Can WE work for my 270mm Sujihiki fairly easlily

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I have an Edge Pro Professional Model which I am considering trying to sell to be able to purchase a Wicked Edge. I don’t have many knives, but I find the EP fairly slow to use and repeatedly wipe the blade table. I get decent results for some knives, but do not get great results with longer knives using good after market stones primarily due to user variance. However, it appears to me that it is difficult to not have a significant amount of user error on the EP with larger knives, except for highly proficient users. It appears to me that most of these skilled EP users actually are good free hand sharpeners and do not really need any guided sharpening device at all. I am considering the Wicked Edge which I believe will enable me to resharpen knives much more quickly and more proficiently than the Edge Pro.

I have some questions concerning whether the WE would be a good sharpening system for me. Some videos show that some users have some difficulty setting up some knives, particularly folding knives. My main concern is sharpening kitchen cutlery although I might purchase a Spyderco folding knife soon. Most of the work a rounds for the folders seem doable, such as mounting higher, using padding in the clamp etc. However, I have a Richmond Artifex 270mm Sujihiki that I have sharpened to 12 degrees on the EP. I believe that it is a 50 / 50 flat grind. The blade is somewhat flexible increases the difficulty of sharpening.

Can this knife be set up and sharpened fairly easily on the WE Professional Model 2 or the Generation 3? It appears to me that it would be necessary to clamp the knife at about 30 percent or 1/3 of the distance from the tip, which would leave a large area in back of the clamp to the handle of the knife. It looks to me that the knife would not be balanced well, and I don’t know if the clamp would firmly and rigidly hold the knife without issues. Even if you sharpen in two sections, it would still be necessary to clamp the knife near the tip in order to get the area of the tip sharpened at an approximately equal angle..proper and handle this knife fairly easily.

I also would get the low angle adapter for the Pro 2 or Gen 3 model. Would it be possible to sharpen a paring knife or petty (5/8 inch wide blade) at 12 degrees on the WE with the low angle adapter?

I am very interested in purchasing getting a Wicked Edge if it will handle my larger knives, I would prefer to use the Generation 3, but would get the Pro 2 model if it would be easier to do my knives.

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[quote quote=“Qwerty” post=24275]I have an Edge Pro Professional Model which I am considering trying to sell to be able to purchase a Wicked Edge. I don’t have many knives, but I find the EP fairly slow to use and repeatedly wipe the blade table. I get decent results for some knives, but do not get great results with longer knives using good after market stones primarily due to user variance. However, it appears to me that it is difficult to not have a significant amount of user error on the EP with larger knives, except for highly proficient users. It appears to me that most of these skilled EP users actually are good free hand sharpeners and do not really need any guided sharpening device at all. I am considering the Wicked Edge which I believe will enable me to resharpen knives much more quickly and more proficiently than the Edge Pro.

I have some questions concerning whether the WE would be a good sharpening system for me. Some videos show that some users have some difficulty setting up some knives, particularly folding knives. My main concern is sharpening kitchen cutlery although I might purchase a Spyderco folding knife soon. Most of the work a rounds for the folders seem doable, such as mounting higher, using padding in the clamp etc. However, I have a Richmond Artifex 270mm Sujihiki that I have sharpened to 12 degrees on the EP. I believe that it is a 50 / 50 flat grind. The blade is somewhat flexible increases the difficulty of sharpening.

Can this knife be set up and sharpened fairly easily on the WE Professional Model 2 or the Generation 3? It appears to me that it would be necessary to clamp the knife at about 30 percent or 1/3 of the distance from the tip, which would leave a large area in back of the clamp to the handle of the knife. It looks to me that the knife would not be balanced well, and I don’t know if the clamp would firmly and rigidly hold the knife without issues. Even if you sharpen in two sections, it would still be necessary to clamp the knife near the tip in order to get the area of the tip sharpened at an approximately equal angle..proper and handle this knife fairly easily.

