new arms

[wickededge]

Dustin,

Thanks for mentioning it. I’m forwarding to Kyle and he’ll get right back to you.

Sorry to barge in off topic! I placed an order about two weeks ago for the new arms and have yet to be charged for them or hear anything about it. I have placed two phone calls along with an email over the past week inquiring about the status and have yet to hear anything back from anyone which I feel is quite uncommon. Did anyone else run into similar problems? Maybe I need to be more patient?

-Clay

[Brian Ledford]

Sorry to barge in off topic! I placed an order about two weeks ago for the new arms and have yet to be charged for them or hear anything about it. I have placed two phone calls along with an email over the past week inquiring about the status and have yet to hear anything back from anyone which I feel is quite uncommon. Did anyone else run into similar problems? Maybe I need to be more patient?

I ordered mine 8/27/12 and the lady i takled to said they should ship 8/30/12 but no later than 9/3/12

[D K]

Awesome thanks so much Clay I appreciate it. I believe I ordered them on around the 13th of this month. Thanks everyone.

[Scott]

Ordered mine 8/24 and still waiting without word. I hope that the recent shipment of the new arms were flawless and that there are enough to cover existing orders. I may have to call to verify that everything is on schedule and okay. It would be nice to get an email assuring me, (us) that they are on target for delayed deliveries. I’m not very good at waiting, I have a Amazon Prime membership and I am spoiled by free 2nd day delivery and overnight for $4 and they seem to have everything in stock when it is for sale.

[Leo James Mitchell]

Ordered mine 8/24 and still waiting without word. I hope that the recent shipment of the new arms were flawless and that there are enough to cover existing orders. I may have to call to verify that everything is on schedule and okay. It would be nice to get an email assuring me, (us) that they are on target for delayed deliveries. I’m not very good at waiting, I have a Amazon Prime membership and I am spoiled by free 2nd day delivery and overnight for $4 and they seem to have everything in stock when it is for sale.

I too have an ebay and Amazon account Scott, but here we are dealing with a singular rig which is constantly evolving. The two giants mentioned have huge staffs of buyers and millions of dollars backing up their enterprise…the WE is a small but growing business in a highly specialized field and has no huge staff of buyers and a back-room full of engineers and machinists cranking out their stuff. There is Clay who listens to his customers and is constantly trying to evolve the perfection everyone wants and betimes he is run ragged doing research and development, finding machinists who are capable of doing the work for a price that will not blow the roof off the cost of the WEPS. At the same time he is trying to sell his creation and visit all the knife shows so his work is shown where it counts. On top of all this he has another business and a family to be there for.
Over the two years I have had my WEPS, I found that patience with the development of his fine rig is worth it. He doesn’t really need me to be an apologist for him and his businss, but I thought I would throw in my two cents worth. I know how difficult it is to wait, when all you want is to get at the business of sharpening on the finest rig available, but the Chinese have an old proverb that covers the matter nicely I think… Slowly, slowly, catches the monkey! Like all good proverbs it is slightly mysterious but I think the meaning is clear. 😉

Best regards
Leo

[Phil Pasteur]

Scott, I have been waiting for over three months for a Spyderco knife in CTS 204. I paid for it up front. I have got no word since I paid my money. The story is that Spyderco is still working on the temering and machineing processes to get ironed out.
Just as a point of comparison…
As Leao opened up the floor for old sayings… here are a few more:

Five quotes in chronological order:

“Festina lente” [“More haste, less speed”]–Augustus Caesar (1); quoted as a Greek proverb.

“If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come around to him”–Emerson (2).

“Everything comes if a man will only wait”–Disraeli (3).

“All things come round to him, who will but wait”–Longfellow (4).

  Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
  Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
  I rave no more ‘gainst time or fate,
  For lo! my own shall come to me–Burroughs (5).

I believe that all of these men had discovered from personal experience that patience is rewarded.

