Howdy from Colorado!

[Zamfir]

Just got my Wicked edge last night and am loving it.

I have sharpened for a long time by hand, then crock sticks, then gatco system. The gatco works well but takes a long time and I have had my eye on the wicked edge for over a year. Thanks to my 20year work anniversary check I was able to pick one up finally.

I got the Pro Pack 1 with the propack2 hardware upgraded rods and base. I sharpened one old cheap made in Pakistan butterfly knife I got 30 years ago at a fair to help break in the stones. Being impatient, the second knife I sharpened was my EDC Kershaw random leek with s30V blade. I kept hearing people could not get a good edge until the 5th or so knife due to break in of the stones. Shoot..I got my knife paper push cut sharp with a total re-bevel to 34 inclusive within 20 min. This is sharper than I could get it before on the Gatco in an hour.

Now I just need to figure out loading the strops correctly. I have never used a strop before. But they sure did do something to my blade! Fun stuff. Now I need to learn me on micro bevels and such. I am going to sharpen some friends knifes for some $$ and I want to give them the best edge for them to maintain.

I figure for someone that is not skilled at holding and angle but wants to maintain their edge a kitchen steel would be good for them to keep the edge in check. Then when that does not work, have them bring the knife back to me? Does that sound right?

I am off to look and see what you guys have for micro bevel information.

Nice to meet you!
Eric from Colorado.

[Mark76]

Welcome to the forum Zamfir! Great you enjoy your WEPS.

It is indeed a good idea to start with some beater knives. Not only to practice your technique, but also to let the stones break in. (But we OCD-guys sometimes exaggerate – congrats with the Leek 🙂 .)

Loading strops – use two pearl-sized drops of paste (maybe even just one; the point is: use a little bit) and smear it out with a finger over the entire surface of the strop. Micro bevels – a small amount of passes with a high-grit stone a couple of degrees higher than the main bevel. But take your time to read more about it. There’s a wealth of information here. The Wiki is here: http://www.wickededgeusa.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page&Itemid=261

I figure for someone that is not skilled at holding and angle but wants to maintain their edge a kitchen steel would be good for them to keep the edge in check. Then when that does not work, have them bring the knife back to me? Does that sound right?

IMHO, no. You’ve got to be very careful with kitchen steels. What these things are supposed to do is to re-align the edge of a blade if it was bent over. They don’t sharpen a blade. Moreover, this re-aligning only works for very soft blades like German steels. And worse, many kitchen steels are not smooth and if you apply these to a blade with a hard steel, you’ll make it chip.

So my advice: be very careful with them. If you want to use a rod, I’d suggest a ceramic rod. These things are smooth and they abrade a little, so they do actually sharpen a bit.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[tuffy braithwaite]

where in colorado ?

[Zamfir]

where in colorado ?

Windsor.

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