I also would get the low angle adapter for the Pro 2 or Gen 3 model. Would it be possible to sharpen a paring knife or petty (5/8 inch wide blade) at 12 degrees on the WE with the low angle adapter?

I am very interested in purchasing getting a Wicked Edge if it will handle my larger knives, I would prefer to use the Generation 3, but would get the Pro 2 model if it would be easier to do my knives.[/quote]

I just got the gen 3 so I will be seeing how I like it compared to the gen 2 in the upcoming weeks. You def. don’t need the 3 for occasional use as the 2 is more versatile anyway, it just may take 5-10 seconds longer and you may have clamp bending issues - but no worres b/c WE team will take care of you on this for sure.

But to answer your questions… On larger knives you will probably have to reclamp. If you match the curve of the belly then you are pretty much guaranteed that it will widen up at the heel a little bit as the angle narrows out… unless you reclamp. And if you reclamp, I would highly suggest that you check the primary grind angles w/ an angle cube to make sure the knife mounted at the same angle in the vise as the prior mount. But anyway, yeah it will handle your knives no problem.

For the 12 dps on the small knife, I would go w/ the Tormek Small Knife jig instead, and check that. If you have to you could order the LAA in addition and then you can get down to about 5 dps using both as a combination, even on a small knife.

Check out these vids…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eNKG5EMWlM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T0wQDHKMR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkMAo2eztpY

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I know that I would have to reclamp the knife to sharpen near the tip. However, I have my doubts that it would be possible to get the knife to be clamped solidly when clamping it close to the tip where so most of the knife will be in back or the clamp. I wonder if anyone has been successful at working with a long, somewhat flexible knife such as my suji on the Wicked Edge.

I could try to sell the very lightly used Suji and replace it with a Richmond Artifex Gyuto instead which would not have a flexible blade. That would be a hassle and I am terrible at selling stuff.

For small knives I might just use the Sharpmaker and have to settle for less sharpness or possibly keep my EdgePro which does a fine job for me on my paring knives. I would rather sell Edge Pro since my apartment is not very large and I would need the money to purchase the Wicked Edge and accessories. I am more concerned with efficiently sharpening the larger Japanese knives.

I plan on getting the low angle adjustment for the WE, but I don’t know if it will go down to 12 degrees for a Japanese paring knife of Petty. I might have to settle for a more obtuse angle or sharpen on the Spyderco. I primarily use the larger knives anyway.

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I currently have the Pro 2 with the longer arms accessory. I have sharpened my 10" Forshner Slicer which is quite long, narrow, soft and flexible. I did reclamp it in several positions along the blade but I was able to sharpen it successfully with patience. I do have the Richmond Artifex 210 Gyotu in AEB-L steel. It is fairly thick in my opinion. I can clamp that pretty well centered and sharpen that without moving it or reclamping.

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Thanks.

The suji is straight until just before the tip, so I would guess that one reclamp would be sufficient to get fairly consistent angles. the knife is about 11 inches which is greater than 240mm (270). I wonder if the clamp would hold the knife securely when I reclamp it near the tip to get my desired angle.

Also, I am guessing that it could be sharpened as if it was two knives. That is first I would go through all the stone progressions and stropping at the initial clamp position to do the straight portion of the knive. Then I would reclamp the knive and go through the stone and strop progressions near the tip. Then I guess I would do a few passes with the finest grit stone or strop I used in the original clamping position to smooth out the knife. I am not sure if that would be proper procedure, but it is my guess. My concern is will the clamp sufficiently secure the long knife when it is clamped near the tip?

I forgot that longer arms are available as an accessory and I would get them for the suji and my 240mm gyuto which does not have a flexible blade.

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I’m pretty sure that the bevel angle does not change for any straight, horizontal line projected thru the point at which the stone angles are set. This means that if you have a long straight edge with a relatively short belly section, you would mount the knife so as to have the radius line of the belly intersect the pivot point of the rods and with the long, straight section extended out toward you. Sharpening the long, straight section is only limited (within reason) by the length of your rods and the stability of that section. I have a 12" High Mountain jerky knife which sharpens beautifully in one set-up.

