1st day with the WE

[Steve]

Hi guys,

Got my WE today….wow!

Started off as you guys suggested on some cheaper knifes to practice on and bed the stones in etc. Got on really great with razor sharp result, every knife is getting better and better.

One little query though I don’t understand and would like advise please.

When I strop the knife at the end,,what I have been doing is like you guys suggested, say I sharpen at 20 degrees I drop the angle to 18 degrees to run the strops on so that the finished edge is untouched left toothy.

The problem is this seems to really blunten the knife when paper testing on news paper???

Any ideals or suggestions guys?

Apart from that, this kit is bloody awesome and I love it, somewhat therapeutic. 😉

Thanks
Steve.

[Mikedoh]

I defer to the more experienced stroppers, but it sounds like you are getting a burr from stropping.
You could try some very light edge leading passes with whatever your last used stone was, set at your pre stropping angle.

[Mark76]

Hi 247sniper,

Congratulations! Enjoy your WEPS!

As to your question on stropping… It’s a bit weird. It shouldn’t happen at 18 degrees.

Getting a burr from stropping is pretty hard, but if you use a lot of pressure you might still be rounding your edge.

I’d first say lower your angle to 17 degrees. Then you’re really sure rounding cannot happen. As Mike said, use low pressure. If it then still happens… let us know. If it doesn’t, raise your angle to 18 degrees again and try again.

Can you tell us a bit more about your stropping process? Are you using leather strops? What stropping compound?

It could also be something that has nothing to do with stropping. It might be that there is something not entirely good with your sharpening, for example that you end with a burr. This may initially seem very sharp, but by stropping you remove the burr.

To prevent ending your sharpening with a burr, make sure you use alternating sweeping stones when finishing with each of your stones. Also finish with low pressure. (High pressure is never good, perhaps with the exception when you want to set the bevel.)

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Steve]

Thanks guys for you advise.

I m using the strops with the pro kit 1, from memory they are 5 and 3.5 microns. Basically what I did was finish all the stone cutting/polishing stages with alternate strokes, cleaned the blade and went onto the strops doing alternate strokes from the beginning through the different level of strops.

I tackled my Spyderco earlier this morning with fantastic results, I finished by changeling the angle from 20 to 18 degrees for the strops and give it just 20 alternate srtokes (10each side). It’s looks pretty polished and is razor sharp!

Any further thought guys?

I’ll keep practicing on my other knives today 😉

Thanks again for your help?

Steve

[wickededge]

Mark is right about pressure – stropping should be done with very light pressure. He’s also right about making sure that you are using light pressure and alternating strokes when you’re in the finishing stages of sharpening. For what it’s worth, Curtis and I did an experiment in which we lowered the stropping angle by 4 degrees from the sharpening angle. Even with light pressure and only a few strokes, we observed some slight rounding of the edge under high magnification. Granted, it was very minimal but it did illustrate just how pliable the strops can be and why light pressure is so important.

For my EDC knives, I’ve taken to sharpening, lowering the angle by 2 degrees and stropping, then going back to the sharpening angle and doing a few, very light strokes with the finest stone I used to finish the knife, adding back in some micro-teeth at the very edge.

-Clay

[Mikedoh]

Clay, when you go back to your finest stone and original angle after stropping, do you use edge leading strokes (that’s what I tend to do thinking it will eliminate any burr)?

[wickededge]

Clay, when you go back to your finest stone and original angle after stropping, do you use edge leading strokes (that’s what I tend to do thinking it will eliminate any burr)?

Yes, I mostly use edge leading strokes.

-Clay

[Author]

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