Vulcan Korea Co., Ltd. (CEO Jun-seon Park), which received startup support from Jeonbuk National University (President Yang O-bong), has developed an eco-friendly blade sharpener through collaborative research with the university.

CEO Jun-seon Park of Vulcan Korea encountered problems with sharpening blades of knives and sickles, which are closely related to farmers' daily lives, while doing rural public service as a government employee. While volunteering to sharpen sickles that quickly break or dull, he recognized the need for a machine that could sharpen blades more efficiently.

To develop a more effective blade-sharpening machine, he applied in 2021 for prototype production support under the LINC project. He was matched with Professor In-ho Yu at JBNU, and over six months the university provided various consultations and support that enabled the development of a more precise and professional blade-sharpening product.

The blade sharpener developed by Vulcan Korea uses a six-stage precision process applying a special epoxy abrasive stone. Its strongest advantage is its eco-friendliness, producing no metal particles during sharpening.

Existing sharpeners generated fine metal particles adhered between the blade edge and microcracks, raising health concerns such as invisible heavy metal ingestion. The newly developed eco-friendly curved-edge sharpener completely eliminates these issues. It provides higher cutting performance than conventional sharpeners while emitting no metal particles.

It can perform six-stage precision processing and, designed as a curved-edge sharpener, can service a variety of blades including ordinary knives, scissors, sickles, hairdressing scissors, and medical instruments. While there are many companies that sharpen knives, Vulcan Korea's product is the only polishing device capable of servicing sickles and hairdressing scissors as well. Owing to this excellence, Vulcan Korea holds five patents related to the eco-friendly curved-edge sharpener.

In particular, CEO Park has been using this technology since this year to participate in Namwon City's 120 Volunteer Team blade-sharpening project. He visits farms in the Namwon area to conduct on-site, community-oriented blade-sharpening volunteer work, spreading the technology throughout the local community.

Jun-seon Park, CEO of Vulcan Korea Co., Ltd., said, "We developed an eco-friendly curved-edge sharpener that does not produce metal particles and have been providing blade-sharpening volunteer services to the local community. The response from residents has been very positive." He added, "We hope this newly developed technology will spread further throughout the community and provide practical assistance to local farms."