Tip for sharpening, hold the sharpener right at the edge of a table and if you can keep it steady, angle it a little towards you so that the cutters at basically RIGHT at the edge of the table. When you pull, pull at the same angle you're tilting the sharpener. When the blade leaves the cutters, that downward force won't matter because the blade won't be over the table and you won't keep hitting the end of the blade on the table. A nugget of wisdom from a person who has sharp blades to the very tip, using a pull-through.
The issue with pull sharperners (in some cases it's by the design of both the knife and sharpener, but also the operator) is that people start too far into the blade and not by the heel, as done in this video too, which will create a swoop in the edge near the heel, which will need to be ground away at some point. Avoid this (as much as possible) by either placing the heel on the sharpener, or don't use one at all. Most importantly, the nr 1 thing about pull sharpeners that ruin knives, is the Tungsten Carbide, get pure ceramic instead and use your head while sharpening to (hopefully) prevent damage to either the knife or sharpener.
Don't ever use these carbide sharpeners on any blade that you care about. They work by dragging the blade between two carbide "teeth" that scrapes away fine shavings in order to so-called sharpen the blade then honing it between two tiny ceramic sticks, which is fine. By using the carbide sharpener, you not only remove much more steel than is neccassary, you exponentially shorten the blade life by prematurely wesring it away and unless you are experienced in their use, you will most likely remove more from either one side or the other, one section of the blade or both and will only frustrate you and ruin your kives. Learn to properly use either traditional or diamond sharpening stones followed with a quality strop, or get a guided sharpening system that uses some type of stone. These carbide sharpeners, no matter the price or quality are for lower quality and inexpensive knives that you don't really care about. They do work but they destroy your knives in the process.
What about the Ikea roller sharpeners that use water? Seems like a good combination of the speed of the crappy carbide-plates-style and the quality of a laborious whetstone.
Or you could just learn to use tungsten carbide sharpeners correctly, IE using light pressure and even pulls. Good technique really does resolve most of the issues with these types of sharpeners, at least when it comes to simply touching up an edge that is going dull. Repairing major edge damage, that's a different story.
There is no way I would ever use one of the carbide blade chewers on my Wusthof knives. I have a proper Pro Edge sharpening system. The one made by Robert Sorby. The blade is guided against a belt. Various grits are available up to the same as the edge on a razor blade. Then if you want the ultimate you can strop it. I know they are expensive but it was originally bought for wood turning gouges but I like to make full use of it.
I gotta ask, who the hell strops like that? All you're gonna do is roll your edge instead of remove the burr. I use low angles and SOFT pressure when stropping and I get great results. Not saying your technique doesn't work, just kinda goes against what I've been taught about stropping.
You’re supposed to brush it with the carbide… not pull so hard or pressure 😅 it’s like just the weight of the knife, let it work don’t make it work. Watch Sharpens best shows how to use the carbide to sharpen
@@rockotyco The guy in this video destroyed his edge then ran it through the sharpener leaving metal on the work top..If he wanted to tune up a knifes edge than sure, the thing would be ok, I suppose..
@@rockotyco Glad to see another person remember Brad Buckner's mantra when using tungsten carbide sharpeners. Pretty much every time I see a review video on pull through sharpeners where they complain about the edge being rough or the sharpener shaving off large pieces of metal too much pressure is the first thing that comes to mind for why.
i recently bought this proedge pull sharpener from Rays website. It does make the knives sharper for sure, but i dont like the edge it leaves on the knife, its very rough, and no matter how hard (not hard as a pressure i put) i try i still get those teeth like structure as if the pulling was not smooth and was stopping every couple of milimeters. so yeah it does make the knives sharper, but it seems more of a sharp saw with mini teeth rather than sharp straight edge
I agree entirely, it makes the knife sharper but for the best results something like the Work Sharp precision adjust or a whetstone would create a much ‘smoother’ edge
The most common mistake I see when I look at videos about these sorts of sharpeners is people use too much pressure with the tungsten carbide. Given how hard tungsten carbide is you really don't need much pressure at all for it to remove metal. (This is regardless of how hard your knife steel is. If you want to know why, look up the relative hardness of knife steels and tungsten carbide on the Vicker's hardness scale since its is one of the few that measures both materials on the same scale.) And more passes with light pressure will give you a much smoother edge than you'll get with with fewer passes and lots of pressure. (You'll also get a smaller burr.) The same thing applies with pull through sharpeners that use ceramic rods, though to a lesser degree. From what you said it sounds like too much pressure is what produced the rough edge when you used the tungsten carbide sharpener. (Either that our you had deep nicks/large chips in the blade.) The ceramic portion should eventually have smoothed the edge out, but it would have taken a long time. FWIW... In my experience, where pull through sharpeners (be they 1 or 2 stage designs) shine is in touching up a knife that is starting to go dull. They're very quick at that, especially with soft steels. Repairing major edge damage (deep nicks, large chips, etc...) is harder because the tungsten carbide blades/ceramic rods follow the edge and can get caught up in the nicks/chips. Personally I'd use something else (like a Worksharp knife and tool sharpener) for repairing major damage and leave this for the daily touch-ups to keep the knife sharp. That said, sharpening with a pull through is definitely better than never sharpening at all.