I’ve been holding the handle end of long blades with my off-hand to steady it, but many use some form of the RAM universal support arms to clamp the cantilevered end.

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[quote quote=“Qwerty” post=24282]I know that I would have to reclamp the knife to sharpen near the tip. However, I have my doubts that it would be possible to get the knife to be clamped solidly when clamping it close to the tip where so most of the knife will be in back or the clamp. I wonder if anyone has been successful at working with a long, somewhat flexible knife such as my suji on the Wicked Edge.
[/quote]

Here Whenever I work flexible knives I have to support the tip w/ my off hand while grinding on each side. is some great info to stabilize long knives, it’s a $90 mod or so.

[quote quote=“tcmeyer” post=24288]I’m pretty sure that the bevel angle does not change for any straight, horizontal line projected thru the point at which the stone angles are set. This means that if you have a long straight edge with a relatively short belly section, you would mount the knife so as to have the radius line of the belly intersect the pivot point of the rods and with the long, straight section extended out toward you. Sharpening the long, straight section is only limited (within reason) by the length of your rods and the stability of that section. I have a 12" High Mountain jerky knife which sharpens beautifully in one set-up.

I’ve been holding the handle end of long blades with my off-hand to steady it, but many use some form of the RAM universal support arms to clamp the cantilevered end.[/quote]

It will change :stuck_out_tongue: … match the curve of the belly next time w/ the handle sticking way out the back. You will notice as you grind that the bevel gets wider at the heel. I am not sure of the exact degree difference but it does make a noticeable difference.

To prove the theory just imagine that you had a 15 ft rod arm and extended the knife 15 ft out, the angle would be significantly lower than if it was 4" from the point of the pivot base on the rod arms.

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Unfortunately I am not at all handy or mechanically inclined. If I was I would probably be able to become proficient at free hand sharpening and wouldn’t need to use guided sharpening systems. I would need to purchase any mods for the WE in a ready to use condition. I would not be comfortable using a free hand to support a longer flexible knife. I want to maximize safety when using the machine and reduce chances of user error. I would be interested in purchasing a good mod to securely clamp long flexible knives if one was available.

Thanks to everyone for their input and suggestions. Perhaps in the future WE will continue to develop new modifications to resolve some of these issues.

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[quote quote=“Qwerty” post=24291]Unfortunately I am not at all handy or mechanically inclined. If I was I would probably be able to become proficient at free hand sharpening and wouldn’t need to use guided sharpening systems. I would need to purchase any mods for the WE in a ready to use condition. I would not be comfortable using a free hand to support a longer flexible knife. I want to maximize safety when using the machine and reduce chances of user error. I would be interested in purchasing a good mod to securely clamp long flexible knives if one was available.

Thanks to everyone for their input and suggestions. Perhaps in the future WE will continue to develop new modifications to resolve some of these issues.[/quote]

If I wasn’t so back logged I would offer to sharpen it up for you for free and do a YT video on it hehe. Sorry we can’t help more.

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I was thinking of emailing WE and requesting if I could send the knife to WE to have it set up and clampled on the Pro 2 and or Gen 3 machines without spending the time to be sharpened. If you can set it up, I know that you can sharpen it. And if I could be shown how to do it, I could sharpen it. I would be willing to pay a few dollars to have the knife analyzed by WE and set up on the machines to determine if it would be relatively easy for me to set it up. I don’t want anyone to spend the time to sharpen it.

Perhaps photos might help some other people with similar types of knives, but I don’t know.

If in the near future WE is willing to have me send in the knife, I would be happy to do it, but I do understand if that would not be feasible.

Please email me if it can be worked out in the future for me to be able to send in the knife for analysis.

The WE looks great to me for many knives, but I would need to spend nearly $900 for the machine and modifications (not including any extra stones that I might purchase). I would need to be able to sharpen my knives on the WE for me to be comfortable making this purchase.

