Hello from PA

[Walter McVey]

I tried posting this yesterday, to no avail. I placed my order for the ProI a couple of days ago, and I truly cannot wait for it to arrive. I got pretty good at sharpening knives freehand decades ago, but frankly I have not kept the art active. It took me a long time to achieve a really sharp edge. Additionally, variations in angle prohibited getting a truly sharpened edge, and I know it would take almost daily practice for years to master the art. I knew people who could do it, but I also know people who can play the trumpet well enough to perform at Carnegie Hall. I have played trumpet for 48 years, and I will never play at Carnegie Hall.

This tool will allow me to learn to sharpen knives at the “Carnegie Hall” level. I am so excited, I bought 5 more knives to add to my collection, and I intend to join the knife a month club for the next year (assuming that my wife does not cut off my fingers with one of my hair whittling edges before the year is out).

I have a question. Do people still place the Subway straw on the rods of the modified standard rods, or has the rod diameter been increased to 0.250″ to remove some slop to the stones?

I look forward to working with this system, and I thank all of you for a great forum with very good information. I would also like to thank jdavis882 for all of his very informative videos on this system and his contributions to what is by almost all accounts an excellent system. Lastly, I would like to thank Clay and the rest of the WE family for being committed to providing an exceptional sharpening system. Now all I have to do is learn how to drive it.

Walt

[Leo James Mitchell]

Hi Walter
Welcome to the forum and to the world of elite sharpening with the WEPS! I mean elite in the sense of the fine edges you will produce…none of us here are elitist, quite the opposite.
Yes I understand, I have played the clarinet for almost double the number of years you played with the trumpet and I too will never make it to Carnegie Hall, nor will people swoon at my great ad lib solos as they did with Artie Shaw! Sigh! However my knife edges produced with the WEPS are worthy of being called artistic in the sense that you cannot get much better than with this fine tool from Clay. The new modified arms, if I am reading your question right, do not benefit from nor do they need the straw modification, they are just plain tight and accurate.
Glad to have you aboard mate! Don’t hesitate to ask questions or to post your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you as time goes on.

All the very best
Leo

[cbwx34]

Welcome to the forum!

Leo’s right, the straws should no longer be needed.

What knives did you get?

Hasn’t been mentioned in a while, but adding knives to the Knife Database can result in prizes! :woohoo:

Have fun! 🙂

[Walter McVey]

MicroTech Socom Elite, Olive Drab
Kershaw Diskin Hunter
Kershaw Blur with cf and 154 cpm blade
Benchmade mini Griptillian

Got a cheap Chinese tactical fixed blade that I returned. I’m sure the WE could sharpen it, but the edge was a chisel grind, and very dull. No thanks.

I looked at the DB. Excellent resource.

[Geocyclist]

Welcome to the forum.

Some very nice knives there. The cheap knives are great to start out with to practice on and also to break in your diamond stones.

The upgrade arms kits eliminates the need for straws, allows you to use more acute angles, has a secondary fine adjust screw to make it easy to dial the angle in to anything you want, and it’s beefier. For me the upgrade is worth it, not just to remove the play in the arms but also for the ability to easily adjust the angle.

[Walter McVey]

I have plenty of old and some cheap knives to practice on and break in the stones. I am asking about the modified standard arms where mods have been made to take the play out, not the new design. Are the rods on these 0.250″?

[Phil Pasteur]

Welcome Walter.
I noticed that you asked about the standard arms that I believe still come with the Pro Pack 1, and everybody seemed to be replying about the upgraded ball joint arms. I too am interested to know if the stndard arms have any increase on the OD of the rods. I am pretty sure that, at one point, Clay said something that indicated they were the same as they always have been.

If this is the case, the properly fitting straws could make a slight improvement for you.

Phil

[Walter McVey]

Thanks Phil, that is exactly what I am asking. Thanks for the information.

[Mark76]

I just compared the old and the new arms. The new arms are slightly thicker. I very much doubt they will even fit the straws.

[Edit: Didn’t properly read your post. The old arms are slight thicker than the new PP II arms. I don’t know what arms are shipped with the current PP I, but Phil could be right. That said, I found the Subway straws a nuisance on the old arms, definitely not an aid.]

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Mark76]

Welcome Walther, by the way 😉 . I managed to miss this thread for a couple of days.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Walter McVey]

Thank you Mark. By the way, I have a Walther PPK, but my name is Walter. Must have been some sort of Freudian slip LOL.

Thanks again,

Walt

[Phil Pasteur]

I just compared the old and the new arms. The new arms are slightly thicker. I very much doubt they will even fit the straws.

[Edit: Didn’t properly read your post. The old arms are slight thicker than the new PP II arms (isn’t this just reversed from the real situation?). I don’t know what arms are shipped with the current PP I, but Phil could be right. That said, I found the Subway straws a nuisance on the old arms, definitely not an aid.]

The upgraded ball joint arm rods are thicker than the original arms. The rods on the new arms are too thick for the “subway” straws to slide over them. If, as I believe, the rods that are currently part of the Pro Pack 1 set are the same as the arms I got a few years back, the Subway straws will fit on them.

I used the straws all of the time after I read about them. The only trick was keeping them from sliding around. Usually just forcing them down over the section that is flattened for the pivor does the trick. At one time I put a small tie wrap at the bottom and pulled it tight. I also put graphite on the outside of the straws to make the stone holders slide more easily. I think they made enough of a postive difference that I was willing to put up with the minor problems that I had with them.

Phil

[Walter McVey]

The PP1 does not come with the ball joint modification, but with the old style pivot arms with modifications to remove the play (washers, etc.). At least according to my understanding. I was wondering if these old style arms had been increased in diameter?

Thanks,

Walt

[Phil Pasteur]

So am I !
Maybe later I can find the thread and post a link. Clay was asked if the upgraded ball joints would be the standard going forward. He specifically said that this was not going to happen for the foreseeable future.
I believe they have (or had at the time) enough inventory on the old arms to avoid having to re-order in the near term.
He did not specifically say anything about rod diameter nor adding washers to the joints. This is the first that I have read about the last one. That used to be an additional feature. Either you did it yourself, or WE would do it for a small charge.

Of course, with WE’s policy of constant product improvement, I would not be surprised if both the thicker rods and washer mod were now standard. I just have not seen this stated anywhere on the site nor AFAIK has it been mentioned in any of the threads here on the boards.

Walt, let me suggest that you go to the source on this one. Give them a call or send an email message and ask the question. Then, you will know and you can let us know what the actual situation is. So far all you are getting is speculation…and to me anyway, confusing statements.

Phil

[Walter McVey]

I think that I will call and inquire about the rod diameter. When I placed my order, I was told that the standard arms were all being modified with washers to take out the play, and that the ball joint option was an upcharge.

I seriously doubt if the arm diameter is any different than the original, as I suspect they are trying to move the existing inventory by modifying the pivots with washers. It probably depends on when they run out of the original parts. I will call them and post what I find here.

[Author]

Posts