The destruction of the blade steel left behind by this & other similar sharpeners in the cutting edge is enormous. There are micrographs of the knife cutting edge destruction available on the internet for all to see.
Which is why you should avoid the Tungsten Carbide and only go for Ceramic and of course also use the brain when sharpening, no matter which kind of sharpener it is.
Your video was ok, not digging the destruction of the edge as it left metal frags during the sharpening process. I refurbish straight razors and I do something I would think you would like to do on your next video. Get the subject knife and get a pic of the edge under magnification. Run the edge lightly over a hard surface but just once to kill it. Take another pic. Do 5 light strokes on the Pro Edge, take a pic. 5 more strokes followed by another pic and move to the ceramic and show another pic. My curiosity is if there are metal frags left on the edge before you strop it on the chromium green
I just drove to Scheels and got a $40 one today after watching this video. Instead of a slot for scissors, it has a slot for serrated blades. It works. It really works. I can get a rough shave of my arm hair as well as slice through a sheet of paper with all 5 knives. Gotta see how they handle and onion. Sorry, Ray.
I think on Ray's sharpener he changed something to make it better than the generic ones, can't remember if it was the ceramic rods or the carbide thing, did try looking for it but can't remember where I got the info now. I've just got a really cheap pull through fixed angle sharpener, probably about £5 from Home Bargains or B&M or somewhere like that, it has brought the knives somewhat back to life, they can now cut through paper again, but the problem is that the edge just doesn't last, I cut up a few potatoes and carrots, and it's almost like a butter knife again. So is there any chance in the future when/if you do more sharpener gadget reviews that you can give a verdict on sharpness/edge retention after a week or so your knife at home. It could just have been me and my cheap £5 knives, but they lasted ages from the shop, so if a sharpening gadget gives the appearance of making the blade sharp, but the edge doesn't last long is something I've never seen anyone cover. And now for some moral support: You are smashing the reviews, you've definitely got something experienced about you, like you are very used to public speaking or something, can't put my finger on it, but your verbal presentation is spot on, with well defined beginning, middle and end. The physical demonstration was spot on too, no flaffing around, straight to the point And the "studio" talking part looks very modern and professional. Can't believe that you've only got 300 odd subs, you definitely deserve so many more, and can't wait to see you hitting all the UA-cam milestones as your channel deservedly grows. Wow, didn't intend to write such a long post lol
How long it last depends of the quality materials the knife was forged with. It's not the same steel that infused chrome vanadium steel. Good knifes cost 100££ for a reason!!
I know this is an old comment but just make sure to never put your knives in dishwashers especially ones with softer steel as the dishwasher will destroy their ability to retain an edge
also forgot to mention it also depends on the angle of the edge that you sharpen it to, as the smaller the angle the sharper the knife but the edge will last shorter cuz it's more prone to dulling
Pull throughs are all trash eventually after a few uses the knife will be f'ed they remove to much metal, learn how to use a stone and make any knife last years, learn how to use a whetstone can even just buy 1 shapton 1000 grit ceramic and a strop that will do for a long time untill you really need to give it a full sharpen then just buy a 220 shapton or a diamond dmt.
I bought a work sharp precision adjust and I have never been more satisfied with any other purchase I have made… in my life. I’m sure there is better stuff out there and it has its limitations, but if you are a beginner to intermediate knife enthusiast it will not let you down.
There's a lot of shady things about this guy and his products. A simple Google search showed me this. Found a bunch of people on forums complaining about him. Plus someone claiming to be him threatening to sue just about everyone.
