New to Wicked Edge
- This topic has 14 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 04/30/2019 at 11:29 am by
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Mike, anything you can find at your hardware store that will slide down onto your guide rods but stay in place are stone stops. I found rubber washers at Home Depot on the plumbing aisle in a faucet repair kit. Cheap and effective.
Are you right handed? My right dominant side with more coordination, efficiency and strength, yielded taller bevels when I was first learning my technique. It was just easier for me to do a better job with my right hand then my left hand. This was exhibited by a taller, better formed and cleaner bevel then my left hand bevels. It took a conscious effort and attention to detail to tone down my right hand and tune up my left hand to balance out the results. It took me practice, practice, practice with constant attention.
I found working each side bevel independently/separately from the other bevel helped me pay the attention I needed. It also let me control the results by limiting, or extending the time I worked on each side. That way my right side didn’t run away on me. I learned to keep closer watch on my bevel progress to balance out the results as I was at it. Before I discovered it at the end.
After I get my bevels even and well formed working them one side at a time. I then work both bevels alternatingly, left-right-left-right to bring the apex together. Then I move up a grit and start over again. Back to one side at a time.
Pressure was key. I curbed my right hand pressure and learned to lighten it up while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of my left hand pressure and technique. Now I constantly inspect my progress. That way I can give more effort to where it’s needed. The bottom line is it’s comes with experience gained with time spent sharpening and attention to detail.
Marc
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I had a length of 3/4″ UHMW plastic rod, which I cut into two sets of 5mm, 10mm, 15mm, and 25mm sections. I then drilled center holes in them with a 17/64″ drill bit. The set lets me stack up any combination from 5mm to 55mm. No reason you couldn’t make it out of a wood dowel, and it doesn’t have to be 3/4″ diameter and the holes don’t need to be perfectly centered.
Marc, I do use a digital angle cube to make sure my angles are correct. I also bought a jewelers loupe and a usb microscope from recommendations from the forum. I’m learning what to look at with the loupe, but I haven’t messed with the microscope much yet, I know that the microscope will be safer to use. I’ll take both yours and TC’s suggestions the next time I go to a big box store to look for some stone stops. Thanks again.
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Anything you can find at your hardware store that will slide down onto your guide rods but stay in place are stone stops.
Indeed, but let me recommend you to use clamping shaft collars as paddle stops. Once you secure the collars on the guide rods, they will stay in place, even when you hit them multiple times while moving the paddles.
However, do avoid collars with set screws as they might damage your guide rods.
I found these https://www.mcmaster.com/shaft-collars but I’m stuck because I can’t find the rods diameter anywhere. I have the WE130 and I bought the 12 inch rods for it.
Get the “Threaded Shaft Collars”, and buy four of them.
When you have the 12 inch rods, it’s often a good idea to use clamps on both ends of the rods.
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I bought the aluminum two-piece collars from Amazon: Climax Metal 2C-025-A Aluminum Two-Piece Clamping Collar, 1/4″ Bore Size, 11/16″ OD, With 4-40 x 3/8 Set Screw and they work just fine. I have rods that measure 0.257″. They’re a little under-sized, but in this application,they don’t have to fit perfectly.
<h1 id=”title” class=”a-size-large a-spacing-none”></h1>Thanks TC, I ordered a pair of the collars.
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Roy, it all depends on how long your rods are. Some folks have 10-12 and 15″ long guide rods. Not sure what you have on the 130. With the shorter rods, a collar or stone stop if you will, placed at the bottom of the rod when sharpening a taller knife will keep the top of the stone from dropping below the bevel of the knife. If it is allowed to drop you may scratch parts of the knife you do not wish to scratch or damage the bevel with the rod. With the long extended rods a second set put above the stones does the same thing only this set keeps the stone from going to high and coming up off the bevel of the knife.
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