Great video. I'm a professional chef and this is exactly the process I strive to achieve. I can't do it this fast by hand and differently can't maintain the angle this precise. Wicked edge is truly badass.
Clearly the best video for getting excellent results from my WE130 system - and I've seen scores of them. After watching this vid, I was able to quickly sharpen 8 knives in two brief sittings and they have a variety of angles, but a uniform result after spending maybe 8-10 minutes per knife. The most time-consuming part of each knife was finding the proper bevel-angle, but after that - it went very smoothly. Thanks Kyle!
Howdy Kyle, just thought I would let you know what I did when my WE130 started making that noise. Just took the jaws apart, cleaned evrything real good with a paper towel and alcohol, then put a very small amount of light oil on my finger, put It on the cam lift and the bottom part of the jaws that ride on it, again I stress, a very small amount, is one tiny drop and then I wipe most of that off,plus I clean it like that about every 10 or 15 knives, or when it starts making noise again. No more noise.
Blows my mind how arrogant and rude some guests can be. People seem to get some satisfaction out of critiquing a video made with one's own methods and advice. If you don't agree or care for content, create your own video. This is free advice not paid for content. Take it or leave it. Some people have nothing better to do than bash someone else's efforts. Truly miserable mindset!
I commented before, but just got your amazing book on starting a sharpening service! The book, along with your videos, have really helped me a lot! I’m disabled due to severe medical issues but need something to supplement my disability income and am following your advice in the books and videos and will hopefully have my sharpening business running soon!
Im also disabled and want to try a sharpening gig but my wife has cancer and I dont have the money to purchase a WE like the one here. They dont make it anymore but there is a 4 thats over a grand. My wife is 49 and I am 50 and we are both deathly sick with med bills killing us too. I NEED this side job, it would be perfect. I did a survey in my neighborhood and had 42 people that said they would use me at $10 a knife 8 for five or more if I can start doing it. I know I definitely NEED a WE though 😭
Good for you. Let the haters hate. I personally don’t think you have anything to prove, but I commend you for making your point. With that being said, I am going to try your four minute method. I am a very meticulous person and I can easily spend 20 or 30 minutes on a knife. However, that is to my detriment. I don’t use my sharpener as much because it takes too long. Next time I use it I’m just gonna say to heck with it and see what I can achieve in four minutes. I appreciate the video. Very professional and concise .
I enjoyed this. I am a Gen 3 Pro user and am working to accelerate the process. I spend a lot of time masking blades to protect finish, measuring angles between stones, looking at the edge under magnification, and fussing about deburring. Some steels, like those inexpensive stainless steels, leave a funky burr on top of the apex that's hard to get rid of without stropping. I also worry about how blade flex on longer knives, like that chef knife, will affect the evenness of the bevel and ultimate sharpness. In the end, it depends on what one is sharpening and for whom.
I've had the WE Pro Pack I plus several extra stones for just over a year, and sharpened at least 50 of my knives and a few for friends, but learned a lot from this video. I've been spending 30-45 minutes per knife and that really gets tedious. I thought I noticed recently, particularly on some Buck sheath knives, that they seemed almost duller after taking them to 1600 grit than what they were at say 1000 grit. I was suspecting that 1000 was probably more toothy and was probably more than good enough other than bragging rights. This video confirmed that. I've also been putting way more strokes than necessary once I got the initial burr- sometimes 200-300 strokes per stone or more! In fact, I'd have to take a break after each knife. I sharpened a couple of cheap pocket knives for a friend for free last weekend (before watching this video) and kind of felt like I was cheating. But since it was a favor, I only took them to 1000 grit, and spent almost no time reprofiling, even though one had one side off by at least 3 degrees from the other side. He was thrilled with the results. He was telling people that my work is so good that he can shave with his pocket knife now.
I was told along time ago "don't ever bet a guy when he says , i can do so and so", I';ve been using your products and talked with you several times over the years, I'd have bet on you. I'm the bum that hasn't been successful buying on line [Lately] and you've been kind enough to help......
Id pay $8 for that edge 😂. Who would complain about that. Im sure if u charged $40 you could do some crazy mirror edge nonsense but u figured out what ppl want and how much it should cost. Good on u dude.
To the dude who called Kyle out, 1 probably doesn't have a Wicked Edge and 2 has never ordered or talked to Kyle on the phone, you can't find a more straight up 100% standup man in business.
I totally get how this is good enough for most people, and it’s not worth your time to go further, but, as a knife guy, thinking about the scratch patterns of the combined up and down and side to side strokes makes me cringe, as does lack of checking with magnification to inspect the apex, and be sure there is no feather edge that could be limiting ultimate sharpness. would love to see a close-up of one of these edges as well as bess testing. thanks for showing though how you can do a knife in four minutes, and for the tips on this system
Love this. I sharpen knives with my WEP in about 5-6 minutes. I was told to always wipe the blade after each grit so you don't contaminate the higher grit that follows. You Don't practice that and still get great results. Interesting.