But Rays always lying in his videos. He cuts through the wire tester fast, which will make it seem sharper than it is. If you don't believe it watch Neeves knives about the tester
Yeah, I think the smith came out with it first then the Chinese started making knock off, then ray bought a bunch of knock off and slap his logo Pro edge on it. 😂
Avoid buying any sharpening system designed like this one. Just about all of them are absolutely terrible. Do not buy!!! They also ruin your apex and you will have to repro file your edge just to un-bloody F
Ray is a scammer. He rebrands garbage knives off AliExpress with his Rui logo and marks them up 500%. Same with this, just Chinese junk ruining your knives.
Can't stand reading posts that can't distinguish between "there" (location) and "their" (ownership). Spelling the plural of "knife" with an "F" and not with a "V", as it would be correct - knives* (!) - makes me cringe.
I’ve got some awesome sharpener videos coming soon so please consider subscribing if this video has been useful and help me reach 500 🎉 🙏 Thanks all 😁
Tip for sharpening, hold the sharpener right at the edge of a table and if you can keep it steady, angle it a little towards you so that the cutters at basically RIGHT at the edge of the table. When you pull, pull at the same angle you're tilting the sharpener. When the blade leaves the cutters, that downward force won't matter because the blade won't be over the table and you won't keep hitting the end of the blade on the table.
A nugget of wisdom from a person who has sharp blades to the very tip, using a pull-through.
Use the sharpener on the edge of the bench so you can follow through and not hit anything 😊
Was gonna say the same thing. But still be careful to stand next to it so you don't slash open your leg
The issue with pull sharperners (in some cases it's by the design of both the knife and sharpener, but also the operator) is that people start too far into the blade and not by the heel, as done in this video too, which will create a swoop in the edge near the heel, which will need to be ground away at some point. Avoid this (as much as possible) by either placing the heel on the sharpener, or don't use one at all.
Most importantly, the nr 1 thing about pull sharpeners that ruin knives, is the Tungsten Carbide, get pure ceramic instead and use your head while sharpening to (hopefully) prevent damage to either the knife or sharpener.
Can you recommend a similar adjustable angle sharpener that only has ceramic? Thanks.
is this just a Smith’s Adjustable Angle Knife Sharpener?
That is 100% accurate. The softer the knife with the stronger metal shark and a net will make it Much sharper and easier to make.
ugh, I have had to dull knives to test some of my sharpening equipment and it feels so dirty running a knife over a brick!!
Maybe you can buy the smith model and compare them or a no name brand. Wonder if they're all the same.
That’s a very good idea and to be honest I suspect they are very similar 👀
Ray is terribly entertaining. :P Thanks for your video! :)
Don't ever use these carbide sharpeners on any blade that you care about. They work by dragging the blade between two carbide "teeth" that scrapes away fine shavings in order to so-called sharpen the blade then honing it between two tiny ceramic sticks, which is fine. By using the carbide sharpener, you not only remove much more steel than is neccassary, you exponentially shorten the blade life by prematurely wesring it away and unless you are experienced in their use, you will most likely remove more from either one side or the other, one section of the blade or both and will only frustrate you and ruin your kives. Learn to properly use either traditional or diamond sharpening stones followed with a quality strop, or get a guided sharpening system that uses some type of stone. These carbide sharpeners, no matter the price or quality are for lower quality and inexpensive knives that you don't really care about. They do work but they destroy your knives in the process.
Can you recommend an alternative sharpener? Something quick and easy to use. Thanks.
What about the Ikea roller sharpeners that use water? Seems like a good combination of the speed of the crappy carbide-plates-style and the quality of a laborious whetstone.
Or you could just learn to use tungsten carbide sharpeners correctly, IE using light pressure and even pulls. Good technique really does resolve most of the issues with these types of sharpeners, at least when it comes to simply touching up an edge that is going dull. Repairing major edge damage, that's a different story.
There is no way I would ever use one of the carbide blade chewers on my Wusthof knives.
I have a proper Pro Edge sharpening system. The one made by Robert Sorby. The blade is guided against a belt. Various grits are available up to the same as the edge on a razor blade. Then if you want the ultimate you can strop it.
I know they are expensive but it was originally bought for wood turning gouges but I like to make full use of it.
Meh. I bought a pro edge because I don't care about my crappy $25 Amazon knife
Great review, good job!
I gotta ask, who the hell strops like that? All you're gonna do is roll your edge instead of remove the burr.
I use low angles and SOFT pressure when stropping and I get great results.
Not saying your technique doesn't work, just kinda goes against what I've been taught about stropping.
