Hockey3081
Senior Member
In my possession as of this morning. Will find some time in the next few days to get it set up!
Passaround: SharpWorx Professional Guided Free Hand Sharpener
- Thread starter sansho
- Start date
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@Hockey3081 how's it going with it
Hockey3081
Senior Member
My apologies! I was going to update the thread. We have a new baby in the home so I really have not had a chance to set it up and give it the time to actually assess, despite my best intentions. I will be doing so this week and getting it to the next member by the end of the week. Sorry everyone.
SharpWorx
Member
Thanks for the update. Is it on to the next person?
Hockey3081
Senior Member
In transit as we speak. Thanks for the opportunity to use the device. Will post my thoughts when I get a moment, but overall I liked the concept of the device.
SharpWorx
Member
I agree. So far you’re the only one to write anything.somebody write something!!
Yeah this sucks for those of us towards the end lol. I’m looking forward to trying it but the lack of feedback from anyone is unfortunatesomebody write something!!
@deltaplex have you received the package? Been about 2 weeks since @Hockey3081 sent it.
Would love some kind of updates from time to time
Would love some kind of updates from time to time
I do have it, and I unfortunately am about to move it on to the next person on the list without even opening the box. I'm just too busy at the moment to even contemplate setting it up and giving it a full run (or even a test run). Maybe things will clear up by the time the end of the current queue, but it's not looking promising any time soon
when i send something in a passaround to the next guy, i try to ask him if it's a good time to receive. i know it's hard to know your schedule and amount of kitchen knife free time in advance, but perhaps there is some opportunity for optimization here? idk
i think it's worth a try considering there were three misses in a row. would like the passaround to hit its mark and go to a participant who has some free time to mess around with it
if you have the dingus and are finished with it, can you please ask the next person if the timing is good for him? and if it's not, then could you advance down the list until you find a recipient? thanks, guys
forget the geographic shipping optimization, lol. and we can circle back to people who give up their spot if the timing becomes better for them later.
@sansho
@Chang – Philadelphia, PA
@Hockey3081 – NJ
@deltaplex – Minneapolis, MN
@Barashka – Seattle, WA
@parbaked – San Francisco, CA
@Barmoley – Los Angeles, CA
@M1k3 – San Pedro, CA
@Gshep91 – Murrieta, CA
@Trouthead – Mesquite, NV
@ethompson – Houston, TX
@SharpWorx – TX
i think it's worth a try considering there were three misses in a row. would like the passaround to hit its mark and go to a participant who has some free time to mess around with it
if you have the dingus and are finished with it, can you please ask the next person if the timing is good for him? and if it's not, then could you advance down the list until you find a recipient? thanks, guys
forget the geographic shipping optimization, lol. and we can circle back to people who give up their spot if the timing becomes better for them later.
@sansho @Chang – Philadelphia, PA @Hockey3081 – NJ @deltaplex – Minneapolis, MN @Barashka – Seattle, WA@parbaked – San Francisco, CA
@Barmoley – Los Angeles, CA
@M1k3 – San Pedro, CA
@Gshep91 – Murrieta, CA
@Trouthead – Mesquite, NV
@ethompson – Houston, TX
@SharpWorx – TX
Sitting here with a few fairly dull knives waiting for it lol.
It's on the way to me, USPS 9405509205568465541223 if you want to track.
I'll update when I have it, might take a week to post a review .. I've been holding out on some sharpenings just so can try this a bit more.
I'll update when I have it, might take a week to post a review .. I've been holding out on some sharpenings just so can try this a bit more.
Received.
Outer box in rough condition.. inner box is fine.
Sharpener doesn't look damaged .. nor should it be, it's quite solid build.
Got the base, main stem and arm. Two heads.
I didn't see an alan key if there was one though.
Initial impressions:
- smaller then I thought (and smaller then any of my creations)
- heads are much heavier then I thought
- clamp is nice, but bare metal, would be nice to see rubber, I'll put some tape on it.