Source(s):
1. Augustus Caesar. From Suetonius, “Augustus,” sec. 25
2. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The American Scholar.” 1837. Sec. 3
3. Disraeli, Benjamin. “Tancred.” 1847. Bk. 4, 8
4. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “The Student’s Tale.” 1863.
5. Burroughs, John. “Waiting.” 1876. St. 1

Yahoo answers.

Now doesn’t that make you feel better ???
:):evil:

Phil

[martin lind]

I got the new arms today, they didnt fit by i just grind on the bar alitle and then they worked, all i can say is wow…they are great so if someone isnt sure…..buy them you wont be disappointed…
Thanks clay for a great product.
martin lind

[Edwin Lurvey]

Any chance these will hit the webstore soon? I spend all day on the phone, and I really hate making calls after work…

[Scott]

I too have an ebay and Amazon account Scott, but here we are dealing with a singular rig which is constantly evolving. The two giants mentioned have huge staffs of buyers and millions of dollars backing up their enterprise…the WE is a small but growing business in a highly specialized field and has no huge staff of buyers and a back-room full of engineers and machinists cranking out their stuff. There is Clay who listens to his customers and is constantly trying to evolve the perfection everyone wants and betimes he is run ragged doing research and development, finding machinists who are capable of doing the work for a price that will not blow the roof off the cost of the WEPS. At the same time he is trying to sell his creation and visit all the knife shows so his work is shown where it counts. On top of all this he has another business and a family to be there for.
Over the two years I have had my WEPS, I found that patience with the development of his fine rig is worth it. He doesn’t really need me to be an apologist for him and his businss, but I thought I would throw in my two cents worth. I know how difficult it is to wait, when all you want is to get at the business of sharpening on the finest rig available, but the Chinese have an old proverb that covers the matter nicely I think… Slowly, slowly, catches the monkey! Like all good proverbs it is slightly mysterious but I think the meaning is clear. 😉

Best regards
Leo

Leo,
Thank you for the perspective. I am glad you stepped up to say what you did and I whole heartedly agree with everything you said.

Unfortunately, as great as these forums are for getting together with other like minded individuals to discuss similar interests, it does lack the nuance of personal interaction. Unfortunately, you could not tell by my printed words, that I was speaking somewhat tongue in cheek. Actually I am spoiled by Amazon. They provide a great service and at pretty fair prices mostly. I am well aware of the difference between WE and Amazon. I knew going in that I was not dealing with A big box warehouse and ironically, this is the reason I made the ultimate decision to go with Clay and his products. Before making this decision, I called and spoke with Clay and a couple of his phone staff and was so impressed with them and what they have produced, that I went against my better judgement and decided to spend about 4 times what I would have spent on any other system for the Pro Pack 2 and several add on accessory stones, strops and pastes. That says a lot about how much I admire Clay because more than his pretty aluminum clamps and stones, it was he who I decided to invest in. Enough said. I very much admire and like Clay and would encourage anyone on the fence who is really interested in advancing their hobby or professional interests in knife sharpening to not hesitate and at what ever level you can afford, buy the WEPS.

And if you have to wait a bit, just know it will be worth it. Although, I am still anxious to get my stones and clamp and I just can not help that. 🙂 😳

[wickededge]

An email should be going out today detailing the following:

