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Edge on Up products seem to be improved as fast as new cel phones! I knew that my old reliable KN-100 is now probably vintage, and that my trusty original PT-50 has been superceded. However, I thought my Sharp Pad was safe! Not so. I was watching the the latest Sharp Pad videos, (thanks for placing them conveniently directly on the forum!) and I noticed the new Sharp Pads now have two plastic plates instead of one plastic and rough/smooth leather. I assume this is a new improvement. Please explain.
Thanks,
Ken
ps I wonder what will be new when I awaken tomorrow.
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Hello Ken,
Thank you for your question and a little background will help us to answer it.
Sharp Pad has been an interesting product launch for us. It was, originally, and still is a product targeted at the home kitchen user. However, a very significant number of these products have found their way into the hands of accomplished sharpeners like you as well as a great number of our industrial users. This was a bit of a very welcome surprise to us. We feel that we understand why this is now and the discovery falls into two spheres. The first is very simple: its simply a very handy tool to have laying around the sharpening room. Doesn't take up much space, simple to use and very effective burr removal for one-off knife sorts of applications. Secondly, the polymer plates provide just the right combination of grip and firmness for even and clean burr removal. The rubber base is part of the burr removal tool set as well and there is simply nothing out there that is more effective at removing that last bit of burr, particularly on stainless steel knives. In short, while devising a simple and effective means of burr removal for home kitchen users we also managed to devise a simple and effective means of burr removal for accomplished and professional sharpeners.
With that said, now I can answer your question regarding the leather plate. It's a good tool but it's burr removal, edge straightening, and work hardening characteristics are largely redundant with regard to the capabilities of the polymer plates and rubber base. Now remember, I said "largely redundant". We can almost always buy another 15 or 20 points with the leather plate but for the target market, home users, what's 15 or 20 points when you started at 650 and now you're sitting at 240? A perfect kitchen edge for the home user in our opinion. For us, the leather plate is very much a final finishing tool. Sort of that last coat of lacquer on a fine piece of furniture.
Leather is simply difficult to work with in a manufacturing setting. Each hide is a different color, different texture and a different thickness. In a kitchen setting there are sanitary and appearance issues associated with leather as well. Quite frankly, if we start addressing that last 15 or 20 points again we will likely go to either a canvas, denim, or ballistic nylon material all of which demonstrate very similar performance properties to leather but that can be replaced much more economically. There is no "magic quality" to leather as opposed to several other man-made materials as far as we can tell. It is simply a very traditional and well suited material for the task. With regard to burr removal and work hardening an edge though it is very much second fiddle to our polymer plates and rubber base.
Eliminating the leather plate from the Sharp Pad package simplifies our message and instructions to the home kitchen user. Does that mean that we are going to leave a segment of our customer base, the ones who use and like the leather plate, out in the cold? No. We have a large inventory of leather plates here and if you need a new or additional one just drop us an email and one will be in the mail to you.
Hope this helps
It changed a lot from the very 1st one, and even more from the prototypes.
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04-09-2018, 10:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2018, 08:26 AM by napaknives.)
Mike, why do you include 2 polymer pads in your new Sharp Pad? Are they identical? .....Dan... Can they be cleaned?
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Good to hear from you again Napa and thank you for your question. We provide an extra, identical, polymer plate with Sharp Pad and the plates can be cleaned with soap and water. We provide two, not because they are particularly prone to wear, but rather the surfaces are great for providing a visible indication of residual burr. The scratches left on the plate surface by even small amounts of burr are quite visible to the naked eye. After some use though the plate surface becomes "all scratches". Each plate has two surfaces so we make available a total of four surfaces.
Please keep in mind that we are discontinuing SHARP PAD as announced in one of our previous posts. The product was designed as a tool for home chefs and ended up being used only by experienced sharpeners. Just not enough of you guys out there to justify continuing manufacture of the product. There was never anything particularly magical about the properties of SHARP PAD. It just combines several different and effective burr removal tools and options into one very handy little package.
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I am sorry to hear that Sharp Pad is being discontinued. It is a well designed and useful product.
Ken
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Thanks Mark and to Ken for the kind words. Don't worry, SHARP PAD is still our go-to burr removal and edge straightening instrument at both home and at work and will continue to be so. We will also continue to take care of our friends should they need parts or replacements. It will just be on an unadvertised and off-the-books basis.