- magnetic head is nice, but heavy and magnets useful for only small knives .. 40mm and taller kinda get pushed down flat on the stone unless supported. 60mm tall knives didn't really stay on.
- both arms are solid af.
- sliding action is smooth and nice
- height adjustment is nice, bubble level really helps, though it's not as precise as digital level (or a really nice bubble level)
- accurate degree measurement when careful with bubble level.
- not sure yet how accurate it is when tilting the knife to get the tip
I'll do some sharpening soon and update some more.
Outer box in rough condition.. inner box is fine.
Sharpener doesn't look damaged .. nor should it be, it's quite solid build.
Got the base, main stem and arm. Two heads.
I didn't see an alan key if there was one though.
Initial impressions:
- smaller then I thought (and smaller then any of my creations)
- heads are much heavier then I thought
- clamp is nice, but bare metal, would be nice to see rubber, I'll put some tape on it.
- magnetic head is nice, but heavy and magnets useful for only small knives .. 40mm and taller kinda get pushed down flat on the stone unless supported. 60mm tall knives didn't really stay on.
- both arms are solid af.
- sliding action is smooth and nice
- height adjustment is nice, bubble level really helps, though it's not as precise as digital level (or a really nice bubble level)
- accurate degree measurement when careful with bubble level.
- not sure yet how accurate it is when tilting the knife to get the tip
I'll do some sharpening soon and update some more.
Attachments
just for reference, here's what it comes with:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...-guided-free-hand-sharpener.63631/post-976401
edit: oops, it's my fault. i forgot to send the hex keys.
you need 3mm and 5mm.
i can mail them to the next person. whoever you are – when you're up, pm me your address, and i'll mail them to you.
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...-guided-free-hand-sharpener.63631/post-976401
edit: oops, it's my fault. i forgot to send the hex keys.
you need 3mm and 5mm.
i can mail them to the next person. whoever you are – when you're up, pm me your address, and i'll mail them to you.
Last edited:
Full report!
(maybe for context my previous obsessively long journey to try to make my own)
The degree markings on the clamp are nice.
The clamp works well but the level doesn't match the degree markings. Everything should be 15 degrees.
The clamp as heavy as the magnet setup, for V2 I'd recommend cast aluminum or the like.
Flex in the entire system is about 1.5 degrees. A large portion of that *feels* like coming from the rotating setup where clamp and magnet heads mount.
I lifted the back of the clamp until the knife was just barely touching.
That said this is still pretty good and well within what most people are capable of freehand (whether they admit it or not).
To me, this is surprisingly little flex from just a single shaft (even though it's solid steel and super sturdy .. I had to go with a carbon fiber photography slide to get similar precision).
As you'd expect, different height knives need re-adjustment.
Also, the back of the stone to the front of the stone variance is about 1.5 degrees .. in the future, I'd calibrate this in the middle of the stone to get only +/- sub 1 degree [Edit: this was user error, I didn't level the horizontal bar] .. which is well thin what most people are capable of freehand (whether they admit it or not).
This is because the level assembly actuates, so the long arm moves up/down on one end but not the other.
For V2 consider locking that actuation and letting level assembly (that probably won't need a level then) to move up/down it's main shaft.
Pliers are there to tighten the level assembly a bit, which reduced a bit of wabble. For V2 consider thumbnuts there too.
The height/angle adjustment is very nicely done, easy to use, and solid.
The extra-long shaft is nice, any knife fits.
The shaft back-to-front movement is smooth.
Usability notes:
Getting to the tip when the knife is perpendicular to the stone is easy and precise.
Getting at the tip when the knife is parallel to the stone is not possible
This is how I found it's easiest to use: edge perpendicular to the stone, move side to side/back to front
Would I recommend this!?
Yes .. with some caveats:
- use your own level.
- calibrate in the middle of the stone.
- adapt your sharpening style to keep the knife perpendicular to the stone.
End result: you get ~1 degree variance and that's pretty excellent.
