Recently got my TS Prof Kadet and have to say I am very impressed! My sharpening on the grinder has been okay, but it didn’t fill me with great confidence (though I am still stropping on the grinder with my 2 x 72 leather belt from @John Noon) I got the expert version that comes with their diamond set 150G 240G 400G 600G 1000G I had some trouble at first, kind of a brain fart on my behalf. This thing is really marketed to quickly resharpen an existing microbevel because that is simply lay the stone so it matches the existing angle and away you go. For a knife maker putting a new microbevel - using a digital angle finder - you zero the mechanism/ knife clamps, then lay the abrasive rod on the knife, measure the angle, so let’s say that it measures at 6.30 degrees, to get 17 degrees at the edge you move the mechanism down to 10.30 degrees. Even if my explanation doesn’t seem 100% scientific to you, it works. You see if you just zero the mechanism/ clamps, and just move that down to 17 degrees it puts you down the bottom of the curve in the cleaver territory! But when you measure it like I said it puts you smack dab right to their markings for a Kitchen knife (see next photo). Also I know it’s pretty much accurate because it seems the rod always measures between 6-7 degrees. And the maximum angle on the sharpener is 30 degrees. If you don’t measure the rod you max out at 22-23 degrees...add in the rod angle and bam, right on the money! Here are the results on the 8” Gyuto. The next two are video links to Flickr, all safe. If you’re in the market for one of these, or even if you were looking at the TS Prof K03, I can vouch for the build quality. Also this works out to about half the cost of the K03.
Scott if you’re thinking 10” cutting edge Western chef’s or K-Tips ...no problem! And I am guessing, because I haven’t tried, but if you had the rod at max length, you could work it to sharpen an 18” cutting edge. The clamp mechanism rotates and locks like all TS Prof products. Clamps widen out to 5 1/4” The jaws widen to accept 1/4” thick stock max. This thing is going to need to be bolted / or clamped down for large heavy knives. Thick stock and large knives will test the angle lock on the sliding mechanism for sure. If I have any issues I will mention them.
Hey Chris. The options are Global or U.S. on the official TS Prof site. I chose global because it didn’t say North America, and my unit came from Russia. Still got great service, they use DHL Express and that service just blows me away as it got here in no time, and as I said in my other post I got steel blanks from Japan via DHL in 3 days!
Any surprise fees with DHL like you would get with UPS? I’m always nervous about orders coming in from the States. I’m assuming there is a duty charge and Hst.
Chris the unit is $355.00 us (428 ish cad) and I paid $109.00 taxes and import combined. This puts it in the Blitz price range, which isn’t nearly as versatile as the Kadet for larger blades, and half the cost of a K03. Hope this helps.
