Sneak Peak

[Ken Buzbee]

I’ve got some prototypes of the new low angle adapter in. This piece allows for reducing the angle by approximately 7 degrees from what is stated on the degree bar. In the photos is pictured a cheap 4″ utility blade measuring .75″ from spine to edge. I’d love some feedback on this new accessory.

My main concern would be stability. I just reprofiled an S30V and was really pressing hard with the 100 stones (and it still took forever). My immediate thought was of the primary clamp releasing the secondary clamp during a down-stroke, and all kinds of bloody havoc breaking out (literally!). Then there’s the lesser issue of the secondary clamp (or knife) shifting during some hard work.

I’m betting these were primary concerns of yours as well, but since you asked. 🙂

-Pie[/quote]

Don’t take this wrong, but it sounds like you may be using a tad too much force. 😉

Ken

[Phil Pasteur]

Agreed. I know that after a long time with the stones and slow progress…. one might be tempted to use more force, perhaps thinking that this would speed things up. Indeedme at one point. Now I find that it is better to use scrubbing…either circular (most aggressive), or up and down, moving the stones fast, but not applying a great deal of pressure…gets faster results. You also don’t end up with these huge gouges that need to be removed.

In any case, soon I will let you know how this works out…using my techniques.

Phil

[R. Jeffrey Coates]

I will be interested to see the results of the field tests.

I just finished a set of 24 steak knives. 18 deg. narrow blades . . . tough to do on WEPS. At times wanted to revert to my old APEX ( which handles small blades well ) Hopefully this will enhance the versatility so that I can do all my small kitchen knives on WEPS at acute angles. I have many more small knives to do (paring knives and the like)

I’d offer to test for you, but you seem to have it well in hand and I am unsure that I am qualified to give the technical feedback you need.

If you need more input I am available. In any event I will be an early adopter.

[Eating Pie]

Don’t take this wrong, but it sounds like you may be using a tad too much force. 😉

Agreed. I know that after a long time with the stones and slow progress…. one might be tempted to use more force, perhaps thinking that this would speed things up. Indeedme at one point. Now I find that it is better to use scrubbing…either circular (most aggressive), or up and down, moving the stones fast, but not applying a great deal of pressure…gets faster results. You also don’t end up with these huge gouges that need to be removed.

All I gots to say is… S30V man… S-30-Frickin-V!

😀

I would never use that amount of force on the extended clamp. But I still would have the same concerns about strength and stability.

-Pie

[cbwx34]

….after a long time with the stones and slow progress…. one might be tempted to use more force, perhaps thinking that this would speed things up.

Yup… that little devil permanently resides on my shoulder! 👿 Don’t succumb!

[Phil Pasteur]

I got the low angle vise extension today. I hve not done any sharpening with it yet, but will try to get to that soon.

The extension is very nicely done. The fit and finish is very good. I could not tell form the pictures, but it is robust and the stock jaws fit securely into the notches on either side. It locks securely into the vise. I don’t think, if the vise is tightened properly, that you would ever have any problem with the extension moving at all. I picked up my entire weps, with the 15 pound synthetic marble base and shook it … only hold on to the extension. It seems very solid… extremely solid!
The next step is to chuck up a blade and see how that goes. From the looks of the device, I don’t forsee any problems.

More to come..

Phil

[Ken Buzbee]

Arrived yesterday.

As mentioned, the quality, fit and finish are terrific. It mounts solidly and clamped both itself and the knife very well.

My main reason for wanting to try this was a group of knives I use regularly but have to sharpen on other devices as on the WEPS (as already upgraded) I just can’t get the angles I wanted. Sure, I can put say 40° edges on them, but that kinda restricts what are otherwise very nice knives.

I keep most of my knives in the 22°-26° range and that’s where I wanted these:

An Opinel paring knife I use every single day!

My Bradley Air:

And a small Opinel folder:

Sharpening on all three went without a hitch. I have to admit, I tried to take the edge on the paring knife lower and wound up shaving the outside top edge off of the adapter 😉 I would guess we’ve all done this on the base unit? Well, it happened here too. I guess there is no limit to how low we want to go?

I’m not sure why the bottom screw sticks out so far, but it isn’t an issue because, as mentioned, you hit the clamp before the screw.

Now that I know I can do my “little guys” on it, my next project is a full reprofile on my Roselli Astrid. It’s a very hard carbon steel and should go low nicely.

While the stock arms worked fine for these, I’m guessing a larger knife would benefit from some added length.

Thanks Clay! This thing is really headed in the right direction.

Ken

[cbwx34]

I guess there is no limit to how low we want to go?

Ain’t that the truth!!! :woohoo:

Thanks for the review and photos. (Nice little base you got there too.)

[Ken Buzbee]

(Nice little base you got there too.)

Thanks. It’s small but it works really well. Makes me think Clay should offer a mini base. Heavier than mine. Mine’s just wood and it had no problem holding that mower blade. Double the weight and neoprene bottom and I think it would be a terrific product.

Ken

[Ken Buzbee]

As mentioned, my next project was my Roselli Astrid. For anyone who likes carbon steels, I can’t recommend Roselli’s kitchen line highly enough. The UHC (ultra high carbon) blades are spectacular. And very, VERY hard. This may well be the hardest knife I’ve sharpened on the WEPS.

Top to bottom:Fosters Brothers carbon chefs, Astrid, 2x Opinel paring knives.

As I suspected, this knife gave me problems using the adapter. It’s a standard sized chefs knife and to use the whole (okay, most of the) stone the rod travelled to around 1/2 way into the paddle. At 1/4 way in I had ~1/2° “wobble” in the stone. By half way in it was up to 2°.