(1 degree is likely much better than me free hand, especially given I sharpen every few months and lose the touch).
Edit: I will keep this for a few more days to try my petty and a cleaver on it. I'll ping the next person and send it out on the weekend or early next week.
(maybe for context my previous obsessively long journey to try to make my own)
The degree markings on the clamp are nice.
The clamp works well but the level doesn't match the degree markings. Everything should be 15 degrees.
The clamp as heavy as the magnet setup, for V2 I'd recommend cast aluminum or the like.
Flex in the entire system is about 1.5 degrees. A large portion of that *feels* like coming from the rotating setup where clamp and magnet heads mount.
I lifted the back of the clamp until the knife was just barely touching.
That said this is still pretty good and well within what most people are capable of freehand (whether they admit it or not).
To me, this is surprisingly little flex from just a single shaft (even though it's solid steel and super sturdy .. I had to go with a carbon fiber photography slide to get similar precision).
As you'd expect, different height knives need re-adjustment.
This is because the level assembly actuates, so the long arm moves up/down on one end but not the other.
For V2 consider locking that actuation and letting level assembly (that probably won't need a level then) to move up/down it's main shaft.
Pliers are there to tighten the level assembly a bit, which reduced a bit of wabble. For V2 consider thumbnuts there too.
The height/angle adjustment is very nicely done, easy to use, and solid.
The extra-long shaft is nice, any knife fits.
The shaft back-to-front movement is smooth.
Usability notes:
Getting to the tip when the knife is perpendicular to the stone is easy and precise.
Getting at the tip when the knife is parallel to the stone is not possible
This is how I found it's easiest to use: edge perpendicular to the stone, move side to side/back to front
Would I recommend this!?
Yes .. with some caveats:
- use your own level.
- calibrate in the middle of the stone.
- adapt your sharpening style to keep the knife perpendicular to the stone.
End result: you get ~1 degree variance and that's pretty excellent.
(1 degree is likely much better than me free hand, especially given I sharpen every few months and lose the touch).
Edit: I will keep this for a few more days to try my petty and a cleaver on it. I'll ping the next person and send it out on the weekend or early next week.
Last edited:
Off to next person now!
Should be there Tuesday.
Tracking 9536 1142 0613 3146 8522 08
(Give it an hour to register, I just just dropped it of)
Should be there Tuesday.
Tracking 9536 1142 0613 3146 8522 08
(Give it an hour to register, I just just dropped it of)
SharpWorx
Member
Thank you for the feedback.
I agree the knife needs to be perpendicular to the stone +/- 30 degrees. I was thinking of having the vertical rod independent of the base so you can move it to the side of the stone and then you don’t have to be perpendicular to the stone. Thoughts?
The main variation of the angle from the front to back of the stone should be the stone thickness variation if the horizontal rod is truly horizontal.
I agree that an angle cube is a good way to ensure your angle is exact. That said I think the angle on the holders is accurate enough for most applications.
SharpWorx
Member
Thanks for the feedback.
The clamp Is being replaced with an improved clamp. See attached photo.
The rubber pad on the magnet has been thinned to improve grip and the magnet was made wider.
Attachments
Thank you for doing the passaround, and making guided sharpeners in first place!
That looks excellent! It would be super dope if there's a quick flip/release and rotate or some kind .. but that's very tricky to do and keep it sturdy, so not sure if that would be a benefit.
That's my derp, I don't think the horizontal rod was horizontal and that absolutely explains the variance.
That's an interesting idea, they would certainly help people who tend to zigzag on the stones. I wonder if it degrades stability in any way. I found I don't mind adjusting to the sharpener. .. and many people sharpen that way anyway, so it really might not be that big of a deal. See what others say about it. Consider maybe exposing a second vertical rod above the clamp and locking main rod and horizontal rods at 90 degrees. (But that potentially adds problems sharpening the tip, so making vertical rod independent might be a better way).
SharpWorx
Member
The clamp does flip!
