Some new blades I got.

[Alex]

Hello everyone.First time posting here. (moderator) If this isn’t the correct forum for this post feel free to move it.

I’m new to the WE system, and also new to collecting some knives. I got the system about 3 weeks ago and so far I have nothing to be upset about other than the whole in my wallet and some minor cuts on my fingers.

Prior to getting the WE, I watched hours of videos and as much as the system it is quite easy to use it sure does have a learning curve when it comes to position the knife and properly going through the grits. I’m finding the learning part of it to be somehow relaxing up to now.

There are a few things I’d like to ask though. I got the WE130 plus 800/1000 1500/2200 and 3000/glass with the 6m film and then the 2/4m leather with diamond paste. I was contemplating the ceramic set but I’m not sure if I really need that and if I do where in the progression it could be useful, or just get some more lapping films finer the the 6m.

So far I’m content with the finish I’m getting as the bevels are nice and shiny but not mirror ( at least on the USB scope it isn’t ) Although I might not aim to polish every knife to a mirror finish, I’d like to know that I can if I feel like doing that. I find it more complicated to get the same finish at the heel of the blade (closest to the handle) than the rest.

As far as setting the sharpening angle I didn’t think I was going to need the low angle adaptor but I guess I might need to get it (unless I’m doing something wrong) I got a new Benchmade Osborne 940 and after playing with the positioning for a long time to get a consistent bevel width I couldn’t set the angle lower than 20deg, I was afraid at 19deg I was barely touching the vise, and some other folders with a bit taller blade would not go down to a 17 deg.

In any case. I guess time and practice will get me there. Here are a few pictures of the knives I been working with.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Alex.

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[Marc H]

Nice efforts and results.  Welcome to the W.E. forum and W.E.P.S. Community, Alex.

What you have learned with your sharpening experiences is why many of us have chosen to customize, modify and accessorize our setups to personalize them to allow us to better clamp and sharpen our knife collections.  With practice and experience you will learn how to best position and clamp the various designs and style knives you own and sharpen.

Using a W.E. Advanced Alignment Guide, AAG, or possibly a custom type alignmenting guide, you can clamp knives without the need for them to rest directly on the W.E. depth key’s pins.  This allows you to position and clamp knives higher up in the vise jaws allowing you to achieve lower angle settings and better find or match the “sweet spot”.  All that really matters is if the knife is clamped stationary and securely.  I sometimes only use the depth pin key to position/reposition which ever alignment guide I am using for positioning and logging the position of that knife.  This more “free style” knife positioning along with other customization and modification has allowed me to sharpen a much wider range of knives without the need to use the Low Angle Adapter, LAA, or to simply settle on whatever sharpening angles can be reached, for that clamped knife.

I will add this, my interests and sharpening experiences are mostly with kitchen knives, food service or fish/fishing service knives.  Many of these knives, even the very expensive hand crafted knives do not have evenly sized bevels or often even bevel angles.  Whether down along the entire length’s of the knives or even from side to side.  The precise attention to symmetry and evenness of bevel appearance is IMO more likely associated with higher-end collector knives.  Those are knives possibly more for appearance then for utility.  I believe, some bevels may even intentionally vary along a knife’s length to enhance cutting and slicing.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[Alex]

Thanks for your feedback MarcH. Definitely I will keep on trial and error till I find a way that suits me. Seems like with every knife I feel more confident and learn something new.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Marc H

[Marc H]

There are so many new and different steels, knife makers, knife kinds and styles that after years using my W.E. setups despite my sharpening experience and knife familiarity that is still the case.  It  has become even more-so like this and will continue to be like that as long as new limited run boutique steel alloys are created and forged into high end knives for a niche efficinado collector’s market. These new steels are metallurgical lab tested to determine specifications, then named, labeled and touted as “harder and more durable than…” with no real world user’s or knife sharpener’s experiences.  Whether theses steels are ground into old time classics, popular favorite models, or into a new one-off or limited run custom ground knives… This is just how it’ll be.  This is not a complaint.  It’s just my observation of the current nature of the hobby.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[Author]

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