in price.

I've already gone through the pain in the ass process of re-profiling, polishing, and creating a primary bevel and secondary micro-bevel and achieved some bad-ass edges. I've seen more than one person do it on the Wicked Edge in about 1/10th the time and I very much like that.

I've thought about buying the pro kit and offering some sharpening services here on the board or at the occasional gun show to help pay for the setup. I'm no sharpening expert by far (I've seen folks free-hand sharpen on a whetstone that made me understand that I'll never be able to do that), but this thing is hard to screw up and I watched a guy use one on my knife and it was absolutely mind-blowing what he could do in less than 5 mins. He told me that with what I know about knives, it would be a cinch for me to use and I've watched several videos that basically show it to be extremely easy to operate.

If I bought one, would anyone be interested in having their knives sharpened for like $10 (basic sharpen to 800 Grit)? Maybe $20 for a polish/strop, and $30 for a re-profile/sharpen/polish/micro-bevel?

I'm just throwing numbers out because I'm in the early stages of thinking this through. I don't want to do this full-time or even a lot to be honest, but there seem to be just enough folks on this board that it might make for a half-way fun pastime again (and I won't lie, it's a little painful to think about investing $500 into a sharpening system).

I looked up the booklet and chart that comes with it to keep track of knives/specifications/settings on the sharpener, and I could easily put that into a spreadsheet to track users on this forum so that if you needed a touch-up, I could do it without having to get all your info again, etc.


At the end of the day, I guess I'm asking OSA'ers to help pay for my new toy and in exchange, I can offer you a mirror-polished blade.

What say you OSA?

 

[willystruck]

I sharpen knives as a sideline. I can precisely set the angle on each blade. 20 deg on kitchen knives, 25 deg on e.d.c. knives and 30 deg on very thick blade knives. This includes the primary bevel and the final micro bevel. Each blade is completed to a polished edge. I can also remove chips in the cutting edge and repair broken tips.

My prices start at $3.00 for blades up to 3", $4.00 for blades 3 to 6" and $5.00 for blades 6 to 9". Nicks and other repairs are a little higher depending on the extent of repair necessary. Re profiling is also possible but not something I like to do unless it is a serious repair.

The machine you are looking at sounds to be similar to the one I use. I'll be at SuperDaves gun show in Norman and also his Claremore show. (Have a previous engagement during the Shawnee show so won't be at that one.) Stop by and chat for a while!! I also carry several E.D.C. knives by Buck, Kershaw, CRKT, along with conceal carry and personal defense knives.

Frank aka willystruck
Precision Knife Works
Grove, Ok.

 

[ez bake]

I sharpen knives as a sideline. I can precisely set the angle on each blade. 20 deg on kitchen knives, 25 deg on e.d.c. knives and 30 deg on very thick blade knives. This includes the primary bevel and the final micro bevel. Each blade is completed to a polished edge. I can also remove chips in the cutting edge and repair broken tips.

My prices start at $3.00 for blades up to 3", $4.00 for blades 3 to 6" and $5.00 for blades 6 to 9". Nicks and other repairs are a little higher depending on the extent of repair necessary. Re profiling is also possible but not something I like to do unless it is a serious repair.

The machine you are looking at sounds to be similar to the one I use. I'll be at SuperDaves gun show in Norman and also his Claremore show. (Have a previous engagement during the Shawnee show so won't be at that one.) Stop by and chat for a while!! I also carry several E.D.C. knives by Buck, Kershaw, CRKT, along with conceal carry and personal defense knives.

Frank aka willystruck
Precision Knife Works
Grove, Ok.

What the heck - I didn't know we had more knife-sharpeners on here!

I wish you were closer man - I'd love to see your setup (and I'd probably have you sharpen a few of mine on occasion). Appreciate the price info. I've never paid someone to sharpen my knives (too much pride though it's resulted in some jacked up knives back when I was first learning).

I am a little worried about being able to maintain the same edge on my nicer knives without having to re-profile every time I sharpen (and removing too much metal each time), so I may visit you at the show (not sure I'm gonna make it yet, but if I do, I'll definitely stop by).

 

[langston302]

Been using my Spyderco 204 and a strop for years....I keep mine razor sharp. If I get one with an edge I dont like....I use my bench sander and re profile....I dont have any issue. Andy we need to talk.

 

[willystruck]

What the heck - I didn't know we had more knife-sharpeners on here!

I wish you were closer man - I'd love to see your setup (and I'd probably have you sharpen a few of mine on occasion). Appreciate the price info. I've never paid someone to sharpen my knives (too much pride though it's resulted in some jacked up knives back when I was first learning).

I am a little worried about being able to maintain the same edge on my nicer knives without having to re-profile every time I sharpen (and removing too much metal each time), so I may visit you at the show (not sure I'm gonna make it yet, but if I do, I'll definitely stop by).

This system removes the min amount of metal. I can sharpen most knives in 5 min or less. Hope you can make it to the show! If you can't make the Norman show, I'll be at the Claremore show in June.

Frank