I've had a pull through knife sharpener before and it didn't work for me. I wonder if there's anything different about this one
You’re supposed to brush it with the carbide… not pull so hard or pressure 😅 it’s like just the weight of the knife, let it work don’t make it work. Watch Sharpens best shows how to use the carbide to sharpen
@@rockotyco The guy in this video destroyed his edge then ran it through the sharpener leaving metal on the work top..If he wanted to tune up a knifes edge than sure, the thing would be ok, I suppose..
@@rockotyco Glad to see another person remember Brad Buckner's mantra when using tungsten carbide sharpeners. Pretty much every time I see a review video on pull through sharpeners where they complain about the edge being rough or the sharpener shaving off large pieces of metal too much pressure is the first thing that comes to mind for why.
This is a stupid question probably but how do you determine the sharperner angle for any particular knife?
Generally it’ll be in the specification of the knife if you check it up online. But if not a typical kitchen knife is between 15-20 degrees
@@honedyt Thank you!
@@honedyt what if its not a kitchen knife? I am having a bad time trying to sharpen my tanto, I am very new to the sharpening knife arts
i recently bought this proedge pull sharpener from Rays website. It does make the knives sharper for sure, but i dont like the edge it leaves on the knife, its very rough, and no matter how hard (not hard as a pressure i put) i try i still get those teeth like structure as if the pulling was not smooth and was stopping every couple of milimeters. so yeah it does make the knives sharper, but it seems more of a sharp saw with mini teeth rather than sharp straight edge
I agree entirely, it makes the knife sharper but for the best results something like the Work Sharp precision adjust or a whetstone would create a much ‘smoother’ edge
The most common mistake I see when I look at videos about these sorts of sharpeners is people use too much pressure with the tungsten carbide. Given how hard tungsten carbide is you really don't need much pressure at all for it to remove metal. (This is regardless of how hard your knife steel is. If you want to know why, look up the relative hardness of knife steels and tungsten carbide on the Vicker's hardness scale since its is one of the few that measures both materials on the same scale.) And more passes with light pressure will give you a much smoother edge than you'll get with with fewer passes and lots of pressure. (You'll also get a smaller burr.) The same thing applies with pull through sharpeners that use ceramic rods, though to a lesser degree.
From what you said it sounds like too much pressure is what produced the rough edge when you used the tungsten carbide sharpener. (Either that our you had deep nicks/large chips in the blade.) The ceramic portion should eventually have smoothed the edge out, but it would have taken a long time.
FWIW... In my experience, where pull through sharpeners (be they 1 or 2 stage designs) shine is in touching up a knife that is starting to go dull. They're very quick at that, especially with soft steels. Repairing major edge damage (deep nicks, large chips, etc...) is harder because the tungsten carbide blades/ceramic rods follow the edge and can get caught up in the nicks/chips. Personally I'd use something else (like a Worksharp knife and tool sharpener) for repairing major damage and leave this for the daily touch-ups to keep the knife sharp. That said, sharpening with a pull through is definitely better than never sharpening at all.
Just grab the leather strop
You should compare the pro edge and the pro edge+
What angle did you set it to?
The destruction of the blade steel left behind by this & other similar sharpeners in the cutting edge is enormous.
There are micrographs of the knife cutting edge destruction available on the internet for all to see.
Which is why you should avoid the Tungsten Carbide and only go for Ceramic and of course also use the brain when sharpening, no matter which kind of sharpener it is.
Your video was ok, not digging the destruction of the edge as it left metal frags during the sharpening process. I refurbish straight razors and I do something I would think you would like to do on your next video. Get the subject knife and get a pic of the edge under magnification. Run the edge lightly over a hard surface but just once to kill it. Take another pic. Do 5 light strokes on the Pro Edge, take a pic. 5 more strokes followed by another pic and move to the ceramic and show another pic. My curiosity is if there are metal frags left on the edge before you strop it on the chromium green
Iv seen loads from China orderd one round £8 but has course medium and ceramic very good reviews and does sissors
What about pocket knives?
It took at least that long to get mine shipped to the U.S. Way longer than i hoped.
I just drove to Scheels and got a $40 one today after watching this video. Instead of a slot for scissors, it has a slot for serrated blades.
It works. It really works. I can get a rough shave of my arm hair as well as slice through a sheet of paper with all 5 knives. Gotta see how they handle and onion.
Sorry, Ray.
I think on Ray's sharpener he changed something to make it better than the generic ones, can't remember if it was the ceramic rods or the carbide thing, did try looking for it but can't remember where I got the info now.
