New Review of my WE Pro system

[Amoo]

For any of you that saw my previous thread you will know that I had all kinds of problems with the old arms and had to get a set replaced.  I even voiced the concern that I felt I was being nickle and dimed with the fact WE has had the new arms out for a long time now, but continues to sell us the older arms.  I don’t know how much my feedback went into it and that’s a question probably only Clay himself can answer but I can tell you I am returning my WEPS to the vendor I purchased from (Amazon Prime 30 day guarantee I love you) because WE actually listened to my feedback.  I was ready to type out this long winded review about how great the WE is, but with the recent announcement of the Hapstone Gen 6 I wasn’t going to be recommending the WE to anybody.

 

For those of you who don’t know, the Hapstone Gen 5 is basically a beefy Edge Pro with a magnetic base.  The Hapstone Gen 6 is adding a clamping system, which means WE is no longer the only repeatable clamping system on the market, and they certainly are not selling you old arms they have been limping along for years with brand new units.

 

So which item am I buying for myself?  NOT a Hapstone V6, I will be ordering myself a new WE straight from WE themselves.  Wait, why would I do that after I just talked about how good this new Hapstone Gen 6 is?  Let’s compare dollar for dollar and I’ll explain.  The Hapstone Gen 6 base model with diamond stones is $259, to add the clamp you’re not looking at another $139.  So now we have a base price point to compare to.  Basically for $400 I can get a wicked/edge pro (if you will).

 

Now let’s take a look at WE’s website.  I can now get a WE100 for $325, I need to add $75 to get the 800/1000 grit stones and now we are comparing apples to apples.  Basically for $400 I get the same thing out of my WE.

 

So it comes down to this for me:

1.  The Hapstone has stone compensation, which I find pretty nice, but the WE allows me to sharpen both sides at the same time, which I find even nicer.
2. Hapstone can sharpen from 11-44 degrees while the WE only claims to be able to sharpen 15-30, but we have all found ways around that.
3. Hapstone comes with 100, 240, 400, 800, 1200 & 2000 grit Diamond Stones, WE comes with 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000.  I personally prefer the smoother transition, but some may opt for the finer stone.  Either way I know I can male additions with my WE.
4. One is made in Russia and distributed in the US, the other is made in the US by a company with a great reputation for CS and listening to their customers.
5. Hapstone has a 5 year warranty, WE has a lifetime warranty

So for me, the fact that I can call WE, or email Clay or probably even call him is a big seller for me.  For the first time since WE’s inception, they have a truly  competitive system which can do essentially the same thing theirs can do, which is offer consistent repeat-ability, with a few minor differences.  Between listening to customer feedback and I’m sure knowing what else is out there, WE has taken the steps I would expect a company to take when another product hits the market that is similar.  They have gotten rid of the garbage arms, ball joints for everybody, and they continue to provide new and innovative products (scissor attachment) and do it all while maintaining the great customer service.

 

So I say congrats to Clay and the Wicked Edge Team.  Even after the 3 weeks of mistakes and mishaps that happened with my specific until, I am unwilling to take my business somewhere else, because I still feel I am getting the better product with your new lineup.  The last 3 weeks has shown me WE does care about their customers and customer feedback and also knows their market.  So in a few days I will no longer be the proud owner of a WEPS, but I will be getting a 2017 model WE sometime (hopefully sooner then later) in February.

[Amoo]

Hey Clay/WE,

 

I ordered my new 2017 unit over the weekend and I got an email stating the product shipped already.  Did you guys have these ready to go earlier then expected or did I get lucky?

[378pete]

Congrats. You figured out what the rest of us a all ready know!! Got to deal with the source.

[wickededge]

Amoo wrote:

Hey Clay/WE, I ordered my new 2017 unit over the weekend and I got an email stating the product shipped already. Did you guys have these ready to go earlier then expected or did I get lucky?

Amoo – can you please email me your order details? Address: clay@wickededgeusa.com. I’d like to look at your order and double check something.

-Clay

[Amoo]

wickededge wrote:

Amoo – can you please email me your order details? Address: clay@wickededgeusa.com. I’d like to look at your order and double check something.

