Another new guy on the Edge

[Ed1955]

I was given a Pro Pack II with the Gen III upgrade pack by my great friend who of course had to have the Gen III Pro.  I’ve been learning for about two months now and on a 1 to 10 learning curve I’m about a 6 and learning more everyday, especially with this forum.  To sum up what I’ve learned so far, I look at it in four stages:

1. Basic set up of the system
2. Correctly clamping the knife
3. Achieve wanted angle and cutting
4. Polishing

Step 4 is where the psychosis comes in.  Getting a knife sharp is as easy as it can be for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made a few green horn mistakes but learned from every one of them.  I never stop learning.  This is an expensive hobby in that you’re constantly wanting new knives winding up with a collection of jaw dropping examples you may never use but instead hand down to siblings.  Polishing can be maddening but what I’m trying to learn is to never go on to the next stone until I’m sure all of the scratches are from the current stone and not from previous heavier stones.  Correct me if this approach is incorrect please!  When I reach the ceramics (1200-1600) the blade comes to life and at one time I thought this is as polished as I could want which of course is where the real OCD starts.  I’ve used the .5 and 1.0 leather strops and paste and they do make a difference until you use magnification.  There are always previous scratches from previous stones or ceramics.
Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  Don’t get me wrong, the level of polishing I have already acheived will absolutely blow the layman away but certainly not many of you folks.

Respectfully,

Ed1955

2 users thanked author for this post.

wickededge, Gib Curry

[Mark76]

Welcome to the forum, Ed! Great you’re enjoying your WEPS.

When it comes to polishing, I think many people use the WEPS stropping paste after the ceramic stones. I create my own “poor man’s mirror edge” by using the 5/3.5 micron stropping paste on a leather strop after the ceramic stones.

I used to achieve my “real mirror edge” using the 5K/10K Choseras after the ceramic stones. (I think many people prefer to start with the 2K/3K Choseras after the ceramic stones.)

But recently I discovered the diamond films. They work great! Very fast, easy to use and, unlike whetstones, very clean. I wrote a blog post on it.

Success with your mirror edges!

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

2 users thanked author for this post.

dulledge, wickededge

[wickededge]

Ed,

You might want to try the glass platens and diamond lapping films, specifically the 6 & 3 micron films. They’re perfect after the ceramics and before the strops at cleaning up any remaining scratches. Of course if you have some deeper scratches from your coarse diamonds, those will show up when you start getting to a higher polish and you’ll have to go back to the finer diamond plates and remove those scratches.

-Clay

1 user thanked author for this post.

dulledge

[Ed1955]

Clay, I am in awe of your response and advice. I can only hope your business grows to blinding succsess and prosperity. I am a fan and customer for life.
With Great Respect,
Ed

1 user thanked author for this post.

dulledge

[Author]

Posts