New to the Forum

[Ian Minton]

Hi Gang,

My name is Ian and I’m from the Chicagoland area. I’m not new to knives but I’m new to the Wicked Edge system and am slowly and carefully trying to figure out which system is right for me.

I own quite a few nice kitchen knives and some CR Sebenzas (21 and 25) as well as Hinderer, Spyderco, and Benchmade.

What I’m looking for is a system that can get a very high mirror polish on but removing minimal metal from the blade edge. It looks like the WES is perfect for that but I’m confused by how many different WE Systems there are out there and having a hard time figuring out which is good for me.

My method in the past has been stropping mostly, and I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker with the Ultra Fine Rods that I use as well when needed. Occasionally I’ll use 1500, 2000, 2500 grit wet dry sandpaper as well which has worked fairly well.

I’d like to change this though, I don’t want to be all over the board with different platforms and methods, I’d like one unified platform that has an absolutely replicable process for me to use to get a perfect mirror polish every time.

Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated!

[Geocyclist]

Hey Ian,

Welcome to the forum. I would suggest the Pro Pack 2 or get a Pro Pack and get the upgrade arms kit. A plain Pro Pack will get the job done just fine. The Pro Pack 2 is a good bit more, but everything extra that comes with it I use and upgrade arms are great. They are not required but make precision stropping much easier as they better allow for micro angle adjustment.

I don’t know much about the new Gen 3 system. It looks like the strengths are simplicity and the ability to better center a full flat ground blade.

If you want mirror polished edges I 100% recommend the WE. This is system for getting mirror edges. You already know about stropping. I would also recommend water stones to make getting the mirror polish easier.

[Mark76]

Welcome to the forum, Ian! I think you made a great choice for the WEPS if you want mirror edges. There’s no system you can be more precise with.

For mirror edges I’d recommend the stock diamond stones, followed by the ceramic ones (either 0.6 / 1.4 or 1200 / 1600) followed by a leather strop with WE paste. You can go even further, but for that you need Chosera stones.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Austin Nelson]

Chicagoland eh?

Austin

[Author]

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