Advanced Alignment Tool

[wickededge]

Hey guys,

This isn’t really a product announcement, more just an attempt to gauge interest in a new accessory. Curtis dreamed this up a while back and we’re finally getting around to doing something about it. This new accessory would replace the current alignment guide with a transparent grid that allows you to align the tip with different grid coordinates so you can easily repeat any tilt to the blade you use when finding the sweet spot. Please check out the photo of the crude prototype below and let me know your thoughts:

Attachments:

• 20141215_112335.jpg

-Clay

[Zamfir]

Very interesting. I think it is something that would be useful to a point.

This would be great for easy repeat-ability on knifes. But you would still have to find the sweet spot.

I am now trying the trick with the piece of tape and a straight line on a paddle and keeping the paddle resting against the base move the paddle through its arc along the edge and adjust the angle of the blade so that the line in the tape is the same distance along the arc..or as close as you can get keeping in mine the farther above the tape line the ever so slightly thinner the angle will be.

After that then would you then use this guide to record settings, then next time bang..yer in business with only using your angle cube to set the angles..

[Josh]

I think it is a super cool idea, and I think people would appreciate it for sure! Personally I don’t think I would use it as I don’t use the normal alignment guide right now but do what Eric is talking about with every knife. Using this method I get extremely close and it offers a lot of repeatability.

[JS]

Very interesting. I think it is something that would be useful to a point.

This would be great for easy repeat-ability on knifes. But you would still have to find the sweet spot.

I am now trying the trick with the piece of tape and a straight line on a paddle and keeping the paddle resting against the base move the paddle through its arc along the edge and adjust the angle of the blade so that the line in the tape is the same distance along the arc..or as close as you can get keeping in mine the farther above the tape line the ever so slightly thinner the angle will be.

After that then would you then use this guide to record settings, then next time bang..yer in business with only using your angle cube to set the angles..

Not sure I follow. Is there a video of this trick anywhere? I’m kinda indifferent on the new alignment accessory though I appreciate the always forward thinking. If I care about the repeatability of one of my knives, I usually just make a note that I tilted it a certain way. It’s not exact, but it’s close.

[Geocyclist]

Very nice 😆

My thoughts about some reason why this is better than just being big and 2D:

It is clear: you can see the knife and photo graph it to remember how to set it up next time.
It is clear: you can see how far away each part of the edge, is, tip, belly, flats, to help find the sweet spot. (I have pretty much aligned all my blades parallel to the base because I don’t want to fool with tilting in the vice because of the problem of repeating the same setup).

I would definitely use this. I would also use the old alignment gage when mounting the blade parallel to the vice.

[Zamfir]

Very interesting. I think it is something that would be useful to a point.

This would be great for easy repeat-ability on knifes. But you would still have to find the sweet spot.

I am now trying the trick with the piece of tape and a straight line on a paddle and keeping the paddle resting against the base move the paddle through its arc along the edge and adjust the angle of the blade so that the line in the tape is the same distance along the arc..or as close as you can get keeping in mine the farther above the tape line the ever so slightly thinner the angle will be.

After that then would you then use this guide to record settings, then next time bang..yer in business with only using your angle cube to set the angles..

Not sure I follow. Is there a video of this trick anywhere? I’m kinda indifferent on the new alignment accessory though I appreciate the always forward thinking. If I care about the repeatability of one of my knives, I usually just make a note that I tilted it a certain way. It’s not exact, but it’s close.[/quote]

Yessir.. Josh done taught me this trick via this video:

Do not get confused with the perpendicular reference. That got me thinking too much where I had to have the blade edge parallel with the line..no..you keep the paddle at the same height on the rod and get the distance the same from the line all along the blade. Maka sense?

[tcmeyer]

Re the new transparent grid sheet… I’d love to put that one in my bag of tricks. Right now, I use a small digital camera to photograph each knife and how it’s mounted in my vise. I also record in my log the length of the blade, the distance from the tip to the vise and whether it’s mounted in the upper of lower key positions. For special situations, like a very narrow blade, I note that the mounting height is “high,” or that the tip is held in the notch of the tip holder. This provides a reference allowing me to duplicate the previous sharpening position. The grid would just make that even easier. Would be nice to have a frame with a key which locks it to a known position on the vise.

[Mark76]

That looks like a really good idea! I’d use it! (I now already use a transparent ruler instead of the WE one.)

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[wickededge]

Would be nice to have a frame with a key which locks it to a known position on the vise.

Can you elaborate on this?

-Clay

[JS]

Very interesting. I think it is something that would be useful to a point.

This would be great for easy repeat-ability on knifes. But you would still have to find the sweet spot.

I am now trying the trick with the piece of tape and a straight line on a paddle and keeping the paddle resting against the base move the paddle through its arc along the edge and adjust the angle of the blade so that the line in the tape is the same distance along the arc..or as close as you can get keeping in mine the farther above the tape line the ever so slightly thinner the angle will be.

After that then would you then use this guide to record settings, then next time bang..yer in business with only using your angle cube to set the angles..

Not sure I follow. Is there a video of this trick anywhere? I’m kinda indifferent on the new alignment accessory though I appreciate the always forward thinking. If I care about the repeatability of one of my knives, I usually just make a note that I tilted it a certain way. It’s not exact, but it’s close.[/quote]

Yessir.. Josh done taught me this trick via this video:

Do not get confused with the perpendicular reference. That got me thinking too much where I had to have the blade edge parallel with the line..no..you keep the paddle at the same height on the rod and get the distance the same from the line all along the blade. Maka sense?[/quote]
Yes, this is a very cool trick and thanks for sharing that video. I’ll have to keep this in mind when doing FFG Spydercos. Seems like it could be easier than trying to clamp the blade normally and worry about it rocking, then the math involved with the cube (especially on smaller blades where it can be difficult to find enough area to place the cube against the side of the blade while in the clamp) to make sure everything is centered.

I assume that you’re just eyeballing every time when you are reclamping the same knife since you aren’t using a depth key?

[Josh]

Yeah I am eyeballing it to make sure the knife edge is perfectly (or as close as possible) perpendicular to the same spot on the stone which basically tells me it is the same distance from the pivot point of the rod. That combined with the angle cube gets almost perfect repeatability.

[tcmeyer]

Would be nice to have a frame with a key which locks it to a known position on the vise.

Can you elaborate on this?[/quote]

Sorry for not replying sooner Clay… I was thinking about maybe having the grit indexed to the four key locating holes near the top of the vise.

[Author]

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