Done, already have my unit in hand btw, got here today.  Did ship with the new arms, and I haven’t yet returned the bad arms to you guys as I know these packages are new and wanted to make sure there wasn’t something included that wasn’t supposed to be.  Bad arms should be coming back to you guys NLT Monday.

 

Also, is there somewhere I can purchase WE sticker?  Would love a decal or something to put on my case along with some of the knife brands I have.

[Amoo]

So after my first night with the 2017 WE it’s literally like using a completely different product.  For those curious I ended up going with the new WE120 with a few extras.  The WE120 comes with the Micro adjustable arms and for those anal people out there like me who want that angle cube to read exactly 17.00, now you got it.  In total last night I re-profiled and sharpened 9 kitchen knives.  I sharpened everywhere between 12 and 17.5 degrees per side and by the time I hit my 4th knife, I was bicycling like I had been using the machine for years.  I wasn’t able to do this with the old WE arms, they just weren’t fun or smooth.

For those of us who aren’t sharpening as a business, or even those who are, I think sharpening can and should be therapeutic and enjoyable.  As a customer I should feel like I’m getting the benefits functional upgrades that come along in a product’s lifespan.  If I’m going to spend $375 on just the sharpener before other upgrades, I should enjoy my purchase.  Thanks to a change in WE’s product line, I now do, I feel all of that.  This thing now gives me exactly what I would expect for a product of this price.  I get consistent, repeatable results at exactly the angle(s) I want and now I can bling my system to taste/budget without feeling like I got the short end.  Hell, I spent more on my order for my new WE plus extras then I did on my old Pro Pack 1, and I don’t regret a single thing.  I didn’t spend more because I had to, I spent more because the base product allowed me to.

I decided I wanted a larger work space, so opted out of the WE base and instead mounted my unit on a 16.5″ x 12″ x 2″ 8.5lb bamboo cutting board.  I of coarse added the 800/1000 grit stone as I feel it almost mandatory to work your way to screaming sharp edges.  I already ready have a collection of 5, 3.5, 2.5, 1.5, 1.0, 0.5 and 0.25 Diamond Lapping paste around the house for polishing up other things, so I opted out of the lapping films, but did get 3 leather strops.  If I blow out a strop, $2.00 plus some shipping and I can have new leather on my door in a matter of a few days.  I do hope we see some balsa strips show up eventually in the replacement parts section, as I would have been interested in testing it out, but knew if I took one across a knife edge the wrong way, it was pretty much donezo.

I almost opted for the 1500 Grit diamond stone, but was extremely confused as to where it fits into the micron chart.  We know 1000 Grit is 7 microns.  The 1500 grit would obviously be lower then that, but the product description recommends using 6 and 3 micron lapping films after it.  Shouldn’t a 6 micron film definitely be a step backwards?  Either way I’m definitely going to hold off and wait for this thing to be added to the grit comparison chart before deciding to buy it.  Would really appreciate a video as well on it as I couldn’t even find one via our google overlord.

In closing, thank you Clay and WE for making these changes.  I no longer feel obligated to upgrade old technology because the “starter sets” now include some of the newer tech.  I have a product I am happy with and proud of and leaves no doubt in my mind I bought the right product for the job.  I now feel I’m starting with an acceptable base product and am free to customize as I see fit, without feeling “nickle and dimed” like I did previously.  This is a vast improvement and I can’t thank you enough for taking honest feedback to heart.  I really love this product and really have great respect for the entire company.

1 user thanked author for this post.

wickededge

[wickededge]

I’m glad you’re enjoying it! We often get questions about our recommendation to go back to a larger grit with the strops after a finer stone. The reason it works well is that strops behave very differently from stones in that the substrate of the strop is compressible, so you don’t get as much of the grit contacting the blade, nor with as much force as you do from a stone. Said simply, it’s just not apples to apples when it comes to grits. It’s further complicated when you get into abrasives that are friable or when the stone has been manufactured by sintering, which melts the particles together in a fairly random way. Ultimately we want to completely redo our grit chart based on the width and hopefully depth of scratches that each of our abrasives leaves. We just need to get a cooperative SEM operator to work with us on it 🙂

-Clay

1 user thanked author for this post.

