Following a single scratch on a convex edge

[dulledge]

Anonymous wrote:

Just another point to my other forum participation. I’m on several automotive forums, one which I have over 30,000 threads or posts, another 15,000 and am on two photo forums both with over 10,000 posts and threads, and several years to a high end wrist watch forum with 2,000 posts and threads. incidentally, people with my same amount tenure in these other forums have similar participation levels…. some with much more.

Active forums often discuss differences like Canon vs Nikon or Mustang vs Camaro. These discussions generate a lot of flames and traffic. WE forum has one brand products and, I guess, it is why many here ask beginners’ questions and then gone. Also I suspect that high traffic forums employ sockpuppet accounts, shill, trolling, flamebait, etc. Which photo gear do you have, BTW? 

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Frans, CliffCurry, Josh

[Anonymous]

I am teetering on the possibility that while everyone is very nice here, even in the face of a Newbie who could be just a troll. I’m trying to offer feedback, but also weighing the possibilities of just being a wet blanket to a forum that does not want or need my perspective. I know I have been more negative than positive in most cases… part of that is because I just don’t get it.. maybe I never will… the one positive thing is I am very happy with the WE, and have learned a good bit about knives and enjoying those knives with a new found appreciation.

BTW while I’m writing this , I just finished  sharpening a cheap knife… its like a razor but does not hold an edge…its my therapy.

[Anonymous]

dulledge wrote:

EvilTwin wrote:

Just another point to my other forum participation. I’m on several automotive forums, one which I have over 30,000 threads or posts, another 15,000 and am on two photo forums both with over 10,000 posts and threads, and several years to a high end wrist watch forum with 2,000 posts and threads. incidentally, people with my same amount tenure in these other forums have similar participation levels…. some with much more.

Active forums often discuss differences like Canon vs Nikon or Mustang vs Camaro. These discussions generate a lot of flames and traffic. WE forum has one brand products and, I guess, it is why many here ask beginners’ questions and then gone. Also I suspect that high traffic forums employ sockpuppet accounts, shill, trolling, flamebait, etc. Which photo gear do you have, BTW?

Active forums are fun… in those forums, there are some trouble makers but they do not last long… with 350 supporting vendors all paying between 100 and 300 dollars a month to have a captive audience.. security is very high, and there are paid administrators and an abundance of bandwidth and so are the friendships… in all of these forums we talk about things that are not only dedicated to the prime purpose of the forum. I literally have hundreds of posts and threads about cooking, pictures of meals that I’ve made..in order to forum a family of personalities that people want to become a part of the fun. we share pictures of our kids and grand kids, pictures of our  pets… and even cross talk about our hobbies. There are lots of kids in lots of forums where testosterone fuels the immaturity… That why I thought this forum would be filled with more mature adults with the financial resources to buy into a WE system…

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Mark76, dulledge

[tcmeyer]

This is a niche forum, limited to a very narrow group of participants.  Of that narrow group, I suspect only a small percentage are comfortable expressing themselves in a written format.  I’m sure that any comparable forum will have the same type of participation.  I regularly communicate with a group of about 240 high school classmate individuals and I am very frequently struck by the fact that most of them simply cannot write more than a single sentence without revealing their inability to write coherently.  This includes people I consider to be reasonably intelligent and well educated.  They are intelligent enough to recognize their limitations and are therefor reticent in expressing themselves in such a public forum.  As a result, those of us who are comfortable in such a forum are inclined to dominate the conversation.

Yes, we have a group of silent participants.  Just because they choose not to join in the debate doesn’t mean that they are not gleaning the most from the conversation.  If we decided to just shut up for a while, I doubt this would draw them out of their shells.  Meanwhile, I am content to share the bandwidth with those few who are willing to converse with me.

I suspect that forums like corvetteforum.com (?) have a much larger demographic to draw from and are thus less likely to reveal their percentage of active participants.

Of course, I’d be delighted to have those less outspoken WEPS forum members ask for guidance.  From feedback I’ve seen, there are a bunch of them who have found their way to higher and higher levels of expertise through their continued monitoring of this forum.

5 users thanked author for this post.

CliffCurry, Frans, dulledge, Mark76

[Anonymous]

Tom great points but you missed something………

I didn’t say ” Stop Talking ” never once did I suggest that……. I said the conversation is too narrow… I said, ” we” talk about our kids, exchange recipes talk about or dogs and cats and pets, and other hobbies.. we talk about enough ” other stuff ” that it makes the forum, no matter which it, ( Cars , Cameras, food , knives, guns, hunting etc ) is a wider based area of conversation…

For example…dulledge asked me about my photography.. so I posted pictures of some of my equipment… this might also promote a very newbie to the WE system and this forum, who might also be interested in photography to speak up or Open up a little. People with kids and grand kids and pets who also own a WE and are new to it, would find a comfort zone when the discussion is not so critically focused on scratches or sharpness, but it is the commonality of this forum.( Owning a WE system )

Just to give an example.. people who hunt, like sharp knives, ( but they know very little about sharp knives or the means to get there. ) they don’t know a micron from a hexagon. But they come into this forum because they are interested in getting their hunting knife as sharp as possible , and have either bought a WE system or they are doing the research before making such an expensive purchase. where people are talking guns and hunting, and knives, and they can then learn and ask how the WE can impact their hunting experience and their hunting knife sharpness. Many people are indeed sitting in the background because they have nothing to offer in a too narrow topiced forum. They need to see some area of comfort before they can open their mouth.

 

I don’t know how many hundreds of times I see a Newbie, in any of my other forums, open their very first post with the line, ” I have a stupid question “…

People feel intimidated because they are new, and  feel the fear of being hazed or belittled.  When I see a post like that I always open with a ” welcome to the forum”  and the very next thing I say is… there are no stupid question, the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask.