Maybe this could still work but you’d wind up with a convexed edge at best. I wanted a nice straight bevel so I’m doing the Astrid on the base without the adapter.

Next project for the adapter is a Spyderco Balance. I think that will work a treat. But it’s going to wait until I finish the Astrid, and that is looking like it’s going to take a while.

Ken

[Phil Pasteur]

I finally had a some time to actually put a knife into the new extension yesterday to see how it works.
I took some photos , but I will have to attach them later. The camera is not where I am at the moment.

I used a relatively small blade as a sort of worst case scenario.The knife was a Kershaw OD-2. They claim that this blade is 2.25″, but the cutting edge is under two inches long. The reason it is “worst case” is that the widest part of the blade maybe 0.5″ max. I wanted to see the minimum angle it could get narrow blade.

There is a sort of shelf machined into the thicker of the two jaws. Since there are no holes for a depth pin, I figured this would be a good height reference. The problem with using that reference with the OD-2 is that the little knife would be almost entirely covered up by the jaws. It was pretty obvious that this would mean no small anges for that configuration.

I ended up mounting the little knife as high as I could in the extension clamp. At that point I could get my angles set to 14.40 to 14.60 (more about that in a minute). Even at this angle, to get the tip, I was grinding away at the jaws of the extension. I had to angle the tip up a bit to get the stones to clear the vice.

As I said, this is a worst case. A knife with distance from the spine to the edge of 0.75′ or more would make it much easier to hit lower angles. The taller the knife, the lower tha angle we should be able to get. I intend to try with a taller knife in the near future. I did not finish the OD-2 because of distractions. Once I am done with it I will find another candidate that might be more rperesentaive of a typical sharpening job.

I agree with Ken. The angle chages with the handles having to travel off of the rod over about 25% is too much. Just extending them to get them layng on this small knife to set the angles allowed 0.20 to 0.60 changes in the angle cube reading depending on what part of the stone was on the blade and where pressure is applied to the stone. This extension just cries for arms that are at least 3 maybe better 4 inches longer. I measure my arms at 7.5″ from the lock nut to the tip. I might go so far as to say that 12″ of usable lenght beyond the lock nut would be even better. This would be especially true if we want to sharpen any of the larger knives, such as Ken’s chef knives or a 240 mm Gyoto.

One further thought, when I was reprofiling the OD-2, I went from probably 19 degrees per side to about 14.40, obviously I hade to remove a bit of material. When I was grinding away, I noticed some visible flexing in the whole assembly. Now I try to follow my own advice and not go too crazy with pressure when I reprofile, but I know I was using more pressure than I typically do with the finer grits. Anyway, I checked and everything was quite tight. There was no mechanical slop to be found. The only thing I can think of is that the extension itself was giving slightly laterally. Now this was not a huge amount of deflection, and we would not likely ever notice it during normal sharpening with the recommended light pressures involved there. I just want to make the point that this device is one that will require you to use a light touch if you demand precision. No picking up your base while sharpening using this guy… 👿

I will get back later and post some of the photos. I will also report on the next “taller” but not over about 3.5″ long (not enough length to my arms)… 🙁 knife.

[cbwx34]

I used a relatively small blade as a sort of worst case scenario.The knife was a Kershaw OD-2. They claim that this blade is 2.25″, but the cutting edge is under two inches long. The reason it is “worst case” is that the widest part of the blade maybe 0.5″ max. I wanted to see the minimum angle it could get narrow blade.

…

I ended up mounting the little knife as high as I could in the extension clamp. At that point I could get my angles set to 14.40 to 14.60

Interesting. I was going to ask if a comparison could be made between, “what angle can you reach without the extension, vs. with the extension”. Since I have an OD-2, I figured I could answer the 1st part. I thought of this because I made a home made extension a while back, and was surprised that on some of the knives I tried, I couldn’t get much lower. I just dismissed it as a poor design (I had cut and screwed pieces of a lansky clamp together… it looked like a poor Frankenstein creation). 😳

Here’s the thing. Just setting the knife as high as possible in the clamp, I can pretty much reach the same angle you’re hitting with the extension…

… tried both sides, cleared the clamp without issue.

So, I’m wondering if the extension might work better for knives that are taller? Maybe you and Ken (and whoever else got one) can make a comparison in that regard…. try the knives you test both with and without the extension.

I’m sure it makes a difference (as evidenced by Clay’s photos)… maybe small knives actually isn’t the best check though? A comparison of “taller” knives that you mentioned might show a better difference.

Attachments:

• image_2013-04-29.jpg

[Josh]

Very interesting Curtis… Well I got mine in so I’m planning on getting to it tonight! Will post photos and first impressions when done 🙂

[Phil Pasteur]

I was very surprised that I could not get any lower with the extension. This especially after seeing the photos that Clay took.

There is no question that a “taller” (meaning greater distance from edge to spine) would allow use of the attachment to better effect. This could be seen easily by noting what I saw. When the blade was clamped so that the stones would just miss the edge of the jaws when sharpening the part of the blade right by the handle, the stones would hit the clamp when trying to sharpen the tip where the distance from the spins to the edge is less. This was why I had to angle the tip up to sharpen it at all at my chosen angle (without grinding the jaws of the extension away to nothing)..:ohmy:

Once I finish the OD-2, I will clamp it up in the stock vise to see what angle I can achieve.

[Mark]

I just tried a Forshner legging knife, 7/8 wide 5″ long and the best I could get without the extension was 14.8 degrees. Using the same settings with the extension I was able to get 9.6 on one side but couldn’t clear the top screw on the other. I had to back it off to 10.3 to clear everything. I have a chinese cleaver at 2 5/8 wide that I am going to try later.

[Author]

Posts