Can’t get the bevels even!

[John Batinovich]

Hey all,

After using my WE for a few weeks, I’m able to get some pretty nice edges on most of my knives. My issue is that no matter what I do, the bevel on the right side of the knife, as I sit facing the machine, is always thicker that the one on the left. This applies to every knife I’ve tried so far; Spyderco, Kershaw, GEC, etc.

My thought is that the knife is not set perfectly perpendicular in the clamp, but I’ve checked that several times, and as far as I can tell the knives are properly clamped. They are certainly firmly clamped. I also use the angle cube to set the stones as accurately as possible. I’ve found that that can be trickier than it seems, but I get it eventually. Is it possible the machine is somehow assembled wrong? It came from the company assembled save for the board. It seems fine but maybe I’m missing something.

This is driving me nuts. I’m getting better at putting the edges I want on my knives (room for improvement though), but any help resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

John

[Ken Buzbee]

You’ve hit the two most common scenarios.

A. The blade thickness throwing off the angle. But if you’re using an angle cube, I can only assume it’s not this.

B. The blade not being truely vertical. Given “Not A then B 😉 ” it is most likely this, even if it looks true. Have you tried the trick of using a bit of foam tape or chamois? You set it in the jaw before mounting the blade.

It may sound weird but it makes perfect sense. Imagine your left jaw is vertical, you insert a blade (vertically) which at the spine touches both jaws and at the top of the clamp there is equal space on either side between the jaw and the blade. You tighten the top & bottom screws. Now the blade is pressed flat against the left jaw. In reality, it’s leaning to the left. It will feel perfectly solid but it’s not truely plumb. By putting a bit of material that somewhat compresses between each jaw and the face of the blade, you help hold it plumb.

If your blade is truely plumb, I have no idea….

Ken

[Samuel Gabriel]

There is a third reason for uneven bevels….
If A and B are ruled out, then it means your right arm is stronger than your left and you need to grind more metal off the left side. As you grind more off the left (after the edges have met in the middle), the left bevel will get bigger and the right bevel will get smaller, until they match. When the bevels match you have centred the blade and can then move on to the 200 grit and resume grinding with alternating strokes.

[Ken Buzbee]

Interesting. I never would have thought of that…

Ken

[Mikedoh]

When you are trying to first form your burr, are you starting on the right side and working till a burr is formed, and doing nothing to the left side?

If so, this may be the problem. This will cause more metal to be removed from the right side. You want to do roughly the same number of strokes per side to keep things even.

Just a thought

[Samuel Gabriel]

I found I do it a bit, because of the technique I use. I use the 100’s to do all of the edge setting and profiling of the blade, then work my way up the rest of the grits just for enhancing the finish of the edge and bevel of course. On a knife I haven’t ever previously set, I grind just one side till I get a burr one the other side. Then I do the other side till I get a burr on the first side. Then I check the depth of the bevel on both sides and adjust as necessary till they are even, then move on to 200’s and start alternating strokes. That way I get a perfect finish and razor sharp every time, and relatively quickly, depending on how bad the blade was to start with. I picked that method up from tips gleaned watching YouTube videos of Clay doing customer’s knives.

[Ken Buzbee]

Got’cha. When I have a long way to go (major reprofile) I’ll alternate 100 left 100 right. As I get closer I’ll drop to 50, then 20 then alternating from then on. I don’t tend to use much pressure so the “stronger arm” thing never occurred to me.

Ken

[cbwx34]

In addition to the above, check this thread also, a similar problem was described… turned out the clamp was bent.

[Mark76]

It’s a FAFQ! :cheer:

Look here for more info and similar questions/answers: http://wickededgeusa.com/wiki/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Forum_Questions

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Geocyclist]

Hey John, welcome to the forum.

Are the bevels even before you start? And you are making the right side larger during sharpening?

Or is the knife that way to begin with?

[John Batinovich]

Hey all,

Thanks for all the replies! To answer a few of the above questions, I am right handed and I have used some material to fill the gaps, especially on knives like the Spyderco FFG’s. I have some thin neoprene with an adhesive backing that works quite well for that purpose. Also, my clamps do not appear to be bent in any way.

I think I’ve come to a couple of conclusions since my original post; I’ve been relying too much on the clamp to get the blade perfectly plumb. I was also having difficulty discerning that by looking over the blade where it was clamped in. It all seemed to blend together and my 51 year old eyes were having some trouble. What I started doing yesterday was to eyeball the blade ahead of the clamp and that made a big difference. It was much easier to see and I think there was some play side to side, which would cause the uneven bevels. I also think I was applying to much pressure with my right hand, so I’m focusing on that as well.

I’ve done two more knives since yesterday, and both have been much better. Not perfect, but better. Now that I know what to look for, it should get easier moving forward.

Thanks again!

~John

[John Batinovich]

Hey Geocyclist,

On a few knives the bevels were uneven to begin with, but they wouldn’t even out like I expected them to. On knives that did have even bevels to begin with, the right side bevel would always end up larger. You can see from my post above that I think I’ve sorted it out. I think the biggest thing is that I need to pay more attention to all the things going on, and not relying so much on the machine to just clamp the blade in perfectly plumb every time. I’ve been so focused on the blade edge and reaching the apex that I got a little case of tunnel vision. Hopefully things will improve from here on out.

Thanks for the reply,

~John

[Ken Buzbee]

Glad you’re getting it sorted, John. WEPS is a great tool. It isn’t perfect (read – fool proof 😉 ) but it isn’t rocket science either. Most things that go wrong can be logiced through if you just step back and look at what’s going on. And of course, most of us here have travelled the same paths so we can short cut the process more times than not.

BTW – I so get the “eyes” comment. 😉 Some days I can’t even follow the stone down the bevel. I’m learning to rely on “feel”

Ken

[Bill Sutherland]

I’ve experienced the same problem. One thing I’ve done is to take my angle cube and zero it out on the WE base of the clamp and then attach it to the blade. I measure the right side of the blade and then the left side. I never have come out with the same measurement on each side. I’m not exactly sure why this would be and I haven’t tried putting a chamois or something in the clamp yet but I will.

[John Batinovich]

Hi Ken,

Yes, “improving” eyesight is yet another benefit of getting a little older. Doing it by feel sounds great. I’ve given up for now trying to work the stones like Clay does. 😛

Bill, I also zero the cube out on the base before every sharpening session. It usually stays at zero from the previous time out, but sometimes it does require zeroing. One thing I have noticed is that once I get the stones set with the cube, they are rarely at the same point on the rail. It’s one reason I started turning the arms around and relying solely on the cube to set the angles. It’s a very handly little tool and I can see using for other tasks as well.

[Author]

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