[Anonymous]

Food:

I like to cook on the grill, I like to experiment with things like pizza”  I have a stainless steel pizza cutter… it has no real edge. So I tool it to the WE.

Can you see the connection?

[Frans]

tcmeyer wrote:

This is a niche forum, limited to a very narrow group of participants.

Speaking for myself, I am very glad that this is a niche forum, concentrating on the WE.

I can logon to bladeforums a couple of times a day and find 1000 or more new posts of which usualy just a couple are of interest for me but it takes a lot of time to find them. There is a reason that those forums have a special section for off-topic subjects and a lot of moderators who move posts to appropriate sections and things civil.

When I come to the WE forums, it is because I expect to find information specific to the WE and it will take just a moment to see if there are any subjects that are of interest for me. When I first bought the WE, it helped to to get to know the system and some beginner questions I had about it. Now I learn a lot from topics like the “stones or strops” topic and Clay’s pictures as they help me to decide which stones I want to buy.

Even though English is not my native language and I am certainly not a professional,  just someone who is interested in sharpening, I have always felt very welcome and if a subject does not interest me I just skip it

 

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Mark76, wickededge, CliffCurry, dulledge

[CliffCurry]

Agreed 100%.  In no other forum have I ever felt the sense of welcome and a sense of a common goal to encourage others to become better, to learn more, to challenge, to test & experiment.
Im not personally interested in photography, or food, or guns for that matter. If I was Id join a forum that felt comfortable to me for that. I also do belt sharpening, but you rarely here me talk about here, Ive found another forum to explore that area of interest to me. I personally believe that a “singleness of purpose” can be viewed as a strength, not a weakness.
In the 1.5yrs Ive been on this forum, starting from the first day I didnt know how to hold the paddles, Ive learned everything I know from this forum and the people on it that always encouraged and never discouraged me, and guided me when I needed it most. Thats what makes it special, the lack of put downs, or insults, or harsh words, or just any of that…
Once I got up to speed it has always since felt like I’ve been privileged to be here on a journey of mutual discovery. For that I am grateful and look forward to continuing to participate on this forum in the most positive way possible by paying it forward to the new guys and continuing to learn n grow in the science & art that is sharpening…together.

My company Maui Amusement has had a motto for the last 17yrs….”If it Aint Fun, We Dont Do it”. Its a cute saying, but it also has a deeper life meaning for myself. Its not meant to be used a cop out but a very real litmus test for how Im choosing to live my life. I sincerely hope this Forum will hang on to its “Happy Thought”.

Aloha, Cliff, aka CurryCustomCutlery, aka Wingnut808, aka Beanie, aka the Original Evil Elf

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Gregg776, Victor, Gib Curry, Frans, tcmeyer, Mark76, wickededge

[M1rrorEdge]

Not sure what to say about the above posts so I will ignore it.  Clay,  what microscope equipment are you using?  I know you use dinolite, however, they don’t have anything over 900x.  So I am assuming you’re using a eyepiece plug-in for a standard microscope. Is this accurate?   I’m sure by now this is been posted somewhere else on the forum, but as I’m new,  could you point me to where that is or the name of the post.  Thanks!

Eddie Kinlen
M1rror Edge Sharpening Service, LLC
+1(682)777-1622

[dulledge]

AmScope Metallurgical microscope

1 user thanked author for this post.

M1rrorEdge

[Mark76]

CliffCurry wrote:

Agreed 100%. In no other forum have I ever felt the sense of welcome and a sense of a common goal to encourage others to become better, to learn more, to challenge, to test & experiment.  

Thanks guys! That’s exactly what we’re aiming for with this forum!

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

1 user thanked author for this post.

wickededge

[Gregg776]

I also fully agree with Cliff.  I think the focus on the science of sharpening as it applies to common cutting tools and how they can be sharpened and improved with the Wicked Edge is perfect.  I just admire all of the mods, discussion on blade angles for different blade materials and different uses, stone grit progressions, blade thinning, micro bevels etc.  I think Clay’s microscope pictures are one of the many main attractions of this forum.  I come here to learn about a fairly narrow subject (sharpening) with intelligent discussions.  The best instructions for using a Wicked Edge are found reading this forum.

Socializing is quite low on the list of reasons I often read and sometimes participate in this forum; I feel this forum would lose value to many Wicked Edge owners if the balance became more of a social forum and less of a technical forum.

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wickededge, CliffCurry, Mark76, M1rrorEdge

[M1rrorEdge]

Could this “gouge” be a result of a larger diamond among the other diamonds? In the paste or the higher grit stone? Is contamination possible and just somehow being overlooked?  Is it possible that a diamond became loose from the substraight and was wedged between two other diamonds on the plate resulting in a huge scratch from the shoulder to the blade?

See the attachment of missing diamond in the substraight

Eddie Kinlen
M1rror Edge Sharpening Service, LLC
+1(682)777-1622

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[wickededge]

M1rrorEdge wrote:

Is it possible that a diamond became loose from the substraight and was wedged between two other diamonds on the plate resulting in a huge scratch from the shoulder to the blade? See the attachment of missing diamond in the substraight

The scratch does look huge. In reality, it’s barely visible to the naked eye. If I remember correctly it’s only a micron or two wide.

-Clay

[M1rrorEdge]

Aaaah got it.  Compaired to the lack of other scratches  in this image it looks “huge”. I forgot we where looking at  A 50 micron photo from top to bottom, I’ll be more careful next time.

Eddie Kinlen
M1rror Edge Sharpening Service, LLC
+1(682)777-1622

[Author]

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