Me and my story! Let’s get to know each other!
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- This topic has 182 replies, 64 voices, and was last updated 07/12/2017 at 9:01 am by Marc H.
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07/15/2012 at 9:36 am #4052
+1 What Clay said.
1600 to strops and your cruisin.
Keep the hand light and you’ll surprise yourself, especially after break in.07/15/2012 at 9:13 pm #4054Ken, a small ziplock would work great. I like to keep a pair in one bag. I always put the “Fine” side in, facing each other, then use a rubber band to keep them in place. That way, any paste that gets on the bag only has a chance of getting on the coarse side, which is where it belongs.
Ah, very nice. Yes rubberbanding them that way is a great idea!
Keep the hand light and you’ll surprise yourself, especially after break in.
Yeah, I fought “heavy hand” for years. Finally (kinda) broke myself of it when I drifted into straight razor shaving 8-10 years ago. That was also where I got hooked on PSA diamond films. Much better edges on my razors than I ever got with loaded strops. Really want to see some glass paddles to use the PSAs with!
By the way, Zig, where did you get my picture? That was back in my youth when I was MUCH better looking!
Cheers,
Ken
07/16/2012 at 12:00 am #4055Ken,
You had that twinkle in your eye back then 😉07/16/2012 at 1:40 am #4058Ken,
You had that twinkle in your eye back then 😉Yep, glory days!;) I almost remember them……
Ken
07/18/2012 at 12:13 pm #4101I’ll use this as an opportunity to introduce myself as well. My name is Wayne, and I spent much of my life in Calgary, Alberta Canada, in the aviation industry. I retired two years ago (freedom 55 as they say) and two weeks later was on my way to Regina Saskatchewan, following my wife who was transferred here.
My first pocketknife was given to me at age 6, some 52 years ago by my Grandfather. The year after, he began to teach me to sharpen it on stones, something I’ve been “learning” to do ever since. I’ve gotten pretty good at it with 50 years of practice, however just when I was starting to get comfortable with the whole freehand sharpening thing, arthritis started to put a “cramp” in things, literally and figuratively.
I’ve two hobbies; knife collecting and photography. I currently have around 80 knives in my collection, virtually all users. I don’t believe in shelf queens, so I need to be able to sharpen efficiently, so I’ve just ordered my first WE system and am waiting for it to arrive.
07/18/2012 at 1:09 pm #4103Isn’t retirement great! Welcome aboard Wayne! Sounds like quite a collection of knives and hopefully you will use your photographic skills to show us your knives. Your WEPS will be well used eh mate! Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Best regards
Leo07/18/2012 at 10:18 pm #4108Welcome Wayne. I’ll second Leo’s sentiment. Retirement is great for allowing us to pursue our hobbies!
There is a lot of great info on this board as well as “how to” videos on YouTube. Well worth your time while you’re waiting on delivery.
One thing I’ll say that, while you’ll read it (occasionally) and it makes sense…. give yourself time to adapt to your WEPS. It’s a great system but it doesn’t sharpen knives for you. You still have to develope your skills and techniques. That said, you can (pretty easily) get a great edge right out of the box, if you’ve done your homework. But the whole process just gets better (and faster, and easier) as you get more experience.
Enjoy!
Ken
07/18/2012 at 10:55 pm #4110What you say is very true Ken. The WEPS will guide you to an excellent edge but as your skill with it progresses you will find the edges improving and they will amaze you.
I found two of the most important things to watch for are…the proper raising of the initial burr and the proper touch with the diamond paddles after the coarse diamonds used to raise the burr.
The initial burr or lack of it, is perhaps the biggest cause of mediocre or even poor edges, if not developed properly. If the burr is not raised at all, a truly sharp edge will never happen. And if it is raised but not carefully along the whole length of the edge, the result will be mediocre. As for the touch with the paddles, little pressure is required. In fact too much pressure can be counter productive to sharpening. People kid me about this, but I like to say that one should brush the paddles over the blade like a soft summer breeze. Once the burr is up these soft strokes will quickly and smoothly develop the edge you desire.
