Wicked Edge knife sharpener sharpening station.

Brent Dowell

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So I recently bought a 'Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener' sharpening system for sharpening knives.

I can't sharpen a knife free hand if my life depended on it, and I've used those hand held lansky and smith sharpeners. I always liked the idea of the way they control the angle.

The WEPS takes that to the next level with quality diamond hones and a variety of stones and strops you can get to put together whatever kind of system works for you.

The one thing it lacks however is decent way to store all the stones and other 'stuff' that goes with it.

So here is my happy little solution.

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I really didn't intend for it to have a little face like that. Home Depot had a bunch of contractor packs of SS drawer pulls on sale, so I had bought a bunch a while ago.

I put the pulls on it, and there it was, a happy little box... :rolleyes:

Well, It works pretty good! :rofl:
 
Just did box joints on it.
Should have done half blind dovetails, but the Ibox is just already setup and dialed in, it takes 2 minutes max for me to swap out my table saw blade for the box joint blades to do these.
I'm getting faster at swapping out the blades too.
 
Just did box joints on it.
Should have done half blind dovetails, but the Ibox is just already setup and dialed in, it takes 2 minutes max for me to swap out my table saw blade for the box joint blades to do these.
I'm getting faster at swapping out the blades too.

Ain't that Ibox nice? I think it's the best tablesaw/router accessory they've ever come up with. I even used mine to make an accessory box for my Multi-Router. :D
 
Ain't that Ibox nice? I think it's the best tablesaw/router accessory they've ever come up with. I even used mine to make an accessory box for my Multi-Router. :D
so how did that new fence work brent?:)

The combination of those two items, with the freud box joint blades made this a very easy project.

I started on it yesterday morning for a couple hours, then another few today. Just being able to trust your tools to do what they are supposed to makes things go so much faster.

I.e. I knew the box joints would work, so no time expended to change any settings or test.
I knew the rip fence was dead on, so take a measurement, and use it.

Having the proper tools, and properly setup, just made everything go faster with no rework for damaged or mis-cut parts...

Oh, and the biggest thing is just having the room to work, without crap cluttering all the benches.
 
The combination of those two items, with the freud box joint blades made this a very easy project.

I started on it yesterday morning for a couple hours, then another few today. Just being able to trust your tools to do what they are supposed to makes things go so much faster.

I.e. I knew the box joints would work, so no time expended to change any settings or test.
I knew the rip fence was dead on, so take a measurement, and use it.

Having the proper tools, and properly setup, just made everything go faster with no rework for damaged or mis-cut parts...

Oh, and the biggest thing is just having the room to work, without crap cluttering all the benches.

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Having tools that you can trust to be "on" is a wonderful feeling, isn't it? ;)
 
I really like these box joints, got to get my ibox out and try using it. You making it look so darn easy to get organized.


Especially after being scared off that dovetail jig with all those fiddly adjustments. :) Funny how they don't show that "infinitely adjustable" part in the sales blurb. See Carol I paid careful attention.

Brent I missed the whole wicked edge demo but just before we left your place you were sharpening Carols knives on another gadget so which is it that's best for the kitchen knives. I am thinking automation for my wife might be the way to go. Then she can sharpen her own and get to learn to look after an edge better when she sees how much effort is involved.
 
I bought the Wicked Edge system for a couple of reasons.

1) Some knives I want to have really, really, really sharp
2) Some knives I've got are too 'nice' to sharpen by hand, or with an electric sharpener.
3) I've also been toying with the idea of getting a really nice kitchen knife, and what's holding me back is my inability to sharpen.

Now I know some of you guys can sharpen freehand just fine and would balk at the expense of this system. If that's that case, then I'd suggest just moving along and find another thread to comment on. ;)

I know for a fact that there is no way I'll ever be able to do a proper sharpening on an expensive knife by hand, and I am willing to do what I can to ensure that I don't mess a knife up.

Ok, So for a kitchen knife, what I use is the Cooks Illustrated recommended 8" Victorinox Fibrox Chef's Knife. It's a cheap knife, no two ways around it, but it fits good in my hand, takes and holds an edge pretty well, and the non slip handle is nice to have when working with wet hands.

For that knife, I generally use use an electric sharpener on it. I use the Chefs Choice Model 120 electric knife sharpener. It has 3 wheels on it. 1 is very coarse for re-profiling knives that have been very abused, 2 is a fine diamond wheel, and the 3 is a fiber strop type of wheel. It does a good, very fast job on sharpening kitchen knives and is darn near fool proof.

It does not put a fine polished bevel on the knife like the WEPS does, but it is a nice toothy edge that works quite well in the kitchen.

So that's my recommendation for kitchen type knives.

For other knives, like hunting knives, filet knives, high quality kitchen knives, that's where I would use the WEPS. With the variety of hones and strops available, well, you can get a very even bevel on both sides of the blade that is polished to a mirror finish. You can get knives so sharp you can literally shave with, and push cutting through paper is almost silly.


I really like these box joints, got to get my ibox out and try using it. You making it look so darn easy to get organized.


Especially after being scared off that dovetail jig with all those fiddly adjustments. :) Funny how they don't show that "infinitely adjustable" part in the sales blurb. See Carol I paid careful attention.

Brent I missed the whole wicked edge demo but just before we left your place you were sharpening Carols knives on another gadget so which is it that's best for the kitchen knives. I am thinking automation for my wife might be the way to go. Then she can sharpen her own and get to learn to look after an edge better when she sees how much effort is involved.
 
I bought the Wicked Edge system for a couple of reasons.

1) Some knives I want to have really, really, really sharp
2) Some knives I've got are too 'nice' to sharpen by hand, or with an electric sharpener.
3) I've also been toying with the idea of getting a really nice kitchen knife, and what's holding me back is my inability to sharpen.

Now I know some of you guys can sharpen freehand just fine and would balk at the expense of this system. If that's that case, then I'd suggest just moving along and find another thread to comment on. ;)

I know for a fact that there is no way I'll ever be able to do a proper sharpening on an expensive knife by hand, and I am willing to do what I can to ensure that I don't mess a knife up.

As I PM'd last week, although I have been hand sharpening my kitchen knives, I am not happy with the outcome. I can hand sharpen any chisel and planer blade, but a 8" chef knife is something I can not do really well or fast. I have decided to take your approach and get the base model and just include a finer grit stone and some stropping blanks. I just need to pull the trigger. I like the work station, I will need to do something similar.
 
Bill, I think you were typing this as I was sending you a PM on that exact same issue with some recommendations.

I'm very, very happy with the sharpening system and the results I get from it.
 
The bad part of knowing how to sharpen kitchen knives ( or other cutting tools) is that one likes them sharper each time. For instance, I have a knife for my sole and private use, it is made from normal carbon steel, it rusts inmediately if you don't clean it and dry it with a cloth but it takes a perfect edge. I keep it really sharp and it is a joy to cut and eat beefsteak, or to peel a peach. A single backwards slicing movement is enough to cut a piece of meat, if I need two passes it's time to sharpen it.
My wife hates it because it doesn't look good on the table, specially when we have guests, but I don't give up on that.

A famous chef had once the complaint of customer that said that the meat was too hard, the chef inmediately had all knives of the dinning sharpened.
 
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