I have a YouTube video showing it.
parbaked
Senior Member
Packaged delivered!
I'll set it up tomorrow and do some sharpening...
I'll set it up tomorrow and do some sharpening...
improved clamp looks great
parbaked
Senior Member
SWP is on its way to @Barmoley.
I would like to thank @SharpWorx and @sansho for facilitating this pass around.
Background:
Feedback:
I was able to get very good results with all but one of my knives.
I was especially pleased to fix a couple of small chips with my SP1000 that I would have otherwise waited to eventually sharpen out.
I got my knives sharper than I have freehand.
The system works and will be improved by the previously mentioned suggestions e.g lighter clamp and tweaking the screw
I did have one knife that didn't work well with the system: an HVB workhorse petty suji that I couldn't get the clamp to clear the stone, because of the thick spine (4.6mm) and shortish height. Seems the clamp needed to be open so wide that it touched the stone at 15 degrees angle.
This knife also didn't work well with the magnetic holder because the convex blade had no flat spot so the blade would rock under pressure.
This is the only knife where my new bevels are not even.
The only other shortcomings I experienced have to do with feedback, both tactile and visual.
I liked the magnetic clamp for small knives. I ended up not using then blade guide and just sticking the knife on with the edge parallel to the holder. This made it easier to flip the knife.
Some knives with a convex blade can rock a little with the magnetic clamp if one is not careful.
Improvements:
I would agree with the previously suggested improvements e.g. lighter, thinner clamps and revising screws.
The weight of the clamp was the biggest issue for me.
Lightening the clamp would be beneficial in a number of ways e.g. improve feedback, improve balance when clamp is not over the stone and reduce the pressure on the edge during sharpening.
I especially didn't like the feeling when sharpening the tip of a longer knife where the weight of the clamp was well off the side of the stone. The weight of the clamp would twist the tip off of the stone. It took a while to develop the technique to overcome this.
For me, it felt smoother to hold the clamp instead of the knife handle, which made it feel lighter and more balanced.
Reducing the profile of the clamp would make it usable with shorter, thicker knives.
Perhaps a weight on the other end of the clamping rod would counter balance the clamp's weight.
Conclusion:
I really liked this system. It is very well made!
It helped overcome my weak left wrist.
I was very pleased with the results.
I apologize for not taking pictures.
EDIT:
I just saw the picture of the revised clamp and it looks great!!
I would like to thank @SharpWorx and @sansho for facilitating this pass around.
Background:
- This is the first guided system that I've tried.
- I have a plate and screws in my left wrist from a cycling accident and I struggle to keep a consistent sharpening angle on the left side of my blades.
- I only used SP1000 and SP2000 stones with the system.
Feedback:
I was able to get very good results with all but one of my knives.
I was especially pleased to fix a couple of small chips with my SP1000 that I would have otherwise waited to eventually sharpen out.
I got my knives sharper than I have freehand.
The system works and will be improved by the previously mentioned suggestions e.g lighter clamp and tweaking the screw
I did have one knife that didn't work well with the system: an HVB workhorse petty suji that I couldn't get the clamp to clear the stone, because of the thick spine (4.6mm) and shortish height. Seems the clamp needed to be open so wide that it touched the stone at 15 degrees angle.
This knife also didn't work well with the magnetic holder because the convex blade had no flat spot so the blade would rock under pressure.
This is the only knife where my new bevels are not even.
The only other shortcomings I experienced have to do with feedback, both tactile and visual.
- It is hard to "feel" what is going while sharpening because of the weight of system, friction from the rod and different grip used.
- It feels like the weight of the clamp is dictating sharpening pressure so it's harder to adjust pressure.
- It is not as easy to get a visual check on one's work because turning the knife over and wiping the blade is more cumbersome.
I liked the magnetic clamp for small knives. I ended up not using then blade guide and just sticking the knife on with the edge parallel to the holder. This made it easier to flip the knife.
Some knives with a convex blade can rock a little with the magnetic clamp if one is not careful.
