Kazak Pro sharpening system

[Letoff]

Tell me about it if you got one. Waiting on blade show in Atlanta before I upgrade my TSPROF Blitz 360. I want to see what’s out there and June can’t get here fast enough.
Was thinking I was dead set on a K03 Pro but as I did my investigation, really wondering why not the Kazak Pro?

 

[777 Edge]

Visit Gritomatic's booth at Blade show, they normally have a huge selection of sharpening systems on display. They are also located about 40 minutes north of Atlanta so their warehouse may also be a visit while you're there.

The Kazak pro is a great system, I have it - and I have most other systems available on the market. The only limitation is the fact that they don't have a large clamp selection.

The best bang for the buck sharpener that does just as good of a job at sharpening than any other system, is a Hapstone R2 Standard. Hapstone has lots of clamp options, a magnetic table option, chisel sharpening option and scissors clamp option and all accessories are very affordable. Kazak also has similar accessories but may not be as easily available, and more expensive. The light system in the Kazak gives it a great advantage, but that said, Gritomatic has an adapter for the Hapstone system to also attach a light to it.

The top of the line you can get, will be a Gridviva system - insane tolerances and everything you need in a sharpener but it's very pricy.

TSProf K03 is also one of the top systems, but accessories are very expensive and limited.

FYI, Gritomatic will soon be selling my own "Leading Edge" sharpening system, and that will be able to do everything needed at a very affordable price.

 

[Letoff]

Concerning the Grid-Viva, yeah I saw a vid a YouTube vid from the blade show in 2021, they demonstrate it's capabilities. My, my, my what a nice system. At the end of the vid he tells you the price will be somewhere around the $2000 - $2500 mark and I know that's a good price for the quality and everything this system will do but it's out of my price range for sure. I just don't generate enough cash sharpening knives to get one of these bad boys but doesn't mean I don't want one!!! For the hobby guy like myself who gets one or two customer knives a week, 0 - $1000 will have to suffice or I wont be getting anything. I will say this, it looks to be the Cadillac of the sharpening systems.

Here's the vid I was talking about on the Grid Viva

 

[Letoff]

Trip 7's <-- I love calling you that and by the way, thanks for being so helpful with your knowledge brotha!

As soon as I get a map of the vendor locations for Atlanta Blade Show you can bet I'm going to be mapping out my plan to visit all the places where a sharpening system are demonstrated or can be viewed. I'm going with two other buddies who will have knives on the brain but knives will not be my priority.

Took Kazak a while to get back to me but I did email them and asked them two questions.
1. Will you be at the blade show in Atlanta, the answer was yes.
2. What is your top of the line sharpening system, the answer was Model M100.

I've been to their website as well as Gritomatic and about the only difference I can tell in the M100 and the Kazak Pro is you get the lighting system with the pro. The actual system seems to be the same, I maybe wrong cause when you go to Gritomatic and go to the Kazak Pro, if you scroll to the bottom of the page they show a "Kit Comparison" but the M100 is not included in the comparison so I'm not sure.

Is there a YouTube vid on the Hapstone that does a true demonstration of its capabilities, clamps and accessories that you recommend ? Hit me with it if you know.

So I almost missed that last line in your post, "My own leading Edge" <--- Your design ?

 

[Diemaker]

FYI, Gritomatic will soon be selling my own "Leading Edge" sharpening system, and that will be able to do everything needed at a very affordable price.

Interesting, will it be all printed?

 

[777 Edge]

Trip 7's <-- I love calling you that and by the way, thanks for being so helpful with your knowledge brotha!

My pleasure, happy to help!

I'm going with two other buddies who will have knives on the brain but knives will not be my priority.

I hear ya, it's amazing how many people love spending thousands on their knives but then skimp out on a sub-standard sharpening system - or worst case, don't do any sharpening at all!

I've been to their website as well as Gritomatic and about the only difference I can tell in the M100 and the Kazak Pro is you get the lighting system with the pro.

There are actually a lot of differences between the Kazak Pro and Kazak Model 100. The model 100 has a very interesting designed magnetic stop for the rotating bar - something not seen in other systems. This is nice and helps with even more accuracy and a solid stop, but probably not really necessary. It could even be cumbersome for some people in some cases due to the fact that it you can only rotate the bar one way and then the opposite way to flip the knife over - the Model 100 can't rotate around a full 360 degrees. The Model 100 also comes with a platform (podium as they call it) and other accessories - which is nice. As far as I know it also has an improved rack and pinion and rotating mechanism.

My own Kazak is the Kazak Pro Black which is also a full kit that comes with a platform and many other accessories.

Kazak also has the "Mosquito" just for your reference.

