Proper Knife position??

[uilleann]

I am coming from the world of KME. The best position to put the jaws was a midpoint between the start of the blade spine to the tip and at an angle where the jaws are parallel to a line drawn between the tip and heel of the edge.  Then do a magic marker on the edge and see what you get and adjust as necessary.  For me, most of the time, this worked without much correction.

On the WE both the instructions and most, if not all, of the videos show you set the knife spine on the alignment stops about mid way along the blade.  That puts the knife spine parallel to the WE base, regardless of edge geometry. Then do the magic marker thing and adjust the knife position to ger an even edge.  From the videos it looks like you get some good edges out of this.

But why do both of these methods work, which one gets you closest to the right position.  One advantave of the WE method is  it gives you an easily repeatable position.

 

[Mark76]

It depends on what your goal is. If you want repeatability on a WEPS, put the knife parallel to the WEPS blade. However, this may cause some deviations at the curves (usually at the end). See this link for finding the “sweet spot”. I have no experience with the KME.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[cbwx34]

uilleann wrote:

I am coming from the world of KME. The best position to put the jaws was a midpoint between the start of the blade spine to the tip and at an angle where the jaws are parallel to a line drawn between the tip and heel of the edge. Then do a magic marker on the edge and see what you get and adjust as necessary. For me, most of the time, this worked without much correction. On the WE both the instructions and most, if not all, of the videos show you set the knife spine on the alignment stops about mid way along the blade. That puts the knife spine parallel to the WE base, regardless of edge geometry. Then do the magic marker thing and adjust the knife position to ger an even edge. From the videos it looks like you get some good edges out of this. But why do both of these methods work, which one gets you closest to the right position. One advantave of the WE method is it gives you an easily repeatable position.

Both methods work because the pivot doesn’t “see” parallel… here’s a thread that talks about it in length…

Advanced alignment guide

(p.s.  also applies to the KME… just not as noticeable because of the orientation).

[Marc H]

You can achieve a extremely consistent repeatable edge with the WE as long as you clamp each knife you sharpen to completion exactly the same way and orientation each successive time you clamp to sharpen that same knife. The WE “Advance Alignment Guide” is one tool to use to help you do that.

I employ a similar method you did with the KME. I sharpen almost exclusively Kitchen Knives. I center the knife as close to center in the WE Clamp as I can, using the “WE Standard Alignment Guide” in the bottom holes with the double pin, aligned between heel and tip of the knife. I then tilt the knife usually handle down and tip up rotating the knife so the heel maintains contact with the rear pin only. (again, I almost always use the bottom pin holes). I parallel an imagined or perceived line I picture from the knife tip to the heel to the top of the clamp. Until you get the technique down you can hold a straight edge between the tip and heel or even apply a strip of blue tape between these points across the knife. Just like you described with your KME. I’m only raising the knife around 1/4″ at the most above the front pin to get that parallel mental picture. To double check my forward-back position (before I tilt the heel down), with the knife tightly clamped, I remove the Alignment Guide flip it around to the rear to make sure the letter is the same as the letter on the tip when it’s facing forward.

I maintain a chart with these mounting numbers and any sharpening particulars for each knife I sharpen. Then if I were to forget I can reference the chart. For me I employ the exact same technique for every knife so really it’s easy for me to duplicate the same position. After doing it so many times it’s “second nature”.

I have found that I can touch up a fairly highly polished edge with minimal effort starting at a high grit stone and hit the bevel right on it with this method, time and time again. Even doing it months later.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[Author]

Posts