Improvements:
I would agree with the previously suggested improvements e.g. lighter, thinner clamps and revising screws.
The weight of the clamp was the biggest issue for me.
Lightening the clamp would be beneficial in a number of ways e.g. improve feedback, improve balance when clamp is not over the stone and reduce the pressure on the edge during sharpening.
I especially didn't like the feeling when sharpening the tip of a longer knife where the weight of the clamp was well off the side of the stone. The weight of the clamp would twist the tip off of the stone. It took a while to develop the technique to overcome this.
For me, it felt smoother to hold the clamp instead of the knife handle, which made it feel lighter and more balanced.
Reducing the profile of the clamp would make it usable with shorter, thicker knives.
Perhaps a weight on the other end of the clamping rod would counter balance the clamp's weight.
Conclusion:
I really liked this system. It is very well made!
It helped overcome my weak left wrist.
I was very pleased with the results.
I apologize for not taking pictures.
EDIT:
I just saw the picture of the revised clamp and it looks great!!
Last edited:
SharpWorx is with me now. I'll set it up this weekend and give it a shot. Now, I need to find some dull knives somewhere...
nice review, @parbaked
agreed, the "dynamic knife" concept for sure has its problems since the dynamic side is no longer lightweight (compared to a dynamic abrasive system with small abrasive "coupons"). i think the first knife i sharpened on it was a chunky petty, and while not "trusting the system" as you say, i actually started to grind a recurve into the profile near the tip because i was manually applying too much pressure there
agreed, the "dynamic knife" concept for sure has its problems since the dynamic side is no longer lightweight (compared to a dynamic abrasive system with small abrasive "coupons"). i think the first knife i sharpened on it was a chunky petty, and while not "trusting the system" as you say, i actually started to grind a recurve into the profile near the tip because i was manually applying too much pressure there
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Thank you to the organizers for this pass around.
Dropping off today on its way to @M1k3. I replaced the outside box as it was all banged up and I put in the required allen ranches, they are attached with blue painter tape.
Much has already been said and I agree with most. I like this system and I think it has great potential, especially after the suggested improvements.
It definitely makes getting good results easier after some adjustment and allows one to use quality stones. It might even be easier for novice free hand sharpeners to get going faster vs more experienced ones. For experienced sharpeners there is an adjustment period that doesn't take too long, but it was there for me. In the beginning my muscle memory kept fighting the system and I had to concentrate to stop doing that. Once I relaxed and let the system guide me the results were much better. The system is well made and does what it supposed to, you just need to let it.
One takeaway that I suspected and even talked about many times is that when free hand sharpeners quote angles, the numbers thrown around are very, very rough estimates and can be disregarded. Once you use the system and see what the angle you are sharpening at truly is you realize that your free hand angle is not what you think, especially when sharpening knives of different width.
The system worked well and the flipping of the clamp mechanism is very clever. Like others I want a lighter clamp as is being designed and I also want stronger magnets. I think the magnetic clamp if it can be made to work reliably would be even better than the pressure clamp. With the pressure clamp, for me, getting to a burr was easy, but the final steps of deburring had to be done outside of the system as it was not easy for me to detect smaller burr with the clamp and flipping back and forth even though easy gets annoying when you have to do it after every few strokes. A better magnetic holder would be much better for this. Part of the difficulty with the clamp could probably be overcome with more use, but given the short period of using the system I didn't learn all the intricacies, so maybe just me. I had better results with the pressure clamp rather than magnetic one as the magnetic didn't hold the knives I tried very well. I suspect magnetic would work for some knives, but again due to the short time there were only so many I could try. For me stronger magnetic clamp is the most important improvement, the rest of it works well enough and I am sure I would get better at it after some use.
The system definitely allows for more consistent bevels and over time I bet touch ups would become fast with minimum metal removal since the angles are consistent. You would also probably be able to thin less often since less steel would be removed at each sharpening. As free hand sharpeners I feel like sometimes we remove more material off the edge than is strictly necessary.
