New Owner WE130

[James]

Well I finally went for it and purchased a WE130 with a quartz stone base and up to 1000 grit stones.   Not entirely impressed with it after my first kitchen knife sharpening but I’m going to give the stones a fair chance to break in before I decided to keep it or not. I will also more than likely add a few more finer grit stones plus leather strops or lapping film…  I spent countless hours researching and reading up on how to use the sharpener before I made this purchase so I have a basic idea of how to it functions.

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[Dwight Glass]

Welcome James

Enjoy and be safe.

[000Robert]

James wrote:

Well I finally went for it and purchased a WE130 with a quartz stone base and up to 1000 grit stones. Not entirely impressed with it after my first kitchen knife sharpening but I’m going to give the stones a fair chance to break in before I decided to keep it or not. I will also more than likely add a few more finer grit stones plus leather strops or lapping film… I spent countless hours researching and reading up on how to use the sharpener before I made this purchase so I have a basic idea of how to it functions.

Welcome to the forum, James. Yep, the stones need to be broken-in. I used about 8 or so junk knives to break mine in. And I broke my 50/80 stones in on some chisels after I bought the Chisel Adapter. But the Wicked Edge system is the best that I could find since you can work both edges without flipping the blade around or unclamping it. It would be nice if the stones came already broken in, but of course they would cost more.

[tcmeyer]

When I got my first rig, I was wickedly (!) happy with the edges I was getting with stones only up to 600 grit and certainly before they were broken in.

If I was not achieving the edge quality I expected, I would consider my technique above all.  Am I holding the stones consistently and am I keeping my grip below the edge – as far as that’s practical.  Failure to follow-through is a common problem.  Allow the stone to lay flat against the edge, but keep them in alignment as they continue beyond the edge.  Don’t let the stone “roll” around the tip or heel.

If you’re confident in your technique, examine the stones and check them with the digital angle-cube.  Check both sides of each stone for errors.  You can also “flip” the stones to see if the angles match.  There have been cases of platens which were not nested completely in their pocket.  The result is an incorrect angle setting for both sides of the stone making it impossible to make an accurate setting.  I’ve had two 800/1000-grit stones with this problem.  One I fixed by cutting off the end of the plastic handle which was preventing the stone from seating properly.  The other was a case of the adhesive tape needing replacement.

If you have a caliper or a 1″ to 2″ micrometer, you can measure the ends of the platens from face to face.  If there’s a difference of more than about 0.010″ from one end to the other, you may have a problem child.  Note that this is within a single given stone.  Coarser grits will measure thicker than finer grits, simply because there are bigger diamond particles built up on the face of the platens.  This is actually convenient because each successive grit will have a slightly higher angle, which assures that each grit will touch the apex.

Hope this helps you.

1 user thanked author for this post.

James

[000Robert]

I have a couple of stones that are different from side to side. I didn’t worry about it much because I use my angle cube and check the angles every time that I change grits.

[James]

Sharpened my 2nd kitchen knife at 17°  today and getting better results.  The edge wasn’t as “toothy” but I still think I need to invest in higher grit stones plus lapping film/strops.   Though I’m not entirely satisfied with my 2nd knife it still passed the paper test easily.

I’m wanting to get that smooth hair shaving edge on a kitchen knife before I attempted to cut into my 20cv steel blades.

[Marc H]

Keep at it James.  When you see your edges are improving, you’re on the right track.  Don’t be afraid to use each grit thoroughly before moving on to the next finer grit stone.  More time and effort with each stone is far better than not enough.  When in doubt, more is better.  You can’t overdo it.  Proper technique, consistency,  enough time and effort with attention to detail are key to sharpening your knives well with a W.E.P.S.

A well sharpened edge, done with your WE130, finished just through 1000 grit and followed up with stropping will easily shave arm hair and easily pass a paper slice test.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[000Robert]

It’s been a couple of months since I sharpened my leather knife. I polished it to 3000 grit. I’ve cut quite a bit of leather with it and it will still push cut printer receipts after a good stropping.

[Author]

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