In the end a lot of the bells and whistles won't really get your knife any sharpener - even though they are nice to have. The most important part is really the knife clamps (or platform), the accuracy of angular adjustment, accuracy of stone clamps and accurate & smooth horizontal rod movement. The Kazak Mosquito will get your knife just as sharp as the Model 100.

Here is a video for your reference comparing the Model 100 and the regular Pro (Not the Pro Black). It's not in English, but you'll get the gist of it.

Is there a YouTube vid on the Hapstone that does a true demonstration of its capabilities, clamps and accessories that you recommend ? Hit me with it if you know.

There are lots of videos on YouTube about it, but I can't think of any excellent videos though. Unfortunately YouTube is flooded with videos of people who want likes and hits, have limited experience in a wide range of systems and often don't really know what they are taking about - unfortunately that includes many of the big YouTubers.

So I almost missed that last line in your post, "My own leading Edge" <--- Your design ?

Yes, many of my designs are items that I specifically designed for Gritomatic at their request. All of their aftermarket accessories, their "Gearconnect" clamp adapters, their aftermarket stone holders for most sharpening systems and all of the "Leading Edge" upgrades (for most of the popular sharpening systems) are all my designs.

I also have my own affordable sharpening system for people with 3D printers or access to a printing service to build your own system that will yield results on par with the best systems on the market - but for a fraction of the cost. Here is a very nice thread about it that CelloDan wrote :

"Leading Edge" 3D printed knife guided sharpening system. Assembly/Build/Use

Hi everyone :) I've just finished building my "Leading Edge" 3D printed knife guided sharpening system designed by our friend @777 Edge :thumbsup:. The files for printing can be downloaded for free from Thingiverse at: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4135236 Loving it ! :cool...

www.bladeforums.com

Gritomatic is planning on selling a much improved version of my Leading Edge system sometime in the near future. I significantly upgraded it from the free version. I left the original free version online available to anyone who wants to build one.

 

[777 Edge]

Interesting, will it be all printed?

No, only the plastic parts. The rest of the kit is stainless steel rods, magnets, nuts and bolts etc. The stone kits will be available from the wide range that Gritomatic sells (including your own stones D Diemaker ). Some optional accessories (like knife clamps for the rotating mechanism) will metal too.

 

[Letoff]

After watching the video and a few more I found, looks like the M100 does not pivot like the Pro model does, am I wrong ? I don't know what the functions actual name is but what I'm talking about is when you want to pivot the blade downward or upward so that you get a better look at the bevel. I could see the plastic handle on the side of the Pro model but I don't see that on the Pro. I also didn't see it demonstrated on the M100 in the vids I saw.

 

[Letoff]

One more thing, if someone wanted to buy the Grid Viva today, is there a US dealer. In the vid I posted earlier I saw they were at the Gritomatic booth at the blade show but Gritomatic doesn't sell it.

 

[Natlek]

I hear ya, it's amazing how many people love spending thousands on their knives but then skimp out on a sub-standard sharpening system - or worst case, don't do any sharpening at all!

You call my 2$ * sharpening tool* substandard ? When I want 18 degree sharpening angle my tool do that .So , why it is *substandard* ? You can get better/sharper edge on that 2000 $ Grid-Viva ? Maybe . . . . . . next Thursday

 

[777 Edge]

After watching the video and a few more I found, looks like the M100 does not pivot like the Pro model does, am I wrong ? I don't know what the functions actual name is but what I'm talking about is when you want to pivot the blade downward or upward so that you get a better look at the bevel. I could see the plastic handle on the side of the Pro model but I don't see that on the Pro. I also didn't see it demonstrated on the M100 in the vids I saw.

Yes, correct it does not swivel up and down like the Pro. But honestly, both Pro and Model 100 has a quick removable bar where you remove the entire bar with the knife installed in the clamps to inspect your edge (something also not found in many systems). This is by far the best way to inspect your edge and reinstall the bar back into the exact same position to continue sharpening.

 

[777 Edge]

One more thing, if someone wanted to buy the Grid Viva today, is there a US dealer. In the vid I posted earlier I saw they were at the Gritomatic booth at the blade show but Gritomatic doesn't sell it.

Gritomatic is your best bet. I know they had a few Grid Viva kits in stock recently but you'll have to check with them if they are still available. Contact them directly, here is the link for you:

Contact Us

Please use the contact form below to contact us. We will reply to you as soon as possible! You can contact us on Facebook, you'll hear back from one of us.

www.gritomatic.com

 

[777 Edge]

You call my 2$ * sharpening tool* substandard ? When I want 18 degree sharpening angle my tool do that .So , why it is *substandard* ? You can get better/sharper edge on that 2000 $ Grid-Viva ? Maybe . . . . . . next Thursday

Nope, that's a great setup you have there and it will give very repeatable results for sure! I like the ingenuity! Sub-standard systems I'm referring to would be some of the really low quality sloppy systems out there.

