Hinderer uneven bevel

[Lance Waller]

Was reprofiling my Hinderer today. I set both angles to 17° per side with the angle cube. I start sharpening and next thing I know the bevels are uneven. The left side bevel is a lot bigger than the right side even though I had both sides set at 17°. I put the angle cube on there again and the left side is 17 and the right side is 18 1/2°… What the hell? I double checked to see if the knife was perpendicular in the vice and it looked like it was, I had it clamped on the flats of the blade. I don’t know exactly what has gone wrong here.

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[Daniel maloon]

Finally got my coffee, I missed that part about already being set with the angle cube..

[Pat]

Couple things to consider:

1) Are you sure your arms were securely tightened down? If they moved during sharpening, the degree change could have occurred…that is the only way I can explain the change in degrees.

2) Are you sure your knife didn’t move at all during sharpening? If so, this could do it as well. Josh from REK on here has recommended, and I have had excellent success with this, that you tighten the top screw very good so that you shouldn’t need to tighten the lower screw but just a bit so the gap from the top to bottom of the vice is about the same. If you are tightening the bottom screw enough to create a much wider gap at the bottom than the top, you could bend the vice and you likely won’t have a good grip on the knife.

3) Assuming that the sharpening is even along the bevel on each side (not creating a thinner to wider bevel from heel to tip, or vice versa), then you can put your knife back in the vice at the same position (assuming you recorded your position), and ensure you tighten the arm screws really good with a pair of pliers or something (assuming you have the basic arms, if you have upgraded arms, I would use the allen wrench to tighten), then check the angles again, ensure they are the same, then when you are close to apexing the edge on both sides and if your bevels are uneven, then work the thinner bevel side until the bevel on the wider side is reduced. Clay has a great video showing him doing this. https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forum/9-basic-techniques-and-sharpening-strategies/13230-asymmetrical-bevels-new-owner

I will say that if I am off a degree or more, I will adjust one side either in or out to bring the total difference between each side to less than a degree. With the upgraded arms, you can get even more exact, but I am good to being within a degree total variation.

[JS]

Usually indicates the blade is unevenly ground from the factory and is quite common.

Also, if you’re not careful when clamping, even on perpendicular flats, the blade can tilt a degree or more. This seems to happen more when really torquing down.

[Pat]

I had uneven bevels from the factory on my Grayman SATU which I reprofiled and sharpened this past weekend. I had to work down the wider beveled side a bit to even up the bevels, but it works like a charm…just have to pay attention and ensure before you begin that your heel to toe bevel width on both sides is the same width…if it is not, then you have to readjust, resharpie, and make a few swipes to recheck until the sharpie is removed evenly on one side from heel to toe; unless you want it to be uneven of course.

[tcmeyer]

lwaller1980:

I was about to say the same thing as uofaengr and wepsflana… I don’t think a 1.5 deg difference is really enough to produce an obvious bevel width difference. More than likely caused by the factory (or a previous sharpening attempt) setting the edge off-center. To correct, you have to stone the narrow-bevel side until the bevels are equal.

Now, what’s with the 17/18.5 angles? Are you saying that you re-checked your blocks with your angle cube and the one side seems to have moved from its original setting?

I had a freaky thing happen the other night. I use a long screwdriver-like tool for my micro-adjusts and I often leave them inserted into the screw. As I was sharpening, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the handle of the screwdriver was moving. I looked down and realized that the locking screw had come loose and the vibration of sharpening was walking the micro-adjust screw inward. My angle had changed by more than one degree. I replaced the plastic insert under the locking screw, reset the angle and everything was wonderful again.

[Lance Waller]

Couple things to consider:

1) Are you sure your arms were securely tightened down? If they moved during sharpening, the degree change could have occurred…that is the only way I can explain the change in degrees.
They were tight