The bottom line is that the system works if you let it, forget what you know and just trust that it works.
On the wish list for me in order of importance are
Dropping off today on its way to @M1k3. I replaced the outside box as it was all banged up and I put in the required allen ranches, they are attached with blue painter tape.
Much has already been said and I agree with most. I like this system and I think it has great potential, especially after the suggested improvements.
It definitely makes getting good results easier after some adjustment and allows one to use quality stones. It might even be easier for novice free hand sharpeners to get going faster vs more experienced ones. For experienced sharpeners there is an adjustment period that doesn't take too long, but it was there for me. In the beginning my muscle memory kept fighting the system and I had to concentrate to stop doing that. Once I relaxed and let the system guide me the results were much better. The system is well made and does what it supposed to, you just need to let it.
One takeaway that I suspected and even talked about many times is that when free hand sharpeners quote angles, the numbers thrown around are very, very rough estimates and can be disregarded. Once you use the system and see what the angle you are sharpening at truly is you realize that your free hand angle is not what you think, especially when sharpening knives of different width.
The system worked well and the flipping of the clamp mechanism is very clever. Like others I want a lighter clamp as is being designed and I also want stronger magnets. I think the magnetic clamp if it can be made to work reliably would be even better than the pressure clamp. With the pressure clamp, for me, getting to a burr was easy, but the final steps of deburring had to be done outside of the system as it was not easy for me to detect smaller burr with the clamp and flipping back and forth even though easy gets annoying when you have to do it after every few strokes. A better magnetic holder would be much better for this. Part of the difficulty with the clamp could probably be overcome with more use, but given the short period of using the system I didn't learn all the intricacies, so maybe just me. I had better results with the pressure clamp rather than magnetic one as the magnetic didn't hold the knives I tried very well. I suspect magnetic would work for some knives, but again due to the short time there were only so many I could try. For me stronger magnetic clamp is the most important improvement, the rest of it works well enough and I am sure I would get better at it after some use.
The system definitely allows for more consistent bevels and over time I bet touch ups would become fast with minimum metal removal since the angles are consistent. You would also probably be able to thin less often since less steel would be removed at each sharpening. As free hand sharpeners I feel like sometimes we remove more material off the edge than is strictly necessary.
The bottom line is that the system works if you let it, forget what you know and just trust that it works.
On the wish list for me in order of importance are
- Better magnetic clamp (being improved as I understand it)
- Lighter weight pressure clamp (current works, but the new one looks better)
- Thumb screws vs requiring allen ranches (very minor)
great review!
if you have the dingus and are finished with it, can you please ask the next person if the timing is good for him? and if it's not, then could you advance down the list until you find a recipient? thanks, guys
forget the geographic shipping optimization, lol. and we can circle back to people who give up their spot if the timing becomes better for them later.
@sansho
@Chang – Philadelphia, PA
@Hockey3081 – NJ
@deltaplex – Minneapolis, MN
@Barashka – Seattle, WA
@parbaked – San Francisco, CA
@Barmoley – Los Angeles, CA
@M1k3 – San Pedro, CA
@Gshep91 – Murrieta, CA
@Trouthead – Mesquite, NV
@ethompson – Houston, TX
@SharpWorx – TX
if you have the dingus and are finished with it, can you please ask the next person if the timing is good for him? and if it's not, then could you advance down the list until you find a recipient? thanks, guys
forget the geographic shipping optimization, lol. and we can circle back to people who give up their spot if the timing becomes better for them later.
@sansho @Chang – Philadelphia, PA @Hockey3081 – NJ @deltaplex – Minneapolis, MN @Barashka – Seattle, WA @parbaked – San Francisco, CA @Barmoley – Los Angeles, CA @M1k3 – San Pedro, CA@Gshep91 – Murrieta, CA
@Trouthead – Mesquite, NV
@ethompson – Houston, TX
@SharpWorx – TX
