Greetings from New Jersey
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Welcome to the forum Billy. We130 is a great set-up.
I always strop my chef’s knives with 4 micron/2 micron after sharpening.
Marc
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I do think your edges will benefit from having one set of strops. I would also recommend the 4 / 2 micron strop pack if you’re only getting one set. This is not to say that the edge right off of the stones won’t be great also. The Wicked Edge will get your kitchen knives consistently sharp every time so I know you’re going to be happy with the results.
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Welcome, where are you in Jersey. I am in Caldwell.
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Personally, I do not lower the angle for stropping. I am pretty sure that folks do this to avoid rolling the edge due to too much pressure. However, a very light touch does not roll the edge. I like to think that I am stropping the entire primary bevel (magnified photos show an amazing amount of burnishing with pasted up strops) and if you reduce the angle I have no confidence that the entire primary bevel is being burnished. I trust the WEPS to stay on the primary bevel from initial 100 grit thru the strops. I have experimented with using some of the highest grits including diamond films and strops to smooth the interface of the primary bevel (say 15 DPS) with the main face bevel (say 6 DPS) but I have not done a lot of it. Attached is one of my latest edges without changing the strop angle. I would smooth the interface if I still had the knife but I gave it back to my dentist. The edge scalloped shiny newsprint like butter and I would be interested if it did better. Maybe on my next kitchen knife.
Personally, I do not lower the angle for stropping. I am pretty sure that folks do this to avoid rolling the edge due to too much pressure. However, a very light touch does not roll the edge.
The primary interest, task and goal of myself and many of us that have continued to stay plugged in and participate in this W.E. Forum is to answer technique questions presented by new users to W.E. Sharpeners to help them become successful W.E. users. The suggestions we make are those that help these new users learn how to use their W.E. sharpeners with positive results that they can string together to develop their own working, sharpening techniques.
We like to say here” your technique” because, like “Readheads” we each have our own individual spins on our techniques. After sharpening a handful of knives successfully we each start to figure out what we like, and what we don’t, as we string together these progressive steps that yield the results we’re looking for. There is this learning curve we all generally go through that helps us put into practice and string together these individual steps. We string these together into our own individual techniques.
We try to suggest the individual methods for each step of the sharpening process that will give effective results without failing. Some of these methods we share for the beginning sharpeners to try, at the start, are very conservative. This in particular is evident with the stropping phase of W.E. knife sharpening. Stropping at the start can be particularly tricky.
First we’re stropping wih a pliant compressible medium. The abrassive on the stropping handle is not affixed in place stabile and immovable, either. The strop medium can be damaged, (i.e., cut and slashed) while we learn the method. Mistakes are unforgiving and permanent though they really don’t effect our ability to use the strops or the outcomes. We have each learned ourselves, how to strop, following the suggestion to reduce or backoff our sharpening angles by 1 to 2 degrees, to a more acute angle then we sharpened the knife edge, with. This angle adjustment allows us to learn how to use the strops without ruining the sharpened edge, the fruits of our, learned labor, without rounding over the sharpened apex.
Stropping is a balance between angle and applied pressure. This is a learned process through repetitive tries and slight pressure and angle set adjustments. I prefer to strop with more than slight applied pressure. I like the results I attain with this pressure, both physical and aesthetic. 0.5 to 1 degree of back-off allows me to produce these results I seek. I started with a 2 degree back-off several years ago when I was first starting to learn the stropping process.
I slashed and gouged my strops. I learned to strop my edges in portions or sections of the knive’s lengths, then to overlap these sections with blending stropping strokes. I learned to strop the often down curving knife tips also in an up and off, “edge trailing” direction, just like the flatter portions of the knive’s edges. When I first started I tried to strop the entire knife length with one long strop stroke. When approaching the curved tip I inadvertently found myself following he tip down and with the curve, thus directing the strop leather onto and against the knife edge. Another error I made was stopping this up and off “edge trailing” strop motion while the strop was still contacting the sharpened knife edge. This stop motion could also cut the strops. I learned how to strop the tip portion in an up and off direction while stropping with a follow through stroke, not stopping till I had the strop up and off away from contact with the knife edge.
Between, stropping pressure, stropping direction and stropping a knife edges that may curve and change their shapes it takes repetition and practice. Dropping back 1 to 2 degrees is a helpful starting point to let you get successful results as you learn how to strop your edges. After you get the motion, the pressure and the technique down, tweak it how you will.
I like to recommend newbies watch this video. It explains the issue with stropping and rounding off the edge well. The producer is a long time W.E. user:
Marc
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Stropping technique is something that every user has to discover on their own. When I first started I was following the wisdom from the forum and reducing the angle by 2 degrees per side while using light pressure. The results were disappointing and I gave up on strops for a few months. When I decided to give them another try I figured there was nothing to lose with some experimentation (other than a good apex which I was confident I could restore with minimal effort) and I gave it more pressure. That worked much better and dramatically improved edge sharpness. I have since moved to using 1.5 degrees per side angle reduction and medium-heavy pressure when stropping.
I think it all comes down to a balance. If you can consistently apply light pressure then stropping at the same angle as sharpening is not a problem and will give you great results. If you’re a ham-fisted buffoon like myself you may fare better with some angle reduction and the application of some muscle work. Either way, experimentation is easy and a great edge can be restored with a few minutes of work if you don’t like the results.
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Hello again, thanks for all the great info. I ended up getting the 4/2 mic strops. I finally got around to sharpening my first knife, one of my 8 inch victorinox fibrox chefs knives. As I mentioned earlier, I was using an Apex knock off in the past and my angles did not match up so I started from scratch to reprofile the blade. I set the we130 at 15 degrees on both sides and worked a burr progressing from 100 grit through 1000 grit, verifying a new burr after each grit. After the stones I moved on to stropping. I moved the angle in by one degree and made a few passes on the 4 and then 2 micron grits.
My Results.. . I’m very happy. I was able to shave the hair of my arm and my stones are a long way from being broken in.
What grit would you all recommend to start with when touching up this blade? I will usually do this on a monthly basis or when the weight of the blade won’t break tomato skin. lol.
Thanks again for all the great info!
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It all depends on how damaged the blade is. I have found having and inexpensive USB microscope goes a long way to properly evaluate the condition of the blade. You would want to start with the highest grit that will get the job done in a reasonable period of time. Having the scope let you see your progress. If you are not getting anywhere, drop down to the next stone. I typically start with 800 but again, all depends on how badly my wife has beat up the edge..
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