2) Are you sure your knife didn’t move at all during sharpening? If so, this could do it as well. Josh from REK on here has recommended, and I have had excellent success with this, that you tighten the top screw very good so that you shouldn’t need to tighten the lower screw but just a bit so the gap from the top to bottom of the vice is about the same. If you are tightening the bottom screw enough to create a much wider gap at the bottom than the top, you could bend the vice and you likely won’t have a good grip on the knife.
That could be a possiblility……I usually tighten it up fairly tight but when Im reprofiling, Im pushing rather hard in the beginiing with the 100’s or 50/80’s. I’ll try that.
3) Assuming that the sharpening is even along the bevel on each side (not creating a thinner to wider bevel from heel to tip, or vice versa), then you can put your knife back in the vice at the same position (assuming you recorded your position), and ensure you tighten the arm screws really good with a pair of pliers or something (assuming you have the basic arms, if you have upgraded arms, I would use the allen wrench to tighten), then check the angles again, ensure they are the same, then when you are close to apexing the edge on both sides and if your bevels are uneven, then work the thinner bevel side until the bevel on the wider side is reduced. Clay has a great video showing him doing this. https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forum/9-basic-techniques-and-sharpening-strategies/13230-asymmetrical-bevels-new-owner

I will say that if I am off a degree or more, I will adjust one side either in or out to bring the total difference between each side to less than a degree. With the upgraded arms, you can get even more exact, but I am good to being within a degree total variation.

[Lance Waller]

The problem here is I do that with every knife as I go along periodically I will put more Sharpie on and recheck. In this case….I did that and I am apexing both sides and somehow during sharpening……my angles are changing! I cannot figure out what is happening. Question??? If i set the bevel to a certain degree with the paddle sitting against the blade with the angle cube…..as I sharpen away material……does the angle change because I am taking away material from the blade?

[JS]

The problem here is I do that with every knife as I go along periodically I will put more Sharpie on and recheck. In this case….I did that and I am apexing both sides and somehow during sharpening……my angles are changing! I cannot figure out what is happening. Question??? If i set the bevel to a certain degree with the paddle sitting against the blade with the angle cube…..as I sharpen away material……does the angle change because I am taking away material from the blade?

Not that much. You’d have to be taking off a lot of material for that to happen. There is some variance between stones too. My 400s and 600s seem to be the furthest off from the rest of my stones as they are usually about a half degree off compared to the others.

I personally measure my angles between each grit and micro adjust but it’s only a couple tenths usually that we’re talking about..not enough for you to notice without a loupe and a good eye or a microscope.

I think your issue is the factory grind. I have a Ritter mini grip that I have sharpened on both an edge pro and the WEPS. The first sharpening was on the edge pro, and one side had a bevel at least 3 times larger than the other side. Yes, you have to be careful to hold the knife on the flats using the edge pro but I was very careful and knew what I was doing. I’ve since sharpened that knife on the much more foolproof WEPS at the same angle, and the bevels came out the same. I personally did not care to grind the smaller bevel to match the other side, but I might give it a little more attention next time.

[Josh]

If you are sure your angle is changing during sharpening it could be one of two things:

1. your vise jaws are bent. unscrew the clamping screws and place them flat against one another… is there any gap at the top?
2. your pivot joints at the base of the rod arms are coming loose and moving.

[JS]

If you are sure your angle is changing during sharpening it could be one of two things:

1. your vise jaws are bent. unscrew the clamping screws and place them flat against one another… is there any gap at the top?
2. your pivot joints at the base of the rod arms are coming loose and moving.

Lol mine has a small gap at the top that I’ve only recently noticed. Is it worth getting a replacement? I also thought the bending jaws was only an issue on earlier WEPS systems?

[Lance Waller]

If you are sure your angle is changing during sharpening it could be one of two things:

1. your vise jaws are bent. unscrew the clamping screws and place them flat against one another… is there any gap at the top?
2. your pivot joints at the base of the rod arms are coming loose and moving.

Not sure whats going on. I’m going to mess with it a little more tonight and see whats happening. I just got s new vise Monday because my previous one was bent. I never had this problem before.???? I’ll check everything a little closer tonight to see if I can find out whats happening. I’ve never had this problem until I got the new vise the other day.

[Josh]

No, unfortunately it still happens… it depends on how badly it’s bent. If it’s only like 1/32″ then i would say to wait and see if it gets worse… but if it’s any more than this or if it’s causing issues call the WE team and they will get a new one right out to you. that is one thing i know for certain – that Wicked Edge backs up their products 110% and will take care of you.

[JS]

This is true. I’ve never seen a company with as good customer service than Wicked Edge. I’ve had a couple small issues and they’ve been fast and courteous with each inquiry. Speaks volumes to me and I remember things like that when I’m deciding where I want to spend my money…

[CliffCurry]

Ive had a few knives move around on me also…Since sharpie washes off with rubbing alcohol, I started marking the blade around the vice where it it clamped in so I see if it has moved during sharpening. Goodl luck!

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