This is the best explained video I seen so far....I just bought mine WE pro and did just one knife by stroking each stone at a time on both sides....and I was thinking of next one I do do it like you did with the first set of stones....thanks
Bro , that’s awesome 👏. It’s a friendly thing to do and basically you’re covering your gas and expense of the WE. I ve done all my family and friends knives and a fixed system was the way to go for me after trying
Great video, thanks for making it. So many people including myself overthink it. This is simple and to the point, this is the process I will follow for 90%of my sharpening. Other than adding a few strop strokes at the end I will recreate this exactly. Well done.
Much harder to master the wheel than most know. Thanks for the demo. Paid lots of attention to where your finger and thumb are. Plus the angle of the rest tool.
A really, really good instructional film for using any version of the Wicked Edge system properly. Don't worry about the speed aspect, Kyle's method and tips are revalationary! Thank you.
Sounds like your running a good business to me 👍 You’re providing the service and value your customers want at a price they can afford. Great video, keep it up!
Job well done. Proves what I have been saying to people for years....yes your initial investment is high..but you easily make up for that in it's speed so volume can also be much higher. To save time have you ever considered buying a goniometer??
Best one i seen yet ill be ising your method and this system i heard about some resin diamond neeves or reeves stones that are a good compliment to this system i may look those up again as well
4 minutes or less consistently is impressive! I think the hate you saw was jealousy and admiration. I shoot for 10 or less and even go over that frequently.
I have the same setup I just took my clamp apart and cleaned it it was really grindy sound like yours and the clamps wouldn’t spring back in to place I disassembled mine and there was so much knife dust inside and I works like the day I got it so smooth on the action now
Thank you for making and posting this video. I am trying to decide which precision sharpener to purchase and I found this video to be the very best of any I have watched about the Wicked Edge Sharpener. Hope your business continues to prosper.
Met you a year ago Kyle in October of 2020. Your a stand up guy as I was trading my wicked edge sport for the Generation 3. Great video & you are really fast at it. You owe no one a explanation IMHO. But thanks for this video. I am surprised at those angle's. I know my wustoff they say are 14 degrees per side & the santoku is 10 degrees.
Great video!!! I just got the Wicked Edge Go and still figuring out how to use it and the best methods, etc. and your video and explanations really helped! Right now I only have the 400/600 and the 800/1000 grit stones but after watching your video definitely planning on investing in the 100/200 grit stones. (I also have an Angle Cube). I agree with you about 1000 grit being great for most tasks, but just because I’ve never gotten a “mirror polish” on a knife edge I was thinking about also getting a set of the Strop Stones.
Great video. Question: do you measure the angles? I presume that a 24 angle on the Wicked Edge is in real 22 (thats my experience, because I measure). Ofcoure depending on the heigt of the knive.
Great video and Nice chatting the other day! 4 minutes is impressive. I know why you and your customers are happy with 1000 grit, but have you ever considered going up to maybe 1500 and stropping? It’ll probably take an extra 90 seconds and I’d figure it’ll take “ordinary knives” to the next level while still maintaining enough tooth to break tomato skins. Anyways you’ve got a formula that works well for you, very cool watching the process. Now how about a stable/firm worktable. Hahah
Well done, i myself don't use the wicked edge because I had a feeling it would be the slower system and use a belt grinder instead.. But 4 min a knife I damn impressive.. Well done!
How much do you make yearly/monthly if you don't mind me asking? I have been thinking of starting a knife sharpening business too, but I want it to be tangible.
Thinking about buying a Wicked Edge Pro pack 1. Just curious, does the knives always flex like the knives in your video & that's why your holding the blade from flexing too much on the aggressive grit? What would you sharpen a hunting knife for field dressing? Sincerely, Matthew
Hey Kyle, hope all is well. Just wondering if you’re still living in Manhattan? And also have you gotten your hands on the new generation 4 pro if so, what are your thoughts?
Hi. You seem to be very skilled with the Wicked Edge Gen 3 Pro. I am thinking to buy a Wicked Edge Gen 3 Pro. Just for personal use. I didn't see really videos of sharpening Nakiri Japanese knives using 3 Pro . I am a big fan of Nakiri knives. They have more straight edge than traditional chef's knives. Do you think they would be easy to sharpen on a Wicked Edge Gen 3 Pro ?
I appreciate the video, but I've found that the angle you set initially, say with the 100 grit stones. often changes when you switch to the next set of stones, which is why I check that angle every time I move to a finer grit. I have an older WEPS and use an angle cube. I'm about to upgrade that system to the newest version of this one. I got a ton of use out of mine, but there are some design flaws that appear to have been addressed.
Yes I also see he is wacking the stones on the blade which you should let the stones do a lot of the work. He doesn't wipe off blade between each grit. A strop would help him as well.
