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**RonB** · April 7, 2018, 05:15 PM

That looks interesting.

**DWCowles** · April 7, 2018, 05:28 PM

That’s a pretty cool setup.

**Steve B** · April 7, 2018, 06:24 PM

Very interesting indeed. That may have changed my mind if was available a couple of years ago.
And it may still.

**realdocBBQ** · April 8, 2018, 04:03 AM

I learned about that system a while back - it's not new, maybe a couple years ago? Anyways, I've been drooling over one for a loooong time, but I don't have any super great knives yet to make it worth spending that kind of money. <sigh>

**jgreen** · April 8, 2018, 07:34 AM

Nice looking unit. I wish I had good enough knives to justify that, but they wouldn't last in my house.

**surfdog** · April 8, 2018, 11:05 AM

Two words: Freaking. Awesome.
It's an amazing system. Pricey to be sure, but then half a dozen Japanese whetstones aren't exactly cheap either.

Cool that they're made in the U.S. now. If I recall, he/they WANTED to make everything in the U.S. but couldn't procure anyone to do the tooling... Their needs where either too much for a small shop or not big enough for those with the proper equipment. They tried but the scale needed wasn't fitting in with American operations...enter China. That said, they still produced a GREAT system. If they've managed to put everything "under one roof" and produce them here that's fantastic...and a testament to the quality & desirability of their previous products. Well done.

And for what it's worth. I do NOT have ANY connection with the company...have never met ANY of the principals, employees, or salesmen. I've only used their sharpeners and think they're great. Pricey yes...but what the heck... You've spent hundreds (thousands?) on grills & smokers...hundreds (thousands?) on knives...what's another few hundred bucks to keep those knives stoopid sharp..? ;-)

**jgg85234** · April 8, 2018, 12:16 PM

Too bad it isn't "his" product. He's providing the tooling, and the expertise to manufacture the product. The company (Wicked Edge) started in about 2007, and went to China. They apparently had a lot of issues with the manufacturing. Dale (my client) got to make the smaller models a year or two ago, and was an integral part of the design of the Generation3 systems, that are going out the door as fast as he can make them. Actually, every model seems to be perpetually on backorder. But, those CNC machines are between half a million and a million dollars each. But, the products are now Made in the USA.

He's always made interesting products. Back when the aftermarket was loaded with add-on heatsinks to keep those really hot Intel and AMD chips, he made a lot of the heatsinks. One of his divisions has been a major player in the Paintball tournament market all over the world. Lots of components he made have been orbiting up in space ( ISS, Space Shuttles). If you reload bullets and have a kit from Dillon, he makes those too.

How to compete with the Chinese? By keeping the manpower as low as possible by automating everything possible around his CNC equipment. Working on robots to move the parts around faster, and ways to load more raw metals into the machines for each pass of carving the parts out of blocks of aluminum or steel. I've been helping him with the programming techniques for the Esprit software, and I know he's way out in front of his competitors in the machine shop world as the software guys are working with him and I to create/fix the software to do what we need it to do. We're into things that have been written, but never tested/debugged before. Oh well, that's been the story of my IT life for the last 45 years. Always trying to make things work that aren't quite ready for prime time yet. The tariff stuff on aluminum and steel raised his costs of material overnight when they were announced.

The newest model of the sharpener (Gen3) perfectly aligns the components to create a perfectly symmetrical and repeatable edge. It works well enough that a lot less metal gets sacrificed in the process of keeping knives sharp over time.

**texastweeter** · April 8, 2018, 12:24 PM

looks like a 21st century version of the lansky sharpening system i use. I cant sharpen a knife to save my life. What is the cost on one of those bad boys? Very interested. Could diel in the proper edge for my german knives, and use the same sharpener for my Japanese knives my wife got me recently!

**vandy** · April 8, 2018, 12:43 PM

Well I can tell you from experience that the Wicked Edge product is definitely as advertised. It will get a knife blade to wicked sharpness but there is a leaning curve involved when you first start using it and there is also a certain amount of work involved in sharpening a knife especially if it is dull when you start the sharpening process or if you are changing the bevel angle on a knife blade. My biggest complaint about the system is that it is hard to sharpen a blade that is fairly narrow, you just can't get the angle low enough even if you add the low angle attachment. I also invested in a Tormek system that so far is a lot less work and will get my knives just as sharp, I have had it just about 2 months now and so far I love it. https://www.tormek.com/usa/en/ Price wise it is about the same as the Wicked edge system but it is so much easier to use, once I got it dialed in on one of my Henkel steak knives I just went through the other 8 of them in no time and now they are all wicked sharp, I never could get the angle right on the Wicked edge system on these knives because the blades are pretty narrow.

**vandy** · April 8, 2018, 01:33 PM

Don't get me wrong about the Wicked Edge system it is still my go to if I want to produce a very sharp edge with a mirror polish on it but for every day sharpening I use the Tormek system because of ease of use, but it just can't polish that blade like the WE system can. Quite honestly I have a lot invested in knives and sharpening system also, then again I am done with buying sharpeners since I now have what I think are the two best systems on the market.

**customtrim** · April 9, 2018, 06:43 AM

I will stick with my hand stones

**SoCalTim** · April 9, 2018, 08:39 AM

Originally posted by jgg85234 View Post

I was over at one of my clients this morning, installing new versions of Solidworks and Esprit, the software packages used to design and then program his CNC equipment to manufacture the components. While I was there, we got to discussing a product he designed a while back, and has created several new versions of. The company is selling these things at a pace where they can't keep any of the models in stock. He can't make them fast enough, even though he keeps buying new CNC machines to meet the demand.

Thought someone might be interested, as I've seen more than a few discussions about knives, and a few about sharpening them over the years.

Company is called Wicked Edge. Web site is http://www.wickededgeusa.com

My client's products have always been first rate, and I got to look at all the models. I'd say it's up to his usual quality. And, it's 100% made in America.

I thought someone might be interested in this product, and I don't know how well they're getting the word out at the moment, as they are a very new product.

Best regards,
Jim

Thank you, love gizmo's. At about $900 dollars, it's a bit much. Heck, that's a new smoker and or will pay for quite a bit of sharpening at the local farmers market. The old man there get's 3 bucks a knife and he does awesome work.

**geotek230** · April 9, 2018, 09:56 AM

I have the wicked edge set up and is awsum worth the money. Made my first kinfe and was having a hard time with edge geoomerty could not get it straigt and sharp. Used wicked edge to straiten it out and omg one of the sharpest knifes i own now. Well worth the money only thing is would get the base option to make it more stable when using

**Histrix** · April 9, 2018, 12:12 PM

As already mentioned the Wicked Edge system has been around for a few years. I considered buying one a few years ago but one of the problems that I recall many folks ran into was that since the sharpening stones and blade are above the mechanical parts, gravity being what it is, all the fine dust/swarf falls downwards onto/into the pivoting mechanisms and such. No real big deal but did require paying attention to keeping it clean. I know some folks did some mods with putting little rubber boots over the pivot mechanisms to help keep the dust/grit out.

While the Wicked Edge is a fine system it is not magical. Getting a mirror polish is related to the finishing stones/grits/stropping used and can be done freehand or with many other systems.

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