I've just got a really cheap pull through fixed angle sharpener, probably about £5 from Home Bargains or B&M or somewhere like that, it has brought the knives somewhat back to life, they can now cut through paper again, but the problem is that the edge just doesn't last, I cut up a few potatoes and carrots, and it's almost like a butter knife again.
So is there any chance in the future when/if you do more sharpener gadget reviews that you can give a verdict on sharpness/edge retention after a week or so your knife at home. It could just have been me and my cheap £5 knives, but they lasted ages from the shop, so if a sharpening gadget gives the appearance of making the blade sharp, but the edge doesn't last long is something I've never seen anyone cover.
And now for some moral support:
You are smashing the reviews, you've definitely got something experienced about you, like you are very used to public speaking or something, can't put my finger on it, but your verbal presentation is spot on, with well defined beginning, middle and end.
The physical demonstration was spot on too, no flaffing around, straight to the point
And the "studio" talking part looks very modern and professional.
Can't believe that you've only got 300 odd subs, you definitely deserve so many more, and can't wait to see you hitting all the UA-cam milestones as your channel deservedly grows.
Wow, didn't intend to write such a long post lol
How long it last depends of the quality materials the knife was forged with. It's not the same steel that infused chrome vanadium steel.
Good knifes cost 100££ for a reason!!
I know this is an old comment but just make sure to never put your knives in dishwashers especially ones with softer steel as the dishwasher will destroy their ability to retain an edge
also forgot to mention it also depends on the angle of the edge that you sharpen it to, as the smaller the angle the sharper the knife but the edge will last shorter cuz it's more prone to dulling
Was there a compound applied to the strop?
Yup, it comes with the strop 👍🏻
@@honedyt thank you
Chromium green
Pull throughs are all trash eventually after a few uses the knife will be f'ed they remove to much metal, learn how to use a stone and make any knife last years, learn how to use a whetstone can even just buy 1 shapton 1000 grit ceramic and a strop that will do for a long time untill you really need to give it a full sharpen then just buy a 220 shapton or a diamond dmt.
What's the 3rd slot in the ProEdge?
I believe it’s for sharpening scissors, but haven’t tried it out
Looks like a Smiths sharpener rebranded
I bought a work sharp precision adjust and I have never been more satisfied with any other purchase I have made… in my life.
I’m sure there is better stuff out there and it has its limitations, but if you are a beginner to intermediate knife enthusiast it will not let you down.
Thank you I’ve asked Ray four times about shipping to the UK NO REPLY at all. So now I know it’s available here 👍👍
Yep it’s available, but it does take a long time!
@@honedyt thanks again. I’ve just ordered one 👍👍
There's a lot of shady things about this guy and his products. A simple Google search showed me this. Found a bunch of people on forums complaining about him. Plus someone claiming to be him threatening to sue just about everyone.
Could also just buy a nice 1k whetstone
But Rays always lying in his videos. He cuts through the wire tester fast, which will make it seem sharper than it is. If you don't believe it watch Neeves knives about the tester
No worries I do believe you 😆 I’ve just got a sharpeners tester myself, going to be comparing rays sharpener against some others in an upcoming video
This is a knockoff/clone of the Smith adjustable angle sharpener.
Yeah, I think the smith came out with it first then the Chinese started making knock off, then ray bought a bunch of knock off and slap his logo Pro edge on it. 😂
Yeah basically this is one of many of the same white labelled products, so the Pro Edge does work, but so do many others that are the exact same
Avoid buying any sharpening system designed like this one. Just about all of them are absolutely terrible. Do not buy!!! They also ruin your apex and you will have to repro file your edge just to un-bloody F
good video
❤❤❤❤❤
Ray is a scammer. He rebrands garbage knives off AliExpress with his Rui logo and marks them up 500%. Same with this, just Chinese junk ruining your knives.
I love your videos, but hate when you dull the knifes, do it off video so just you suffer alone. 😂
Grab the grip, la. Your thumb EEEEE
Also towards the end when you cut the tube, watch your thumb. Use the claw grip, please stay safe
bro i cant stand watching people damage there knifes it makes me cringe
😆 sorry but I might be doing a bit more of that in future tests
Can't stand reading posts that can't distinguish between "there" (location) and "their" (ownership). Spelling the plural of "knife" with an "F" and not with a "V", as it would be correct - knives* (!) - makes me cringe.
Calls the knife razor sharp - doesn't test if it even shaves lol.
Btw ray either intentionally or not fakes his BESS sharpness scores, so whatch out.
At least you dont need a license to sharpen your knives.
All pull through sharpeners should be used in emergency situations only! They are absolute garbage and destroy knives.