My two cents worth.Leo
07/19/2012 at 5:53 pm #4136Welcome Wayne! You definitely made a good choice with the WEPS. And with the forums: if you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. And when in doubt: listen to Leo 🙂 .
I was also thinking it would be nice if you could us some results of the combination of your two hobbies.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
07/20/2012 at 5:19 am #4158Just finished my Manix. CPM-M4
Man that sucker is sharp now!
Took it to the 5/3.5 strops. Not quite a mirror finish but very nice. I’m guessing it will get closer as the stones break in.
Cheers
Ken
07/20/2012 at 6:01 am #4161Ken,
Great job! I’m sure the finish level shows the newness of your stones. The more they break in, the better the finish will get.
-Clay
07/20/2012 at 6:35 am #4162Thanks Clay. Took about an hour. Most of that time was on the 100 stones, getting the bevel to apex. Went very quickly from there.
Ken
08/19/2012 at 7:11 am #4743Hey folks,
Long time lurker, but I only recently got my kit in. I apologize in advance for this being a long winded intro post, but all things considered I think we’ve got quite a story here for anyone interested!
About me: My name’s Tom, and I’m a self employed, formally trained gunsmith out in the woods here in southern PA. I’m just a youngster in my early 20’s, which is far from the norm in the gun world. Our farm here was host to three generations under one roof until about two years ago, and we’ve always been the self-reliant types running multiple family businesses for as long as I can remember.
I started looking into the Wicked Edge completely by accident. I began researching knives more seriously just out of curiosity, and because guns and knives tend to cross paths often in the sporting world. I happened to encounter the youtube videos Clay posted, and was extremely impressed by the system, for many reasons most of the folks here can relate to I’m sure! But one reason in particular came to mind which wasn’t for myself, but rather for my father.
My dad John is a disabled veteran, who spent 16 years in law enforcement before losing his career to a car wreck that left him with a form of epilepsy and serious mobility problems. His back and neck injuries were so severe that doctors predicted he would be wheelchair bound within the year… but he’s still up and walking 15 years later! During that time, we’ve gotten the epilepsy under control, but a side effect of the trauma from the crash was short term memory loss that has plagued him ever since. I’ve tried to involve him with the gun shop as much as possible, but some things just don’t “stick” and it really frustrates him when he can’t recall some order of operations doing a clean and oil or how to access our dealer catalogs online. That’s what motivated me to jump on board with the Wicked Edge.
Clay, Kyle, Kay and the whole gang here are just awesome people to deal with and helped tremendously in figuring out where to start. I managed to keep the order a secret through the whole backorder and got my kit in just over a week ago. Dad was speechless, and more than a little uncertain about this contraption and how technical knife sharpening can get. I showed him the basics, explained how to record settings and he was floored by how straightforward everything is. He took to it like a duck to water, no longer afraid of forgetting the details or being overwhelmed by being too technical. In no time he was practicing on some old junky knives, and in just a few days the two of us have gathered up a pile of stuff to practice on and are getting great results! It’s been a great experience passing along the tips and tricks from Clay’s videos and having both of us share our own discoveries back and forth. He can’t wait to get to the next gun show and set up!
I really can’t say enough. Clay and the crew are great, the forum here is awesome and full of great folks too. I’m thankful I stumbled on it! I’m looking forward to contributing here and learning everything I can.
P.S. – Still working on those pictures, Clay. Neither of us are very photogenic though 😆
08/19/2012 at 10:32 pm #4755Tom,
Thanks for sharing your story. Hope things continue to work out for your Dad. Tell him THANKS for his service for me.
Curtis
08/20/2012 at 12:53 am #4757Welcome Tom …
I’ve been living here in the Lake Erie region of PA since I retired 17 years ago …. but grew up in southwestern PA and attended college in Philadelphia. Traveled quite a bit along the southern section of PA. Good to have you join in.
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