Thank you for spending the time to try to assist me.

In my opinion, WE should try to make a long knife clamping adapter. One possibility would be to develop a double clamp that would securely hold a long knife in two positions on the blade. That might be very difficult or impossible, I’m not engineer. On the other hand, it is possible that a very skilled user of the WE might be able to teach people a reasonable way to handle long flexible blades.

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[quote quote=“Qwerty” post=24294]
In my opinion, WE should try to make a long knife clamping adapter. One possibility would be to develop a double clamp that would securely hold a long knife in two positions on the blade. [/quote]

You sir have just given me an idea…to the knife cave batman!!! :wink:

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I thought the rig shown by philloder was the best solution I’d seen for holding very long knives. Or at least the start of it.

[quote quote=“philloder” post=23975]
I just got this knife from Brad and had to test out my new clamp arm with the Chosera Stones. I had read many complaints about the clamp with blades with angular spines slipping. I went another route and made a great fix using 1" ram ball hardware. There was zero movement or blade angle changes during sharpening. Without the extra stability the Chosera’s are almost a waste. My knife handle moved down to almost vertical when clamped without the mod. as the following picture shows the blade never moved any measurable amount during the entire 90 minute sharpening exercise. The edge is a absolute mirror and scary sharp using the 3 finger test and pops a hanging hair. I wouldn’t have thought a 4" Camp knife could get so crazy sharp.

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That is similar to what I visualized. The possibility of using a second clamp for longer knives would make the WE a more versatile machine. It appears like the Tormek small knife adapter might work well for small knives that need to be sharpened at lower angles.

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[quote quote=“Qwerty” post=24294]I was thinking of emailing WE and requesting if I could send the knife to WE to have it set up and clampled on the Pro 2 and or Gen 3 machines without spending the time to be sharpened. If you can set it up, I know that you can sharpen it. And if I could be shown how to do it, I could sharpen it. I would be willing to pay a few dollars to have the knife analyzed by WE and set up on the machines to determine if it would be relatively easy for me to set it up. I don’t want anyone to spend the time to sharpen it.

Perhaps photos might help some other people with similar types of knives, but I don’t know.

If in the near future WE is willing to have me send in the knife, I would be happy to do it, but I do understand if that would not be feasible.

Please email me if it can be worked out in the future for me to be able to send in the knife for analysis.

The WE looks great to me for many knives, but I would need to spend nearly $900 for the machine and modifications (not including any extra stones that I might purchase). I would need to be able to sharpen my knives on the WE for me to be comfortable making this purchase.

Thank you for spending the time to try to assist me.

In my opinion, WE should try to make a long knife clamping adapter. One possibility would be to develop a double clamp that would securely hold a long knife in two positions on the blade. That might be very difficult or impossible, I’m not engineer. On the other hand, it is possible that a very skilled user of the WE might be able to teach people a reasonable way to handle long flexible blades.[/quote]

Qwerty, I’d love it if you sent your knife in for us to sharpen and video for you, no charge, just postage.

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Thank you for your generous offer Clay. What I know about WE from reading posts, comments, and reviews, is that WE provides outstanding customer service, and it is continually working to improve the product to sharpen as many types of knives as possible. It is difficult for any guided knife sharpening system to work very well on every type of knife. I am very confident that you can sharpen my Suji on the pro 2 or gen 3. The question would be if I could sharpen it on the WE. I don’t know if any clamp could securely hold a 270mm somewhat flexible knife. I visual two clamps as working best, but it is possible that you might be able to show people how to safely sharpen the knife on the WE. I don’t want to knock the EdgePro, and I find it to be a good but somewhat slow sharpener for smaller and medium length blades, but I don’t enjoy using it for a longer flexible blade, and spines that do not lie flat.

I would like to send the knife in as I am very curious. I would like to send it to you by the middle of October. I am most interested in how to sharpen it.

I thank your for your kind offer, and the people who posted their ideas.