Wicked Edge Inspired Knife Sharpening Jig

Couldn't decide where to put this, but it is a project, so. . . . .

Like many, I grew up in a household with little respect for edges. That is, all the kitchen knives would get tossed in a drawer, to fend for themselves, against all manner of other steel, edge stealing metal kitchen implements.

Using a knife from that drawer, to cut a potato, meant putting all your weight on it, as you rocked it back and forth, until the potato split.

Years into my life, I came to desire sharper edges on my knifes. I looked into that knife holder idea, recognizing allowing knife edges to bounce off other knife edges and other metal objects wasn't going to get me there.  Then there was the matter of getting good edges to protect. The Net rabbit trails took me down other roads too, like learning about edge holding capabilities of different metals.

Subsequent to the foregoing, I learned about various knife sharpeners. Things like why people didn't run their expensive pocket, kitchen or other knife over a grinder that took off a lot of metal quick, and changed the temper of the blade.  In the course of learning these things, several names showed up over and over again. Names like Edge Pro and Wicked Edge.

The Edge Pro sharpeners sounded impressive. Which they should, for $200.00.

I grit my teeth and went for it. The purchase came with the anticipated buyer's remorse. However, that dissipated quickly, as things became easier in the kitchen.  Then there was the comedy that came from the purchase: My wife and I were commenting on how it seemed like we might have let the potatoes sit too long, and new ones might have been old from the get go, because the knives were all but falling through the potatoes now. Eventually, it dawned us it was all about sharp.

After we figured out we could have sharp edges, I bought a knife with steel indicated to hold it's edges longer. It did and does. Then came another, with even better steel. The rabbit trail had started. Now, I wanted even better for my sharpening efforts.

I started looking at another name that showed at the top of the list of sharpening equipment - Wicked Edge. Years in, I still could not take the plunge, because I could buy five Edge Pro sharpeners for one of the Wicked Edge sharpeners and needed accessories. And there was that each version Wicked Edge sold had characteristics that limited use.

I started thinking about what was laying around my shop and what would lend itself to making my own Wicked Edge inspired sharpener. I noted I had jig guide rails, and a whole lot of jig knobs. Thanks to the wonders of garage sale bargains, I had a lot of heavy composite, like what you'd find on the countertops of labs, and a fair amount of aluminum stock in different thickness, lengths and widths. Thanks to a local clean-up day in the community where I live, I, also, had about 400 pounds of plastic of varying thicknesses and widths just for saving it from a landfill.

The composite made an ideal base. It's durable heavy. Jig accessories would get me well on the way to designing the actual sharpener. The aluminum would provide the holders for the sharpening rods and a support.  I did have to buy rods and pivot accessories, a self centering vice, and a couple Wicked Edge stones,

The vice was way overkill, but let me clamp the handle, instead of the blade. This solved the Wicked Edge problem of the stones coming in contact with the blade clamp.  Too, because it is self centering, it solves the Wicked Edge problem of two, slightly different angles on the edge, when both rods are set to the same degree marks.

The rods and pivots do what the Wicked Edge rods do - hold the stones that slide up and down on it.

The track allows me to alter the degree placed on the blade.  

The jig knobs allow me to make every adjustment quickly, easily, and without any tools.

I bent two pieces of the scrap, 1/4" plastic, to make an adjustable stand for vice. The pieces have slots, allowing the upper bent plastic section to be raised and lowered. This could have been built using wood, aluminum or metal too.

I cut, sanded and polished pieces of aluminum for the rod holders. When done, I drilled and tapped holes for the rod holder screws and locking knobs.

I cut, sanded and polished another piece of aluminum to hold a vertical rod, to be used to support the underside of the blade, without interfering with the stones. Mine happens to be brass, because I had some brass rod I picked up from a metal salvage place laying around. I cut a notch in it to help hold the blade from moving left or right. The holder will hold support rods of 1/4" to 3/8" thickness.

I didn't mention it yet, but I used the Wixey angle finder to set the angle to which I'd be sharpening edges.  To find the angle, you subtract what you want from 90 degrees. So a 20 degree angle would show as 70 degrees on the Wixey.

Mindful of that I got the plastic for free, the composite for a song and dance, buy jig accessories in bulk, and already had the Wixey tool, I believe I'm in to this for about $150.00, which is about $50.00, or more, less than the Edge Pro and hundreds less than I'd pay for a Wicked Edge and accessories to solve mentioned problems.

When all is said and done, I am pretty tickled at the results of my first two runs. Tried sharpening two of the garage sale cheap kitchen knives I bought for their looks and thin blades. In just a couple minutes, they were sharp, using the 800 and 1,000 grit diamond stones.

The stones aren't broken in yet, so I took the knives to my buffer and ran them over the jewelers rouge and chromium oxide wheels. They, both, pushed through paper easily.  I could have gone without buffing for a toothier bite, to improve their cuts on tomatoes.

SIDE NOTE: The Wicked Edge stones this uses are not cheap. As such, and since I have various tools by which I can, I will make my own stones using hard wood. I'll drill a rod hole down the center, lengthwise, and dimension the wood so, with cheap diamond stones that can be bought on line mounted to the hardwood, they will have the same dimensions as the Wicked Edge stones.