Digital angle measurement
- This topic has 37 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 02/12/2021 at 9:16 am by
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Welcome to the Forum! I measure at each grit change myself. I use my Klein Tools 935DAG just because I like it. It says it has an accuracy at 0.2° as well. It has been working great. I just finished my 3rd Grade A military surplus M7 Bayonet a while ago. After I got the edges reprofiled with my 100 grit stone, I switched to the 200 grit and releveled to 28dps. I ran the sharpie down the edge and then did my up and down grinding with the 200 grit stones for a couple of passes. The 200 grit stones removed the sharpie marks perfectly all the way down to the tips. It seems to me that the 0.2° tolerance is plenty good enough. But there’s nothing wrong with more accuracy. I have not tried that DXL that you mentioned.
The Dxl360S works well for me. I don’t know whether it’s better then your TB2. It does have better specs then all the other cubes I’ve used before it. It’s also is multiaxis.
I check angles and microadjust with every grit…just my preference.
I suggest for accuracy you always position your angle cube on the stones the same, everytime you use it. Also place the stone against the knife edge the same way, positioned the same, every time you check the angle. Keep everything consistent.
Only zero out the angle cube once at the beginning of your sharpening session. Sharpen only on a sturdy, solid stationary table that doesn’t move or vibrate with floor movement, (like with older wood floors).
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)2 users thanked author for this post.
Sent you a pm; plus here’s the link to tcmeyer’s post regarding correcting for blade lean (which my Gen 3 still has…) https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/mounting-ffg-blades-in-a-we120-gen-1-vise/
I want to make this point clear…we’re working with relative angles. The bevel angles we apply to our knife edges are relative to the zeroed out angle cube where it’s positioned and placed on the W.E. base. So keeping everything the same, consistent, doing it exactly the same way, time and time again, is what’s important. Applying the same relative angle based off the reading on your digital cube, to both knife sides and continuing to maintain this same relative angle stone after stone throughout the entire sharpening and polishing process is key.
A large contributor to sharpening inconsistency is our finger hold position on the paddles and the pressure we apply. How we hold the paddles and how heavy the pressure we use effects the position the stone work is applied to the bevel, that is the scratch patterns. If we keep moving our finger placement on the handles it’ll change where the stone scratches on the bevel. If we press hard it’ll apply deeper heavier scratches. Concentrate on what you’re doing with your hands. Strive for consistency. In time it’ll become second nature.
Many of us work with magnified visual aids. I prefer a USB microscope. Through visual inspection of your applied bevels with time and experience you’ll be able to recognize the changes it makes in the appearance and position of the scratch pattern as you change pressure and finger positions. You’ll learn to use this to your advantage. You’ll also be able to recognize if your stone angle is off a little.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “allow the slight play in the hole the guide rod goes in”? Everything that’s intended to be tight should be used tight. We don’t want to allow any play where it really shouldn’t be. We want to hold and use our stones in a manner that’s keeping them stable and positioned as they slide up and down the guide rods while they are contacting the knife edge, consistently.
Realize, when we begin working with very accurate and precise digital cubes and inspecting with digital microscopes we are introducing and using a higher level of precision and inspection. Therefore we can see any inconsistencies and we have the ability to make adjustments to correct for these. We are in essence setting the bar higher and requiring our need to do and produce better quality results.
That’s the trade off. What you don’t or can’t see and what you can’t measure you don’t find fault with and you won’t want to fix it. Precise measurements and precise quality results takes more time, more effort and more attention to details. Whether it’s really worth it, I wonder??
Many of my knives are hand forged and hand made. They are hand sharpened with free hand held sharpening stones. New, out-of-the-box most cut impressively. They are sharpened with far less precision or accuracy then the results we can produce with the W. E. Is it worth the extra effort we use? Who knows. I guess we just do it because we can.
P.S. I too use the sounds the stones make as they cross the knife edge, as an indicator for the quality of my stone work. The pitch changes slightly as I allow the stone’s position to falter.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)
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