You can definitely sharpen a small victorinox and I’m actually hoping to make a vid about that soon. The thing with small knives is there’s not a lot of clearance for the stones. On any Wicked Edge, the edge needs to rest at least 5/8” over the top of the vise in order for the stones to clear the vise at the sharpener’s lowest angle settings. So, the key with small knives is to simply clamp them up as high as possible and use a wider sharpening angle if necessary. You can also try Wicked Edge’s low angle adapter.
That's very interesting! How long do your WEPS stones last? I am slow and gentle with mine to preserve them. OTOH, it takes me a long time to sharpen a knife! Either way, I'm sure your knives will outperform anybody in your price range.
Usually my stones last about 700-900 knives. There are several factors that contribute to the longevity of the stones: stroke count, pressure, and the hardness of the steel being sharpened. Because I’m doing a relatively small amount of strokes, using mostly light pressure (except with my coarse stones) and not sharpening super steels, they actually last quite a while. My depreciation on my stones works out to about $0.25-$0.30 per knife.
@@startaknifesharpeningservi1291 that sounds about right......I'm averaging slightly north of 500 on my coarse stones and right under 700 on my fine stones doing mostly super steels.
I spend a lot more time on my customers knives but they are not kitchen knives. They are high end EDC knives. I charge $20 for standard sharpening and $35 for a mirror polished edge. To 3000 grit then lapping films.
The angles are just there for reference. It is impossible for them to be accurate because the position you mount the blade in the vice, and the size of the blade itself can throw it off more than a couple degrees.
he hurries to get 4 knives done. he has realized he cant make money sharpening like this all day ever day,so now he has a book on how to start a knife sharpening business now.
I’m going to give u some business advice that I received and is super helpful and that is don’t be so cheap that u turn away customers because the at 8 dollars u might be missing customers for the simple reason they could think ur cheap for a reason. 10-12 bucks might be to much in your head but I’m not sure what you competing with.
If your going to your customers house to pick up the knives, why don’t you put your WE in the car and sharpen at their house. It’s fairly portable if you have the while back seat to put it on. I’m sure they’d make you a coffee and 20-25 minutes at their house would save you a journey and a little time?
That’s definitely a way to do it, and if I’m traveling far I do exactly that. When they’re just down the street I usually pick up the knives and bring them home and that’s simply because I like to be home in the evenings and sharpening in my leisure time instead of being out. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal for one customer, but if I had 3 or 4 customers that night I wouldn’t be hitting home until 7 or 8 at night.
i can usually do about 10 mins per knife at a 1k finish on a whetstone. definitely googleable but why choose a wicked edge over whetstones? i feel like the precision and quality of a whetstone edge is better? tho i could be wrong. i also charge around $8 per knife (i sharpen the knives of a local cafe weekly), but i usually take them up to 4-5k
@Emmanuel Goldstein i guess, but once you get the flow of it, so much more can be achieved with a good whetstone than with one of these, by the look of it
@Emmanuel Goldstein furthermore, come to think of it, you also can't really do as well of a job addressing asymmetrical grinds and you can't thin the knife at all with a wicked edge. i'm not trying to start a fight haha, i'm just trying to figure out why it would be a better choice for a professional sharpener or a sharpening enthusiast
@Emmanuel Goldstein i mean i can't see how you would sharpen a single bevel knife with one of those, how you would polish an ura, how you would thin a knife's blade road beneath the shinogi, how you would microbevel or blend into a convex edge. not to mention i feel like this technique doesn't really address the stress on the metal behind the reduced cutting edge, and the wear on the burr and wire-edge after all that manipulation
@@davidlerer5680 Clay Allison (one of the inventors of the wicked edge systems) has videos of him sharpening everything you just mentioned. Single bevel, convex edge, microbevels. It's a very versatile system.
Your also going way to hard hitting the knife with the stones, you let the stones due the work and if you would have a strop, my gosh you would see a massive difference coming from someone who's used the WE for 100s of knives.
The amount of pressure you're putting on those knives seems a bit much. Makes me think it would roll the tip since you can hear the tip bouncing back. To me, seems very rushed. But then again, you did say your clients don't know anything and only care about a knife to cut vegetables.
Firstly he clearly stated he just follows the edge that is already there. Secondly, when he said this or that angle.. that is not usually the "actual" angle but what it says on the machine. The machine markings can not be accurate because, you can't clamp the edge at precisely the same height for every knife due to human factors and the shape/size of each blade being different. He could take the time to use an angle finder to tell the actual angle.. but seeing as his method is to simply sharpen at the same angle that was already there.. there is no need.
The 1st knife he sharpened simply doesn t slice paper. You can see that it sliced it twice and ripped the paper the other 2 attempts. Pathetic. It should ve sliced that very thick paper with ease. Thinner paper would ve been a joke
20 to 25 is pretty standard. 27 is just fine for softer steel and will give the edge more longevity. It isn't a micro bevel if he's matching the edge there. In the video he explains he isn't reprofiling which saves time.