Amoo

[Amoo]

wickededge wrote:

I’m glad you’re enjoying it! We often get questions about our recommendation to go back to a larger grit with the strops after a finer stone. The reason it works well is that strops behave very differently from stones in that the substrate of the strop is compressible, so you don’t get as much of the grit contacting the blade, nor with as much force as you do from a stone. Said simply, it’s just not apples to apples when it comes to grits. It’s further complicated when you get into abrasives that are friable or when the stone has been manufactured by sintering, which melts the particles together in a fairly random way. Ultimately we want to completely redo our grit chart based on the width and hopefully depth of scratches that each of our abrasives leaves. We just need to get a cooperative SEM operator to work with us on it

This does make sense Clay, and it is reflected in the pictures that are currently up for the current grit chart when you look at the different between stones and pastes.

 

I do have one additional question.  If I remove my clamp from the base and zero my angle cube on the base, I can verify my WE is level on my Bamboo base.  Now if I set my angle cube on the guide where the arms ride and zero it, then set my angle cube on the base it reads .45 degrees.  Essentially I can see by eyeing it my guide rod is higher on the left then the right.

 

My question is this.  When I am zeroing my angle cube then setting the angle on my stones, should I zero my cube on the rod where the arms ride or should I zero my cube on the bamboo base?

[tcmeyer]

I know that I’m not in line with WE’s grit chart, but I use a chart I copied from AdvancedAbrasives.com.  I see that they don’t have the chart on their website anymore, but I have it in spreadsheet form.

The chart listed 1000 grit as being approximately 17-18 microns.  They listed 1500 grit as being about 13 microns.  Six microns was listed as 3000 grit.  If we are to believe these numbers, there is no “step backwards” and the progression seems to make sense.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Amoo, Organic

[Amoo]

It’s my understanding from my reading that not all diamond stones are the same.  I guess the best way to compare it would be two different companies version of the same steel.  They may both heat treat to the same rockwell hardness, but differences in  process itself would cause you to have different toughness properties.  So essentially not every 1K grit diamond stone will be exactly the same in terms of micron.

 

This is good discussion, but sadly doesn’t resolve my angle issue. 🙁

[wickededge]

Amoo – My first guess would be that your bamboo base isn’t entirely flat. Next I would wonder if there is a difference in height from the bottom of the degree bar to the bamboo base from one side to the other. Once I’d gotten answers to both of those, then I’d be able to dig in deeper about how the angles of the stones are being affected.

-Clay

[Amoo]

Clay,

When I set the base on  known level surface and place the level on both the surface and then the bamboo board, it’s showing no difference.

On the left side the arm is 7mm off the base.  On the right side it is a hair below 6mm.  I could always take the WE off of the base and set on on a different surface and see if I get the same results, let me try that, sec.

Ok upon taking the WE off the base I can see a small little metal bur on the bottom corner of the WE base, sanded that down, put it back on the bamboo and we’re now good to go.

So problem solved.

 

I have one final question about the 1500 grit stone.  Do you feel I would be able to go from 1K > 1.5K > > 5micron Alum oxide >4micron diamond emulsion?

I was looking at order the 4, 2, 1 and .5micron diamond emulsion sprays for times when I want to go to a super mirror edge and was curious if the 5 micron alum oxide would be enough to get the scratches out and get me into the DE Sprays or if I would be unhappy?  I feel the Diamond Lapping Films a little too rich for my blood for a consumable (not that I feel they aren’t priced appropriately), so am trying to find a work around which will deliver close to equal results.

 

Wanted to add to tcmeyer, I appreciate the discussion about the stone microns, I hope I didn’t come off dismissive or condescending.  I know I’ll be coming to you if and when I decide I need to go to even the next level and time to get a USB microscope 😛

[wickededge]

Amoo,

I think you should be good to go with that progression. The alum oxide is a little slower to work but gets you there in the end.

-Clay

[Amoo]

Awesome, placed my order, looks like the 1500/glass is on backorder, hopefully those come in sooner then later.

[Author]

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