We’re writing to update you on the status of your (Pro-Pack II)/(Pro-Pack II Upgrade Kit) order. We discovered after releasing the first run that there was an issue with the graduated degree bar. We decided to turn it into an opportunity to design a new, longer degree bar that is specifically calibrated to the Pro-Pack II and will offer a wider range of angles. When we designed the Riser for the Pro-Pack II and Upgrade Kit, the intention was to allow for lower angles by raising the knife above the pivot point of the Guide Rods. It turns out that, not only was it desirable for the lower angles, it was completely necessary since the new ball joints would otherwise interfere with the Lower Vise Screw; it’s what I like to call a happy accident. I knew that the calibration of the current degree bar would be off by two degrees, something I was willing to accept since we were including an Angle Cube and we didn’t want to create a new degree bar and add more cost to the kits. Once the first batch of production units arrived, we discovered two more problems that turned out to also be happy accidents: 1) The new L-Collars that hold the ball joints are milled with tight tolerances, much tighter than the original Collars that are extruded through a die. We discovered that they tolerances are in fact so tight that the L-Collars were having trouble sliding over the old degree bars, which experience a little bulging from where the detents are pressed in; 2) The machine shop making the collars, unbeknownst to me, made a last minute design change to conserve materials and didn’t check to ensure that the geometry remained intact and accidentally lowered the maximum achievable angle by nearly 4 degrees. Once both these things came to light, we did what we should have done in the first place – create a new degree bar that is properly calibrated to the new Riser and fits very tightly with the new L-Collars. Many thanks to our customers for discovering some of these things and communicating them back to us quickly so we could make the changes! So, to end my long story, your order is delayed a little while we wait for the new degree bars to come in. I know the wait will be frustrating, but I’m hopeful that you’ll enjoy the system even more with the new degree bars that allow for angles from 13-35 degrees per side.

The drawings are finalized and off to the machine shop, who knows that we’re in a big rush for the parts. As soon as the sample comes in, I’ll test it thoroughly and they’ll get several hundred out ASAP, which should only take them a day to mill and another to laser mark. I should have the sample when I get back from the USN Gathering and will jump on it right away. Thanks guys for your patience, I know it will be worth the wait!

-Clay

[Scott]

I am happy to be the first to say, thank you for making what was probably a difficult decision to delay shipping out the Pro Pack 2, but in light of the news and circumstances behind your decision, I for one am very, very happy that you made the decision to get it right before filling orders. I know that there has been growing pressure to get something out to your customers, but speaking for myself, I would much rather have a better sharpening system than have it sooner. What would have been upsetting would be to get my sharpener and then find out that a month later, I would need to replace it to have a better version. I don’t mind waiting at all and again, thanks Clay for making this the best system on the market. I will make it my mission in life to tell as many as possible what a great purchase I made and how glad I am that I did.

[D K]

I am going to second that! I didn’t realize I would start such a large discussion due to my lack of patience. But I must say that Clay and all others involved are amazing and I am so thankful for everything they do. It’s rare to have a company that cares about their product and customers so much. I intend to continue to support wicked edge and enjoy all the amazing products they have to offer. I am soooo excited for the new arms and it will be a treat to get them. Thanks all!

[cbwx34]

There is Clay who listens to his customers and is constantly trying to evolve the perfection everyone wants and betimes he is run ragged doing research and development, finding machinists who are capable of doing the work for a price that will not blow the roof off the cost of the WEPS. At the same time he is trying to sell his creation and visit all the knife shows so his work is shown where it counts. On top of all this he has another business and a family to be there for.

Not to mention the nut jobs that go by and harass him at the office… :whistle: 👿

[Leo James Mitchell]

I am excited too! I have the new arms and the riser block, next comes the new extended degree bar.
As one who was there when the whole question of ‘how good is the WEPS’ first came up on the principal Forums, how good is it really? is it good enough to compete with professional sharpeners? I have to say that the WEPS has evolved enough that we can all safely say that it is indeed really good enough! It now exceeds the abilities of most other sharpeners and is being used by professionals in their businesses. The former nay sayers have fallen silent. In fact some are using the WEPS; some are providing materials for the rig and all are now close friends and supporters.
With the arrival of the new arms/base rod/taller vise, the WEPS is in my estimation, a sharpener to be reckoned with by any other rig in its class…and then some! No fears here!! 😉

Cheers
Leo
P.S. Hmmm! Do I sound like a fan-boy?! LOL!!

[Chris]

It now exceeds the abilities of most other sharpeners

Fan boy?

I have been telling everyone it is the best. 😉

edit – I’m curious about what Clays’ vision for the future is.
Will we ever see these on the shelf in Australia?
Mass produced in China?

[Author]

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