A New Old Guy
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I guess at this moment I’m the newest guy here. I have a WE 120 that a friend of mine bought before he passed away. After helping his widow sell off a lot of his tools and equipment for a fair price she pulled out this never used knife sharpener. She knew I owned a lot of knives and insisted I take it for the help and comfort I gave her during that trying time. I couldn’t find any directions for using it so I had a grandson see what he could find out about it on the computer. He found the website, this forum and a bunch of video’s for me to watch and I think I’m ready to give it a try. I bought some real cheap Walmart kitchen knives to practice on but wanted to ask if there is anything I should know or do before attempting to use it for the first time. I have yet to learn the sharpening nomenclature, so cut me some slack if I don’t completely understand an answer any questions I may ask. I guess I should mention I’ve never sharpened anything but a pencil in my 76 years on this earth.
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Welcome Chuck!
If you’ve watched a few of the Wicked Edge videos and have read the instructions then you should be all set. My advice is to take things slowly on your first few knives. This will help you see how the different variables affect your results and will also help prevent you from accidentally cutting yourself. You are welcome to ask questions as they arise.
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Welcome to the Forum Chuck. Safety First!! Your working with an exposed knife edge. Maybe buy yourself some cut free gloves or W.E. Safety Shields. There are cut resistant gloves available from many different sources.
Ask your grand son to teach you how to search up some Wicked Edge Videos on YouTube if you don’t know how to already. There are a ton of them worth viewing. Clay Allison, the owner and innovator of the Wicked Edge Sharpeners has a bunch worth watching. Here’s a link to the W.E. forum videos.
One thing you should know….there is a break-in period for the sharpening stones. They are very rough when new or hardly used. It takes some knife sharpening to get them broken in. Usually, at least, 8 to 10 knives. Using the Wicked Edge is easy, it is not simply, but it’s not that hard, either. There is a bit of a learning curve for everyone, even the best of us. Take your time, and be patient. Enjoy the journey.
We’re here to help!
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)3 users thanked author for this post.
Hi Chuck, I am not all that far ahead of you and had bought the WE120 as well. One item that does not come with it but you really do need is the angle Cube. The numbers on the slide are just a close estimate and are rarely correct as the height of the knife above the vice will change the angle. Good luck and enjoy!
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I have the safety shields and the cut resistant gloves both of which are new
send me a pm (private message) with shipping details and you are more then welcome to have them
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Hi Chuck, I am not all that far ahead of you and had bought the WE120 as well. One item that does not come with it but you really do need is the angle Cube. The numbers on the slide are just a close estimate and are rarely correct as the height of the knife above the vice will change the angle. Good luck and enjoy!
To say that you need an angle cube is a bit too strong in my opinion. While it is true that the angle markings on the sharpener itself are rarely going to correspond to the exact angle on the bevels of your knife, they still correlate directly with the bevel angle and allow for repeatable sharpening. You only need the angle cube if you want to know the exact angle of the bevels on your knife or if you want to use the micro adjustments to finely control the angle.
With all of that said, I have one and do highly recommend it as a useful accessory.
That was what I had thought when I bought the WE. If you add the micro adjusters in the mix and if they are not locked in the same place they were prior, you are going to be off. Also, on mine, there was almost 1 degree difference left to right with the micro adjusters all the way in and locked. I think this is due to the way the vice locks on the base as it is not flush with the bottom block making it farther from the right rod then the left. The purchase of the cube verified the difference. I finally went the route of turning the bar around so not to have the detentes any more, locking the micros and depending on the angle cube. With the bar turned around and the micros locked adding some lock tight, I have not had the thumb screws or micros come loss since doing this..
So no you don’t Really need it, but if accuracy is the goal then I think you really do, at least with the WE 120..
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