100 grit worn out.
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Hello,
My 100 grit stones are shot. But 200 looks fine. Which is understandable. 100 is my coarsest stones. And they do the most of heavy lifting. The only way I am aware to replace them is to buy new 100/200 set, which is looks like total waste of 200. Does anybody have better ideas?
Thank you in advance.
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FWIW, Someone, (I believe RLDubbya), posted this a while back, while attempting to clean his WEPS Diamond Stones with “Simple Green” the stones came loose from the plastic handles. This may helpful to you to loosen and remove the worn 100 grit side diamond stone. I don’t have a source for just the replacement diamond plates. At least you could pair together the new 100 grit diamond and your used 200 grit diamond on the one handle and save the new 200 grit for when you need it. Use 3M VHB RP25 double side tape to securely remount the stone pairs.
With the blank plastic handles you can make your own new leather strop paddles. Just glue an appropriate cut size leather strips to the leftover plastic WEPS handle with 3M Super 77 Spray adhesive. I tape off around the plastic handle and around the leather to protect from over spray. Wicked Edge also offers at the website replacement leather strips for $2 each.
So at least you can make use of everything and save the new 200 grit stone for when you need it.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I just moved a bunch of my current stones to a set of the new blank handles. It’s a bit of a hassle, but once you figure it out, it’s not all that bad. It took me about an hour to move the 12 stones from the old handles to the new ones.
I have an old electric hot plate (used to be used for fondue) and I set it for about 200 F. I place the stones face down on the hot plate, where they warm up very nicely. Once they’re at about 180 F, you can pry the stones off pretty easily. There will be some of the 3M VHB adhesive tape left on both surfaces. The white tape is really stretchy but it’s strong enough to be easily peeled off. There’s also a clear adhesive that may be stuck to either surface and you’ll want to peel it off very slowly while it’s still warm. You can “roll” it off by pushing with your fingers, but be careful. If you push sideways too hard on a hot stone, you can separate the skin of the pad of your finger from the underlying tissue. This is what is commonly known as a “blister” and they’re not fun. If you can roll up just enough of the adhesive so that you can pull on it, it’ll slowly release from the substrate. Much easier than rolling it all off.
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I would call W.E., and see if you can get a replacement set of 100g diamond stones from them, (without buying a new handle set).
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Gentlemen,
Thank you. So far all good ideas. I wish I could buy a pair of 100/100. Probably the first step will be to call or e-mail WE.
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Roman, I have worn out the 100/200 set and replaced them, so it’s not unheard of. I usually try to get by with the finest grit diamond set that will meet the needs. If I’m profiling a knife and I find I’m working too hard, (i.e., using the diamond paddles too aggressively), I’ll step down to the next coarser grit. I’ll continue to step down till I find the coarseness that will remove the metal with the least amount of effort. So I recently bought the 50/80 combo grit diamonds. I don’t expect I’ll need them often but it provides that extra grit when it’s tough on the 100’s.
Marc
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Marc,
I would have no problem to replace 100/200, if both of them would be worn.
I use my WE only to reprofile blades. After that I microbevel and maintaining on Sharpmaker. Last weekend I reprofiled Spyderco Centofante3 (VG10, 2 mm hollow grind) to 12 degrees per side. It took me about 4 hours. I think that this is excessive.
I also tried 50/80 couple years ago, but decided to stay away from them. Even 80 were removing stock too fast.
I just sent e-mail to WE, may be they will come out with some good ideas.
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I too look at a knife, it’s shape and steel and try to imagine how well it can perform with some tweaking. Sort like buying a new car and sending it off to Lingenfelter. Sometimes it’s simply a microbevel addition, other times a full reprofile. As my interests in knives and sharpening has grown since I started using the WEPS I have invested in better knives with better steel made by better makers. I have slowed down in my original efforts to immediately jump on a knife and see what I can do with it. Now with these more expensive, better steel knives, I pledged to myself, to use these knives first and enjoy them for what they are and learn more about how to tweak them through experiencing the subtle different shapes and profiles of a variety of similar style knives at the same time. I have also become more reluctant to remove metal from a brand new expensive pristine hard steel knife.
So now I have about six real nice Japanese Steel Gyuto Style Chef’s Knives that I use a while then grab a different one for a while and just keep switching amongst them. I have my favorites and less favorites. I’m planning how I can tweak the less preferred performers to be more in-line with the favorite performers. I’m also imagining how I can tweak the favorite performers into a killer performing knife, (no pun intended).
It’s been a slower process than I expected because these knives are really durable and holding up well. Of course…good steel. So far I have leather stropped a couple and put a microbevel on one. I’m promised myself I’m not going to start removing steel till the edges are worn and damaged enough to deserve it. I can’t undo removing steel and making changes that made the knife worse. So I’m going at it really slowly.
In the mean time I sharpen for friends and buy inexpensive EDC knives to experiment on, and keep touching up my other knives. I get where you’re coming from Roman and I’m sure you’re getting great pride and satisfaction from making a knife a killer performer and learning a lot along the way. Kudos. Please share with us some of your accomplishments. We love to see them.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I have considered using these Atoma Diamond Plates. The only way I could see cutting them is with a water-jet and I think that would out-price the effort.
I saw them. FYI Chefs knives to go have them for less.
There was a gentleman aka oldawan, who was selling these plate, cut to we size. it doesn’t look that he does it anymore.
http://www.oldawan.com/sharpen/atoma-diamond-plates-for-wicked-edge/
still two plates will be $200. I can buy 3 WE 100/200 sets, which will last a long time.
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I would call W.E., and see if you can get a replacement set of 100g diamond stones from them, (without buying a new handle set).
It says a lot about a company that a friend of them suggests something like this. Great idea, Curtis!
There was a gentleman aka oldawan, who was selling these plate, cut to we size. it doesn’t look that he does it anymore. http://www.oldawan.com/sharpen/atoma-diamond-plates-for-wicked-edge/
I think that Oldawan was one of the first companies to sell the WE and custom parts. It’d be a pity if he doesn’t do that anymore.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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