2016 Pro Pack 1

Steve wrote:

Thanks! Aside from any potential health risk, I assume the issue is that shavings could get into the ball joints and damage the mechanism. Do most of you cover the ball joints, add washers to the guide rods, add magnets to the base, soap up your stones, or just use the WE as shipped? I’ve seen a lot of posts and videos about this issue, but there seems to be a lack of consensus. Clay had one video recommending soap on the stones, but in no other video have I seen him using that technique. 😉

I cover my ball joints. I always wear a N95 face mask when sharpening knives. And I only use soap and water when I am reprofiling a blade or using the first stone during sharpening. I don’t use washers or magnets, I just vacuum the vise every now and then. But I tape up my vise with painters blue tape to help keep trash out of the inner workings of the vise.

3 users thanked author for this post.

NotSharpEnuff, Brewbear, Steve

Steve, I’ll try to keep this succinct.  We have a stably clamped knife and abrasive sharpening stones.  There are contact patches on both the knife edge bevels and the sharpening stones.  The contact patch is where the two touch at a given moment for that position, on each of them, as the6y pass across each other as we sharpen the knives.  As the stones move across the bevels, irrespective of the set angles or the sharpening strokes employed, the contact patches move along the stones and along the bevels, simultaneously.  The size and the shape of these two contact patches, the stone’s and the bevel’s, change as these two surfaces slide across each other to different positions along the stones and along the bevels as we sharpen the knives.

It is incumbent on you the W.E. user to maintain full flat, complete and consistent contact between the stones and the bevels as the two pass across each other.

It doesn’t matter the grit, the bevel angle settings, the sharpening stroke being employed, none of these.  To sharpen the knife well all we need to do is maintain this flat complete and consistent contact of these two contact patches as the stone’s contact patch slides across the bevel’s contact patch.  No matter what we are doing.

Each and every sharpening stroke is just a way, a method, or a direction to slide the sharpening stones across the bevels.  Each and every sharpening stroke direction whether it is edge leading, (down and onto the bevel), edge trailing, (up and off or away from the knife edge), round and around on the bevels, scrubbing up and down across the bevels or sweeping across the bevel’s length, doesn’t matter as long as it’s done well.  Don’t get me wrong, the stroke style does contribute to the sharpening process and each stroke style yields it’s benefits.  But what really matters is that the two contact patches, the sharpening stone’s and the knife bevel’s are kept in complete full contact as they move across each other, with consistent pressure, while utilizing these different style sharpening strokes.  As long as this contact is flat and consistent the sharpening stones will grind the bevels at the set angle, and ultimately smooth and polish the bevels as it sharpens the knife.

The pressure applied, (firm or light) and the sharpening stroke used do affect the way the knife will be sharpened.  This sharpening stroke order or routine that you choose to employ, that is, what you string together in a sequence are up to you.  This preferred sequence is what we’ll call your sharpening routine, your technique.  It’s up to you through practice and repetition to decide the sequence or routine of sharpening strokes that gives you the sharpness and polished results you are seeking.

Ultimately, to achieve these results only requires that whichever stroke you use, while using it, that the two contact patches stay in flat constant and consistent contact as the stones slide across the bevels and the bevels slide under the stones.  Even at the knife tip.

As the stones pass off the knife tip, under the applied pressure, there is a tendency for the user to roll or push the stone in towards the knife’s centerline, as it slides across the knife tip.  It’s is recommended that a conscious effort be made to follow through with the flat consistent sharpening stroke as the stone slides off the knife tip avoiding the inward push.  Another good method is to lift the stone up and off or away from the bevel during the follow through to avoid rolling the sharpened tip.

It’s on the W.E. user with sharpening practice and experience to determine the best applied pressure and the best direction to move the two contact patches relative to each other.  The amount and quality of effort extended, the consistency of your efforts, the attention to details and the order, or the sequence, of the sharpening strokes will determine the outcome and the sharpness of the knife edge.

Most of the knives we sharpen have two sides and two bevels,  (although not every knife).  To achieve the best sharpened edge, every thing we do to one side of the knife, that side’s bevel, must be done similarly in a balanced manner, to the other knife side’s bevel.  This is why many sharpening strokes are done alternatingly, side to side.  Where these two bevels intersect is the knife edge or the apex.  The sharpness or keenness of the knife edge is determined by the precision of this intersection at the apex.  Balancing your efforts side to side produces a sharper knife edge, and more even appearing bevels.

The balance of sharpening effort done to each knife side bevel, the angle of these applied bevels, the order and routine of the sharpening strokes and the sequence of abrasive grits employed, the effort expended with each grit, and your attention to details, all contribute to the knife’s sharpness and polished appearance.  Knowing what to use when and with each knife and steel type can be a learned or experiential process.  I like to call this the “art of sharpening”.  Until you gain that experience simply start coarse and progressively move to finer grits as you try to make the bevels smooth and polished so they intersect precisely at your sharpened knife edge.

5 users thanked author for this post.

JimR, Mike, Steve, 000Robert, NotSharpEnuff

I check for a burr with every grit change on both sides. I use a piece of paper towel to check for the burr. If there is a burr, it will catch the paper towel or feel a resistance going across the burr. Of course, if there’s no burr the paper towel will just slide on off of the edge.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

A wider photo, from further away, so we could see how the knife is clamped in the vise, would be helpful.

A knife that’s clamped, positioned higher in the jaws will allow the end brackets with the guide rods to be position on the square bar further out and away from the vise/knife center-line, to achieve the same angle setting.  Because of Pythagorean Theorem, as any one leg of the triangle is increased,  The other legs have to increase proportionally.  That should in turn move the stone further off of the knife sides.

Also, scratched knife sides when the stone’s top edge hasn’t been slid down below the knife edge may suggest the bevel angle setting is so acute that it’s setting the stone almost parallel to the knife sides.  Close enough to scratch the knife sides.

Also, dragging your finger tips that may have the stone’s abrasives on them, across the knife sides as you hold the stones while you are sharpening can also impart side scratches.  The wispy, curved appearing scratches I see on the knife side suggests that’s a possibilty. I wouldn’t expect that to scratch through tape applied to the knife sides, though.

Last, I would expect you to be able to sharpen that knife with the standard rod length if the knife was clamped more centered.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

I look at that knife blade, in it’s entirety, considering it as though its a gentle curve from tip to heel.  I try to clamp it centered to the curve.

I also imagine a straight line running between the knife’s tip and knife edge at the heel. Then I clamp the knife roughly centered, to the curved edge, fore and aft while I rotate the handle slightly down so the imagined line is horizontal roughly parallel to the vise’s flat tips.

For the 14.5° angle setting you seek, I’d clamp the knife up high in the vise, to use the top depth key pin holes.  The spine will most likely rest just on the rear pin as the spine is tilted slightly up off the forward pin as the knife is rotated handle down around the rear pin.

In summary, I clamp it so it’s positioned high up in the vise to make an imaginary line, from tip to heel, roughly horizontal or parallel to the top of the jaw line, with the blade’s length split, centered to the jaws.

2 users thanked author for this post.

JimR, Steve