 

[Letoff]

Gritomatic is your best bet. I know they had a few Grid Viva kits in stock recently but you'll have to check with them if they are still available. Contact them directly, here is the link for you:

Contact Us

Please use the contact form below to contact us. We will reply to you as soon as possible! You can contact us on Facebook, you'll hear back from one of us.

www.gritomatic.com

I hit them up yesterday afternoon. Let's see what they say.

 

[Letoff]

Finally got word back from Gritomatic and just so you know, they did apologize for the delayed response.

They said currently they do not have any Grid Viva systems available and at this time do not know when they will get any in.

 

[777 Edge]

Finally got word back from Gritomatic and just so you know, they did apologize for the delayed response.

They said currently they do not have any Grid Viva systems available and at this time do not know when they will get any in.

Grid Viva is hand made so I guess when they are made available it up to the maker. I must say, the craftsmanship is very impressive - they don't hold back on materials used and it has perfect tolerances. Mine is my favorite sharpener.

 

[Letoff]

So I'm back from the Atlanta Blade show, WOW is all I can say. Besides meeting a couple of really cool knife makers who have very great ideas my goal was to look at my choices of sharpening systems so I could make my choice without just having to look at a picture or watch a video and then decide.

The problem is now even worse for 2 reasons.

The first reason, after looking at all of the sharpening systems at the Gritomatic table and talking with Constantine who is VERY educated on these products, I cant make up mind. I've got it down to the K03 Pro Black and the Kazak Pro Black. Both had their slight differences, both seemed high quality and both will get the job done that I want to achieve. One problem I saw on the K03 was the lighting system seemed jank compared to the lighting system of the Kazak. The K03's Lighting system didn't seem sturdy and easily breakable if presented with the right situation. It wobbled when you touched it and was all plastic. The Kazak's lighting system, well, let's just say someone put a lot of thought into this and built it right, as if to say to themselves, "I don't care what it costs, let's build it the best way it can be done and see where we land on how much it cost." I was impressed. Also, as said before, the Kazak has the ability to remove the knife from the sharpening system while still clamped and placed back into the system exactly as it was to continue sharpening again without missing a beat.
The K03 Pro Black is no slouch, don't get me wrong by my lighting comment, this is a very well made system and you can tell it when you pick it up, it's got a lot more weight to it which surprised me. I'm not sure how much it weighs but it weighs more than the Kazak for sure (both had podium bases). I was impressed by this beast too.

The second reason is availability. This is what scares me the most. Constantine was very honest with me and told me that getting them was tough and getting accessories and parts for them was even tougher. They had only the demo's on hand and said that it was going to be end of July or August (hopefully) before they got more systems and couldn't even give me a reasonable time period for accessories/parts. His advice to me was, "When you decide and we get it in stock, get the one that has all the accessories you want, even if it contains some things you may already have or not need because who knows when we will get xxxx accessory you want in stock." What scares me is, if I purchase one and then later decide I need xxxx or I want xxxx, I'm stuck. Constantine told me the problem is not the maker of the product but the export of the product. Currently it takes 6-12 weeks for customs to allow export of the Kazak from Poland and a time frame even longer on the K03. He said they placed an order last year before Christmas and still waiting on the K03.

One last thing and some of you might be interested in this. I contacted Kazak through their website and within 2 hours they responded. I asked them when Gritomatic would be receiving new stock, they replied "within 2 weeks, we are having export problems." They did tell me that I could purchase the Kazak Pro Black from them directly and they could ship it to me in 5 days with a 25% discount to compensate for the high shipping cost of $120. Then after 4 emails back and forth asking if the Kazak Pro Black system they are offering comes with this and this and this, I never got a clear answer. I think their is a language barrier for sure and they just don't understand what I'm trying to confirm. I've also asked "What if something is damaged in shipping, will you replace?" and I never got an answer. I'm going to try again today to clear things up but their English website needs help as it doesn't list what comes with what you're ordering and leaves you unclear. The last email I got from them said I could get the Pro Black shipped to me in Alabama total cost for $730. Still unclear if it came with the podium or not but I do know he said lighting system.

I'll have more but wanted to give you an update.

 

[777 Edge]

My Kazak Pro Black was a full kit including the podium, FYI.

 

[polish avenger]

I dealt directly with Kazak and the ONLY issue was that the original shipping quote was off and it cost me. I get it, it's happened to me when I've quoted shipping before.
Otherwise, all communication was prompt, the packaging ensured no shipping damage, and I received an itemized list beforehand of each piece included in my order.
-Mark

 

[nevertakeadayoff]

You call my 2$ * sharpening tool* substandard ? When I want 18 degree sharpening angle my tool do that .So , why it is *substandard* ? You can get better/sharper edge on that 2000 $ Grid-Viva ? Maybe . . . . . . next Thursday

A crafty fella you are!