The knives have been sharpened with the WE were very sharp, my question is where do I start on doing the maintenance of bringing back the edge I got the first…suggestions/tips?
Ok, I did not see this to begin with. Are you asking how to touch up a knife that you already have sharpened once on the WEPS, but needs an edge refresh.
If you write down all of the pertinent data when you sharpen each knife, it should be easy to go back and duplicate the edge pretty quickly for a touch up. You should record the length from the center of the jaws to the tip of the knife, which set of holes you used to set the depth in the vise, and, of course, the angle that you used to set the edge.
Next time, just use the same settings. Lately I have been starting with the 800 diamonds and going finer from there as my mood dictates, for a touch up. 800/1000 and a bit of stropping may well be all that you need to use. If you know all of the info and set things up the same, you do not have to remove much metal to apex the edge and get the blade sharp.
If you have not recorded the information, you will need to use the Sharpie marker on the edge to verify blade placement and angles. This is no different than any knife that you are starting from scratch on. But do record the information for the next time once you determine the correct placement. But, still, once the blade is located properly, you should not need to remove much metal to get it sharp. In other words, it is not necessary to start with your coarsest stones and to draw a burr for a touch up.
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