My first wicked edge!
- This topic has 6 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 01/06/2020 at 2:19 am by
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After all of the reading and fantastic suggestions received, I was finally able to give the WE a go. I’d say it turned out better than I expected after the tales of stone break in and such. I turned a Korean war era Kbar into a scalpel!!
It certainly isn’t perfect, but it was well beyond my expectations on my first go.
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So this is on the WE120. I used 100/200, 400/600, 800/1000, 1500/6 micron lapping film, then 4/2 micron strops. This knife got clamped in the lower clamp position but I forget which letter it was at on the ruler. I went with 20 degrees per side. I ran 100 till I had a burr from both sides. I can see in the final product a couple spots that needed more work during the progression (removing scratches from previous grit), but the apex is bang on from tip to heel. I may have been able to get it a bit better had my loupe been dropped of my the mailman but I haven’t got that yet. I was going by feel and unaided eye and frankly feel it’s a smashing result for my first attempt using the new equipment.
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Wow, your progression details sounds exactly like one of the more seasoned system pros here was describing to a newbie how to best use the system to sharpen a knife. Nice job on the pre-reading. Nothing like getting in there and doing it yourself and getting great results . . . and on your first knife yet. Well done.
I know that I often point out to new users that the stones have a break in period. I do this to try and reign in their lofty expectations for those first few knives. Some people rush right into sharpening their first knife without investing any time to learn the tired and true techniques for sharpening on the WE. These new users are often disappointed when they realize that their bevel is uneven and they can’t split hairs like people do in the YouTube videos. They come away discouraged or even angry that it doesn’t work as advertised.
The fact of the matter is that the technique of the user has far more effect on the outcome than the newness of the stones has. Even with totally new stones the results can be very good if the person doing the sharpening has educated themselves and takes the time to do it right. The first few blades probably won’t whittle hair or have a perfectly mirrored bevels, but when done correctly they will still be very sharp and have wonderfully symmetrical and even bevels down the whole length of the blade. You’re off to a great start and it can only get better from here as the stones even out. Nice work!
My first try at it.
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Great start. Cruzer! It’s hard to believe it’ll get much better from here, but it will!
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