Making The Jump to the Edge Pro. I Have So Many Questions...

[Rwb1500]

Congratulations!

Thanks Chuck. I've been standing at my dining room table for about 8 hours out of the last 24. My wife is very annoyed; Mission accomplished!

[chuck_roxas45]

Thanks Chuck. I've been standing at my dining room table for about 8 hours out of the last 24. My wife is very annoyed; Mission accomplished!

What stones are you using?

BTW, was the mission to get the wife annoyed? :D

[xceptnl]

Well, guess what I got in the mail today?

That looks like a nice working edge and obviously effective.

[Rwb1500]

What stones are you using?

BTW, was the mission to get the wife annoyed? :D

Bahaha, no, but it was bound to happen. Anytime I get something like this that takes time to master I dive in head first and usually don't surface until I'm proficient at it. She hates it.

So far I've only got the EP 220, 400, and 600. The 1000 grit is coming, and I figure I might as well get the 120, but I may pick up the polishing tapes too.

[Rwb1500]

That looks like a nice working edge and obviously effective.

Thank you. The middle of that bevel looks all messed up in that picture but I believe that is an optical illusion. It looks straight and true when I look at it.

And honestly for me if an edge will shave hair and glide effortlessly through paper I'm perfectly happy, I don't need anything more than that.


I put a nice edge on an Opinel today for a little more practice. Thin, tiny little blades are tough to manage on the table. Also, do all Opinels come dull as a spoon?

[chuck_roxas45]

Bahaha, no, but it was bound to happen. Anytime I get something like this that takes time to master I dive in head first and usually don't surface until I'm proficient at it. She hates it.

So far I've only got the EP 220, 400, and 600. The 1000 grit is coming, and I figure I might as well get the 120, but I may pick up the polishing tapes too.

Absolutely get the tapes if you're getting the 1000. The 600 grit is a good all around edge finish. It works well for most anything you need a pocket knife for.

[jackknifeh]

After sharpening successfully with the Sharpmaker for a year now I've decided to widen my horizons. A friend is giving me his Edge Pro Apex, but he's keeping his collection of stones.

I have lots of questions hopefully some of you experienced users can answer.

I'm looking at the basic Edge Pro branded stones, about $16 a pop mounted to a blank. Do I need all the grits to start? 120, 220, 400, 600, and 1000? Should I skip the 120 to start seeing as I don't do much reprofiling? Should I even skip the 220 in the beginning? Any body have any idea how the Sharpmaker rods relate to the EP grits?

I'd love to jump to some of the higher end stones I've heard you all mention, but I think simple willl be a good place to start.

What about leveling stones? How often does this need done? Does it depend on the stone?

How are the stones mounted to the blanks?

What about the EP tapes in 1k and 2k? A compliment to the full set of grits or necessary?

Again, I'm not trying to emulate Travis, not yet at least. I just want accurate, repeatable, sharp edges. The rest will come in time.

Thanks everyone for reading that. It was kinda like my thoughts over the last 48 hours spilling out in no particular order.

Lol, another question; How does one determine the angle of an edge on a knife using the EP? From what I've read you basically Sharpie the Edge and guess until you start taking Sharpie off. Is that an accurate description or am I missing something?

STONES:
If you don't want to bess with gluing blanks start with the EP stones. Available from Ben or CKTG. Or you can buy moldmaster stones from congresstools.com. You will need to buy blanks and glue the stones to them. I use any basig contact cement. You want glue that will release in boiling water. Inexpensive household cement works for me. I buy the 1/8"x1"x(36" or 48") aluminum blank material at Lowe's and cut my own. Aluminum cuts easy and you can use a hacksaw and file. But if you have a Dremel and grinding stones it's faster. I'd get one or two stones coarser than the 320 along with the 320, 400 and if you want the 600 grit. These are oil stones but I use them dry. Or water is ok. They will average around $4 a stone I think.

I have a set of Shapton Glass stones for the EP. These are so great I consider them a different animal than "sharpening stones". I have 5 stones. 500, 1k, 2k, 6k and 8k. The 8k is the first grit for mirror results. Personally, the 500, 2k and 8k would be ok. Of course more stones makes progression a little easier. Less time per stone makes the stones last longer and easier progression through scratch patterns. Another thought. Stick with cheap stones for the coarser grits. Get the 2k and 8k Shapton glass if you want a really nice mirror finish on a flat bevel. If you look at the prices of the Shapton glass stones you'll see a pretty good reason to buy as few as you need. :) They truely are a great stone though. The only place to get Shapton glass stones EP size is CKTG which is where to look for any EP accessory like others have said. I think CKTG is about the best site for quality sharpening stuff.

