NEW HANDLES

[Pinkfloyd]

Hi All,

I have finally made the upgrade from my WE130 to the Gen 3 Pro sharpener with the new rods, new handles. Totally different feel and sound as the new handles are slid up and down the rods (has anyone else noticed this difference in sound?). One of my old 800/1000 hones wont even slide on either of the new rods, gets stuck right before rod exits the top of the hone. Took a little while to get use to the new feel, sound, resistance feeling of the new rods, hones. But I like it, especially the way the angle cube is more precise and repeatable now you upgrade with just the hone sitting on the knife.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to upgrade old glass platen handles to the new handles, also old leather strop handles?

2 users thanked author for this post.

wickededge, Mark76

[Marc H]

Yes the sound is noticeably different, for me more of a whispy sound.  I think you’ll notice an improvement with all your older stones.  I haven’t found any old stones that were too tight to fit the new rods.  Unless you use your glass platens often, if they fit the new rods I’d continue to use them without replacing them. Just my O. I don’t use them that much.  I’m more about sharp and durable than shiny and polished.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

2 users thanked author for this post.

wickededge, Mark76

[tcmeyer]

Pinkfloyd wrote:

One of my old 800/1000 hones wont even slide on either of the new rods, gets stuck right before rod exits the top of the hone. Took a little while to get use to the new feel, sound, resistance feeling of the new rods, hones. But I like it, especially the way the angle cube is more precise and repeatable now you upgrade with just the hone sitting on the knife. Do you think it would be worthwhile to upgrade old glass platen handles to the new handles, also old leather strop handles?

Have you tried to clean the bore of your tight handle?  I use a rifle cleaning bronze brush to scrub out any collected crud.  I also make it a point to wipe the rods down with a solvent on a rag.  I use lacquer thinner.  One of the issues Clay has addressed with the new handles had to do with the polypropylene used in the handle not being reliably consistent.  They went to ABS so they could mold the handles to a tighter specification.  If cleaning doesn’t free things up, you may need to run a drill bit through the bore, or if that doesn’t solve it, buy a new set of blank handles and move the platens from the old handles to the blank ones.

I don’t think you can remove the glass platens without breaking them, but I’ve never tried it.  The glass looks pretty thin, but it could be some high-strength version.  When I made my own glass-platen handles, the first version used plain old single-strength glass.  They broke pretty easily so I made a next version with 1/4″ plate glass.  I attached them with super glue instead of the VHB tape, figuring that super glue would release when exposed to heat.  I never looked real close at my 1500/glass handles to see how the glass is attached.

My glass handles worked pretty good, but every now and then I’d find a major scratch on the knife I’d caused by hitting the face grind with an edge of the glass.  Since then, I’ve switched to brass as a platen material.  No more scratches.

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Pinkfloyd, wickededge, Marc H

[Pinkfloyd]

Thanks Tom,

Tried my 9mm brush, really tight, but got it thru, didn’t help. With old rods when I first got them, I taped threaded end of rod and used a drill motor to spin rod on a cloth with Flitz on it. Might try on new rods just to clean, smooth. I will eventually purchase all new hones, Glass Blanks, Leather Strops with new handles for the Gen 3 Pro. Only ones im waffling about is the ceramics. I think they work good, but I see others on here say get away from them. The new sound of the handles sliding on the new rods I liken it to running your finger nails up and down a nylon jacket. Might Let my son get real familiar with the old WE130 setup

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tcmeyer

[Marc H]

“Word to the Wise” when buying new handles…there are resellers, (e.g., Amazon.com) and other companies selling Wicked Edge Products.  If you don’t know for sure whether you’re replacement order will be fulfilled with New Style Wicked Edge Handles, only order them directly from WE.  I placed an order for a full set of new handles about one week before WE announced they had new style handles, ready.  I received a complete set of new, in the original package, old style, old stock handles.  So obviously there is still some old stock out there waiting to be purchased.

 

 

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mark76

[tcmeyer]

Pinkfloyd wrote:

Thanks Tom, Tried my 9mm brush, really tight, but got it thru, didn’t help. With old rods when I first got them, I taped threaded end of rod and used a drill motor to spin rod on a cloth with Flitz on it. Might try on new rods just to clean, smooth. I will eventually purchase all new hones, Glass Blanks, Leather Strops with new handles for the Gen 3 Pro. Only ones im waffling about is the ceramics. I think they work good, but I see others on here say get away from them. The new sound of the handles sliding on the new rods I liken it to running your finger nails up and down a nylon jacket. Might Let my son get real familiar with the old WE130 setup

Hi Floyd:

Spinning the rod in the bore with some form of lapping compound is exactly what I did to my handles with bushings, but I suspect that trying to lap a soft plastic is a no-win situation.  Compared to the Flitz paste, the plastic is self-lubricating.  For lapping, both materials need to be hard.   Even sandpaper doesn’t work well on plastic.

If you have access to a set of machinists’ drill bits, try running a letter-size F (0.257″) bit in from both ends.  That having failed, you can move up the chart to a “G” drill (0.261″) or even to a 17/64″ (0.2656″).  As with the Flitz, the plastic will resist the bite of the drill bits, so you won’t actually open up the bore all that much.  In an attempt to avoid opening up the orifices at the handle ends, try to push the drill into the center of the handle before spinning it.  After spinning it at low speed for a while, stop the drill before withdrawing it from the bore.  Hopefully, you’ll reach a point where the rods slide easily.

All that having been said, you might want to ask Clay for a replacement blank handle.  If he’s not inclined to give you a new one, a pair of the new ones cost only $25 and you’ll know that it’s the right size.  The color may be wrong (red & white) but you can pretend to be color blind. 🙂

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Mark76, Marc H

[wickededge]

A 1/4″ rat-tail file works great, especially if you chuck it up in a drill and let it lightly abrade the sides of the bore.

-Clay

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Pinkfloyd, Mark76, Organic, Marc H

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