One of the first knives I initially sharpened with my WE is the spyderco PM2. With the way the standard stones are mounted on the paddles, there is a small gap from the plastic where the stones are set into the paddles. For most knives this wasn’t a big deal, but for knives like the PM2 that have a larger ricasso with a choil and plunge line that all meet in a relatively small area, this typically left a 1/16″ to 1/8″ gap of the blade that could not be sharpened. I had seen others who got around this issue by grinding that plastic portion off, but wanting to keep my hands safer I decided to test out something else before building it out on a set of blank paddles.
I ordered 2 DMT Coarse 1″ machinist stones (3/16″ thick), 2 of the 1″X6″X1/8″ 400 grit mold master stones, 2 of the spyderco medium pocket stones (1″W X 1/8″thick), and 2 of the spyderco fine pocket stones (1″W X 1/8″ thick). I had recently picked up a Gayle Bradley that has a similar although with a lower ricasso than the PM2 that I wanted to sharpen with my new set up. I took my 100 grit paddles and rubber banded the DMT machinist stones to them and went to town. The factory edge on the Gayle Bradley seemed to be 18 degrees so I went with this angle. Almost immediately I could see I was able to sharpen the full blade and not limited as I was with the stock paddles. Overall I am really happy and will order some blank handles to make my new paddles although it would be great if something similar was offered off the shelf.
First photo is of the PM2 with the stock stones finished up to the 1600 grit ceramics and stropped up to 1/2 micron diamond paste.
The second photo is the Gayle Bradley with the stone mods and progression listed earlier stropped on 4 and 2 micron Bark River CBN paste finished on BR white compound.
.
