Kenny, you lost me.
....(...)
What is it that you need to do that can't be done with the Tormek and can be done with the wicked edge? The wicked edge looks like a clever concept for sharpening knives. I don't have any criticisms of it for that purpose. The one claim I would question is that any employee could quickly be trained to sharpen knives in just a few minutes. This may be so, but I would be reluctant to trust "any employee" with my good Henckel knives.
The Tormek can certainly sharpen knives. It can also sharpen almost any tool in the shop or home. The wicked edge may well be a superb tool for knives, but I don't see where it can sharpen anything else.
Ken
Ken,
I understand your frustration with the OP, .. I read and re-read his post several times, and I think the issue is that he has not specifically told us what exactly this "curved blade" is that he has. Is it a hawk bill or recurved blade? Or is it a knife with the bevel on the outside of a circle like a Pizza Cutter ? We need to know more about what he is up against. Maybe he can post a photobucket picture for us. That would help a lot to unscramble the issue. If he just wants a quick inexpensive fix then a Norton India Slip Stone will get him going if the knife is a recurve type.
I can not resist making a editorial comment on your comment on the Wicked Edge system: I own both Wicked Edge and Tormek and after 50+ years of sharpening everything in sight (I started, like many of us at my Fathers side in his woodworking shop when I was barely tall enough to peek over the bench!) I just want to observe that it's a case of “different tools for different jobs” .. You are right the WE is specifically for knife blades, and the Tormek is a broad range commercial device for many other cutting tools besides just knife blades.
But the WE system has found a home with the dedicated bunch of us (all of us have a little OS in our hearts, ie.e Obsessive Sharpeners!), we use the WE system to Diamond micro polish Custom Blades from the “world of Art-Knife Makers”, and also to experiment with blades where the goal is to sharpen well into and beyond the range of microtomes. For that it is suited very well, and, to be honest, the Tormek is really not designed to play in that ball game. That is not a “knock” on Tormek, it is just a statement of fact. Tormek outstrips the WE system in so many other regards, and it is so perfectly suited to certain jobs for which it s designed, that it it rates a 5 Star in its world and when used within its reach. But, just the same in the world of Custom Art Knives and “OS” the WE is also 5 Stars. To give you an idea how insane it gets: I have mounted optically flat glass plates on my WE and used 0.25 micron Diamond paste. Trust me, the result is sharper than what you can get on a Tormek.
Again, I have both systems, use each one where it is appropriate for the job, and am very happy that both Tormek and WE exist, so that I can play in the world of sharp things!
-Dan
PS: I know Clay personally, and don't be bothered by "marketing verbage".. Yes of course the learning curve on a WE is very steep, and not just any employee can use it! Clay is doing the best he can to survive with his little venture in a very competitive world, and sometimes to goal is to just "sell a few units".. That's a sad comment on the world we live in, please do not hold it against WE.. .thanks for understanding..
