Low Angle Adapter

[Fred Hermann]

How about the questions during testing on the screw lengths?
Does it come with a variety to accommodate different thicknesses, or just the 2 I’ve seen?

And assuming only 2…what are the screw sizes and thread gauges for them? I’ve been thinking of getting more for my PP2 regardless. ( I know the sizes have been posted somewhere, I just can’t find it)

Looks great so far though…wow.

[Lukas Pop]

Just got Pro Pack II uprade kit and Low Angle Adapter. Looks good, but I have 2 questions:

1. what is the right position of the adapter in the clamp? I found both on the pictures.

2. how do you measure horizontal position of the knife? There aren’t two holes for the attachment of the ruler in the adapter.

Thank you.

Attachments:

• IMG_0382_resize.JPG
• IMG_0381_resize.JPG

[Lukas Pop]

One suggestion: it would be useful to include second shorter upper screw with the adapter. In case of thin kitchen knives, original screw overlaps distinctly and reduces attainable angles. The most in the case of narrow knives (parer).

[Jamey Howard]

I’m toying with the idea of buying this but I only have the normal/standard arms. Looking at all the pictures I can’t see how my paddles are going to reach the blade if I had the low angle adapter in there.

And to be honest even the arms in PP2 don’t look long enough to do the job without the paddle being mostly off the end of the arm when in motion.

Can anyone who’s got the low angle adapter give me some advice / findings?

[Jamey Howard]

Anyone?

[Ted S]

Here is a pic with PP2 arms without the PP2 riser. My original arms are 1 1/4″ shorter than PP2 arms.

Attachments:

• P1010031.JPG

[Leo Barr]

zig wrote:
So Clay,
For proper setup to 8 degrees on the older style arms, would need:

Pro-Pack II Upgrade Kit
&
Wicked Edge Low Angle Adapter

Correct?

Correct. The Basic Kit and PP1 will get you to 10 degrees.

So I think it says it all here 10Ëš is pretty good for a lot of knives so you could start with just the Low Angle Adapter and at a later date should you feel that you want to get even lower then go for the Pro Pack 2 but I would say that to avoid a big outlay possible just start with the adapter.
I hope that helps it may be that the low angle adapter alone will enable you to achieve what you want.
Perhaps some others will add their opinions .
Some times it is easy to get too much and then find that it is not really needed although of course it is good to have the whole set .

[Blaine Gribble]

Does using this adapter make the stock angle markings useless? My angle cube is reporting the angle of my factory edge spyderco ladybug3 zdp-189 as 12.5/22.5 degrees while the markings show i’m at 17/31 degrees.

[Lukas Pop]

Does using this adapter make the stock angle markings useless? My angle cube is reporting the angle of my factory edge spyderco ladybug3 zdp-189 as 12.5/22.5 degrees while the markings show i’m at 17/31 degrees.

Angles will be different. Even in case without adapter, actual angle depends on the width of the knife. You will get quite precise guess with practice. Markings are useful in case of touch ups for faster clamping repeatability.

[tcmeyer]

I’ve got the low angle adapter, but haven’t used it yet.

Contrary to what I’ve read, it doesn’t use the same tightening tool. The LA adapter uses 10-24 screws, while the original WE clamp uses 1/4-20 screws. Yes, WE kindly provided the required extra Allen wrench.

I’m thinking that for the same money, instead of a vise within a vise, you could probably provide a replacement vise which was taller than the original and accommodated angles from about 8 – 20 degrees. I suspect that very few users use angles above 20. I don’t think I ever will. Or maybe it’s better that the most commonly used angle is at the mid-range of the unit.

[Leo Barr]

If you are sharpening either bushcraft knives or cleavers 30Ëš/ side – chisel edged Japanese knives 30Ëš- boning knives 23Ëšor edges sharpened to be abused 23+Ëš. If all you want to sharpens to make a blade as sharp as the steel permits then the lower angles may be fine providing the steel is of a high enough quality then I understand only having one vice but I think many need to be able to do angles greater than 20Ëš most of the time.

[tcmeyer]

No argument there. I’m just trying to think creatively. What if you had a vise that was tall enough to give you the low angles, but then had a second, higher place to mount the goddammit doomajiggy bar that sets the angles of the rods. And maybe the bar would have the low angle increments marked on one side, and when you moved it to the upper mounting position, you’d flip it over and it would have the normal increments marked on the other side. The riser block maybe could be machined with the mounting position(s) built right in.

That said, maybe the vise is the same, but the riser block would be about three or four inches tall, with two square through-holes (one low, one high) to accommodate the bar. A simple detent pin could hold the bar in position.

Of course, this would place the vise at what is maybe an awkward height for the vast majority of jobs.

Oh, well… I was a machine design engineer for 37 years and am now a frustrated retired designer.

[Leo Barr]

I love design and I am always looking at better ways to simplify designs since the simplest solution is always the best . Perhaps one day the WE Mk111 will incorporate a method to use one clamp that can be linked to the required angles and raises or lowers accordingly .
The simplest solution is bench stones no need for complicated systems but it does not suit everyone or every requirement .
I find that certain knives I like to do on bench stones particularly expensive Japanese knives ; then at the other end small expensive folders are best sharpened with the WE so there is little chance of catching the blade above the thinning bevel and then once again once a folder is really small it is easier to sharpen on bench stones .
All systems have limitations and to cover everything it is necessary to have different systems at least for the foreseeable future .

[tcmeyer]

Hi Leo:

I had to look at your profile to see who else on God’s green earth was up at this hour. It’s almost 4:00 AM here.

New subject (sorta, but still about creative ideas):

I just ordered some of the film polishing paper and have been thinking about making some blocks with faces of plate glass to stick the film to.

Then I saw the photo of the Kukri ghurka knife (amazing for $58) and got to thinking… Maybe if the blocks were cylindrical you could easily do concave blade contours. And maybe you could twirl the blocks as you moved them along the blade? Hmmm. I gotta find me a machine shop that’ll do small jobs.

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

No argument there. I’m just trying to think creatively. What if you had a vise that was tall enough to give you the low angles, but then had a second, higher place to mount the goddammit doomajiggy bar that sets the angles of the rods. And maybe the bar would have the low angle increments marked on one side, and when you moved it to the upper mounting position, you’d flip it over and it would have the normal increments marked on the other side. The riser block maybe could be machined with the mounting position(s) built right in.

That said, maybe the vise is the same, but the riser block would be about three or four inches tall, with two square through-holes (one low, one high) to accommodate the bar. A simple detent pin could hold the bar in position.

Of course, this would place the vise at what is maybe an awkward height for the vast majority of jobs.

Oh, well… I was a machine design engineer for 37 years and am now a frustrated retired designer.

Hi TC,
This should be just the thing for a old frustrated engineer. It has not hit the market place yet, but a few of us are saving out pennies for it.

http://208.97.177.221/index.php?option=com_kunena&view=topic&catid=13&id=11146&Itemid=271

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