Other things I like and a rating of 1-5 on how important I think they are realizing you don'g NEED any of these.
1. Drill bit stop collar: 5. Absolutely the most beneficial accessory for an EP IMO. If you have a decent set of drill bit accessories you may already have a 5/16" collar. I did. Or you can get one at Lowe's or Ace's I bet. But if you are already going to place an order with CKTG, just include it also.
2. Spring for stone changing: 3 One minus possibility with the spring. It is possible to accidentally hit the stone holder forcing it back and allowing the stone to fall out. Ben Dale mentioned that to me once. That is why the Apex doesn't already have a spring and the Pro model does have a spring instead of a twisty knob to tighten the stone. He is 100% right about this but I use the spring and will continue to use it. Knowing the possibility helps to make me a little more careful. Get the spring. :)
3. Angle cube: 4. This one you can get from CKTG but I ordered one from eBay yesterday for $28.50 shipped. Mine broke a while back and to be honest I forgot about it. I wanted to use it yesterday and remembered it's broken. I ordered one from the same seller I got the first one from. I put off getting the first one of these until I found out I could set the angle on my circular saw with it. :) I also have used it for a few other things as well. Nice thing to have in any house IMO. I got a piece of 5/16" rod from Lowe's and made my own vertical rod with the angle marks on it. The original one has the marks every 3 degrees. I wanted one with a mark for every degree. The angle cube made this pretty easy. Used Mr. Dremel to cut the grooves for every angle mark. You don't need another rod though. You can mark the back of the original one. I did that, screwed it up so needed a new rod. Pretty cheap thankfully.
4. Polishing tapes: 1. These work well but I never quite got the "feel" for them. It's easy to make a mistake and cut them. They are good for a few knives and need to be replaced which I hate. But, when I did try using them (and I did quite a bit) they really do perform well.

You will need a flattening stone. I have the 140 grit stone from CKTG. It's working well for me. I used to use my XC DMT stone but got the larger one for bench stones and to have a dedicated flattening stone. Can't see spending $200 or more on a stone just to flatten water stones though. Just me.

Good luck with this and happy learning. The EP is definately one of those tools that is easy to use and get good results but after some learning and practice it will start to produce really refined results.

Wait, I forgot. One thing I ABSOLUTELY LOVE that I won't get into right now is my Edge Guide Blocks. I invented these. :D Someone else tried making some and improved on them by creating two thickness blocks. These things are great for holding a small knife (under 4" blade) still on the blade table. They are one of those things you can live without though.

I'll stop before I remember something else. :D

[chuck_roxas45]

I was waiting for your wall of text jack. :D

Very nice points though. :)

[jackknifeh]

I was waiting for your wall of text jack. :D

Very nice points though. :)

Sorry to be so slow. :) I keep typing the same stuff over and over. Maybe I should write up a review or something using MS Word so I can cut & paste it into the forum. :

[Rwb1500]

Sorry to be so slow. :) I keep typing the same stuff over and over. Maybe I should write up a review or something using MS Word so I can cut & paste it into the forum. :

Lol, thanks for all your insight Jack. When I started working on that Opinel I stumbled across your thread on your patented edge guide blocks. Brilliant idea. I mocked up a few in cardboard, now I'm out of town for the weekend but when I get home I'm off to Lowe's for some paint sticks.

[chuck_roxas45]

Sorry to be so slow. :) I keep typing the same stuff over and over. Maybe I should write up a review or something using MS Word so I can cut & paste it into the forum. :

That'd be a good time saving idea. :)

[jackknifeh]

rbw1500, check out a thread I started about accidental edge sharpness if you want to. I used the EP but didn't mention it in the title so the fact it's about the EP isn't obvious.

[razorsharp]

I'm a bit late to this thread BUT

personally I would jump to the high end stones like the shapton glass stones. You're gonna get stones like that eventually, and the ep stones will be left lying around ( unless you use them for hogging off metal), Id also look into moldmasters too. Chuck told me 5 bux max per stone.

I'm getting an edge pro, ordering it next tuesday, with shapton glass stones #320, #500, #1000, #4000, #8000 and #16000
I'm lusting the perfectly flat edges that I cant quite get with my freehanding.

also Chuck, I saw Blue Oyster Cult in your sig line, LOLOL- I am NOT in the blue oyster cult, I work for BOC gas :P
also cheers for the honorable mention :p