Can’t sharpen small knives. Example- Case mini trapper
- This topic has 9 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 02/16/2025 at 8:58 am by
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Welcome to the forum Ronnie.
Some blade shapes are challenging and difficult to clamp and sharpen with any Wicked Edge models. Even using the LAA it can be difficult.
I would not attribute your user difficulties to a phoney WE. Never heard any issues over a) the years.
Your Case knife is one of those situations where using a Tormek Small Knife Holder may be needed. This holds the knife offset by the handle.
There are lots of work-arounds and accessories I discuss and use for these situations at this group, for Wicked Edge Users: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/F1baK8jyuCHbtv9d/
Marc
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I know I’m responding to an old thread but I just joined the forum, it was top of the list, and relevant to me. Just thought I’d drop my experience here in case it’s useful to the OP or anyone else. I bought a WE Pro Gen 4 directly from WE with the LAA. It arrived yesterday. I’ve spent a couple hours with it and sharpened 4 knives (counting the practice knife), so I’m still a newbie. I primarily bought the WE for sharpening kitchen, hunting, and larger EDC knives but I also have some Swiss Army Knives (“SAK”) that I’ve carried daily for years. I tried one of those SAKs in the LAA and it took quite a bit of fiddling to get in clamped so the stones weren’t hitting the LAA. Here’s what worked for me and what I did was probably overkill..
- Clamp just a few millimeters of the spine of the blade in the jaws. Basically the bare minimum to hold the knife secure.
- Use the digital angle finder that came with the LAA, I zeroed it to the base of the WE then set it on the edge of the clamped blade (parallel to the edge) and allowed it to lean slightly against one of the upright rods (yes, it was sketchy but it worked), loosened one screw in the clamp so I could tilt the blade to be parallel to the base front to back (0 degrees +/- 0.1), re-tightened the clamping screw
- Put a piece of masking tape on each side of the clamp so I could ensure the diamond stones weren’t rubbing without damaging the clamp (probably not a big deal if the clamps get a few scratches but, hey, this thing is still brand new!)
- From there, I followed the normal procedure except that I started with 800 grit instead of 100 (small knife, soft-ish steel, already sort of sharp) and went up to 2200 grit
The results weren’t great for the SAK. The bevel looks more uniform than ever, which is great, but the actual sharpness of it is no better than I get using the bottom of a coffee mug or edge of a car window. Won’t shave hair off of my arm at all. However, I sharpened one of our middle-of-the-road kitchen knives to 2200 grit (no strop) and I could, in a pinch, use it to shave my face now so, the WE works great. I suspect more practice with small knives will yield better results for them but they are definitely not WE’s strong suit.
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I bought a Tormek SVM-00 small knife holder to sharpen small blades. It’s a lot quicker and easier.
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The Stabil-Rizer also can be used to mount short small knives effectively on the WE.
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I too am new to Wicked Edge. Purchased a Gen 4 Pro without the micro adjust (boy I wished I had included the micro adjust). Have 30 or so old kitchen knives and pocket knives. I put a chinese pocket knife (blade 5/8″at its widest part in the clamp and cranked the bevel up 21 degrees and it cleared the jaws. The jaws held the knife securely. I am learning as I go. Costly mistakes like too much pressure on 100 grit resulting in buying another on. Hope as I learn I can be of help to others. Jime
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Welcome to the W.E. Forum, Jim Egerton. You’re at the right places to learn what you can between this forum and the FaceBook Groups!
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)1 user thanked author for this post.
Howdy, Jim! Welcome to the Wicked Edge forum.
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