Introducing the EDGE Apex and Resin-bond wheels for knife sharpening professionals and Knife manufacturers.
The EDGE Apex is the work station built around it. Legacy wet systems crawl at ~95–140 RPM on stone wheels that lose their shape or plated diamond that dulls and is thrown away — a constant consumable bill. The EDGE Apex was built to end that.
Cuttermasters its founder Jeff Toycen, bring deep domain experience in sharpening hard metals — high-speed steel (HSS) and carbide cutting tools — to the knife-sharpening world. In 2022, Cuttermasters introduced the resin-bond grinding wheel to the knife-sharpening industry, applying abrasive technology proven in industrial tool-and-cutter grinding to the bladesmith’s bench. The EDGE Apex is the work station built around that technology: a precision, wet, variable-speed, reversing bench grinder with belt capability. Five years in the making, it is engineered and assembled by a machine-tool company to aerospace tolerances. The design goal throughout was simple — deliver the fastest, most precise, and lowest-cost-per-blade sharpening platform on the market.
Edge Apex The edge apex designed by. Jeff Toycon and 2022. Was designed as a premium sharpener for knife makers. Designed to produce accurate angles in good volume. With little or no maintenance and no. Thermal damage to the blade. The apex is a twin wheel. Precision. Bench top grinding workstation. That accommodates. Hey, built over we’ll figuration configuration. In the process of developing this machine. Colour Masters. Researched and produced resin bond wheels.
These wheels have very specific characteristics and they are extremely long life. This machine is designed to be maintenance free over hundreds of thousands of sharpenings.
Why the EDGE Apex wins ▸ Runs wet at up to 1,000 RPM — roughly ten times the material removal of legacy machines, while staying cool. ▸ Proprietary resin-bond wheel — sharpens ~50,000–100,000 knives per wheel and holds its shape as it works. ▸ Near-zero runout — precision-ground shafts deliver smooth, vibration-free, repeatable edges. ▸ Variable speed & reversing — ~100–1,000 RPM with direction control over finish and burr. ▸ One machine, three jobs — resin grinding, a 35-durometer silicone strop for finishing, and a 2″×42″ belt-over-wheel for blade thinning. ▸ Wet & dust-free — sponge trays keep it cool, clean, and quiet enough to talk to a customer while you work.
The Problem with Legacy Wet Sharpening For years the wet-sharpening market has been defined by slow machines and disposable wheels. The dominant systems run at very low speed and rely on abrasives that degrade in ways that cost the operator both time and money: – Very slow speed. The leading wet system (Tormek) turns at roughly 90–140 RPM. At those speeds, material removal is slow and throughput is limited. – Vitrified stone wheels wear and lose shape. As the stone wears down it changes diameter and profile, so the operator is constantly re-truing and eventually replacing it. – Plated (electroplated) diamond wheels go dull and must be discarded. A single layer of plated diamond has a short useful life; once dull, the whole wheel is replaced — expensive, and repeated often. In each case the user is forced into continual, significant wheel expense — the real cost of ownership hides in the consumables, not the machine.
The EDGE Apex Solution The EDGE Apex runs wet at up to 1,000 RPM on a proprietary resin-bond wheel developed specifically for knife sharpening. The combination changes the economics and the experience of sharpening: – Roughly 10× the productivity. At 1,000 RPM the EDGE Apex removes material far faster than ~95–140 RPM legacy machines — on the order of ten times more productive — while staying wet and cool. – Extraordinary wheel life. The proprietary resin-bond wheel will sharpen on the order of 50,000 to 100,000 knives before it needs replacement, holding its shape as it works. – Near-zero wheel runout. The shafts are ground to machine-tool precision, so wheel runout is effectively nil. The result is smooth, vibration-free operation and a consistent, repeatable edge. – Variable speed and reversing. Speed is adjustable from roughly 100 to 1,000 RPM and the direction reverses, giving full control of finish, burr formation, and grind direction. – Wet and dust-free. Wet sponge trays keep the work cool and the air clean — no vacuum, no airborne grit, quiet enough to talk to a customer while you work. Net effect: the lowest cost per blade of any system in its class.
The Proprietary Resin-Bond Wheel Developed by Jeff Toycen, the EDGE Apex wheel is the heart of the system. Its resin chemistry, abrasive concentration, and a very specific grit combine to deliver a property set that no off-the-shelf wheel matches: – Fast material removal at low heat with excellent shape retention in the 100-grit roughing wheel. – A manageable burr and a superior finish from the 500, 600, and 1,000-grit finishing wheels — ideal for stropping. – Tunable behaviour — different pressures, speeds, and coolant conditions yield different finishes, giving the bladesmith real control. – Ready to run. Every wheel is produced to Cuttermasters’ specification, mounted, ground true, and dressed at the facility before it ships. Because the wheel holds its shape and its life is measured in the tens of thousands of blades, it is the natural choice for the cost-conscious production sharpener — the fastest cut with the best burr condition available today, at the lowest cost per blade. 250 mm resin-bond wheel, precision-ground and dressed
The 35-Durometer Silicon Stropping & Contact Wheel Cuttermasters has also perfected a 35-durometer silicone-rubber wheel that does double duty on the EDGE Apex: – Edge stropping. The 35-durometer silicone is an excellent stropping material; charged with fine compound it refines and polishes the edge to a finish. – Supple contact wheel. The same wheel serves as a compliant contact wheel for the “Toycen” abrasive belt-over-wheel setup — the supple backing is ideal for blade thinning and removing swales. One accessory, two jobs: a polished finishing strop and a flexible thinning platform, both running on the same precise, low-runout shaft.
About Cuttermasters Cuttermasters designs and builds precision sharpening and tool-grinding equipment, drawing on a background in industrial HSS and carbide tool grinding. Engineering and prototyping are based in Canada; manufacturing and distribution are handled from the United States.