What's the most important thing you've learned (about sharpening with the WE?)

[Nick Middleton]

I would say this YouTube Video posted by Curry Custom Cutlery made me completely rethink where I mount my knives in the vice.

I was wasting a lot of time having to change my motion, or make extra strokes in sections to correct the bevel.  I didn’t realize I was compensating for not having the knife if the best location and not being able to get an even-bevel on horizontal swipes. I had to use extra vertical-stokes to grind the areas not getting the same attention! I was getting even heel & tip; but not heel, tip, & belly!  I made a cardboard template like his to help with determining the best spot on a knife that and it removes the guess-work. I didn’t not have a good grasp of the effect of edge-height and belly-curvature.

 

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jake556, Organic, sksharp, Mark76, Marc H, wickededge

[sksharp]

That is a very good video Nick! I have to add to my prior post, recording the placement of the knife in the clamp with the adv. alignment guide is something that I’ve done from the start and glad I did. Repeatability is one of the major advantages of the WE.

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wickededge

[Mark76]

Yup, indeed a very good video that not only explains things, but also gives practical advice. Looking forward to the advanced alighnment guide.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

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sksharp, wickededge

[cjb80202]

Don’t push/press the stone against the blade; let the weight of the stone be all the pressure you need.

In aviation it’s called trying to squeeze the black out of the stick; the tendency of new pilots to squeeze like hell. I had the same tendency in my early sharpenings – to really squeeze the stone and to grind the blade way too hard.

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sksharp, Organic, wickededge, Marc H

[tacocat]

I am taking the advice of many and stocking up on old kitchen knives while I wait for my Wicked Edge GO to arrive. The local thrift store has these knives priced at .35 each. There are some that could make a great knife but none that I plan on keeping.

Andy

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sksharp, cjb80202, wickededge

[Marc H]

Looks like my grandmothers drawer when I was a kid, lol.  No disrespect intended…that’s nostalgia.  I’m sure some are WWII era and maybe even Depression Era.  If they could only tell stories!

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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sksharp

[cjb80202]

I’ll bet you’ll want to keep at least a couple after you sharpen them. We have an 8-inch kitchen knife that we’ve always had, meaning I don’t even remember when/where it came from. I’ve always used it as the birthday cake knife because that’s all it would cut.

I put it on my WE100 and holy schmoly is it sharp now! I’ve used it for about 4 weeks since, and it is staying really sharp. I’ve even bought a cover for it now for keeping it in the drawer, because now it’s actually a threat to cut fingers.

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sksharp

[sksharp]

Yea man! I have never thrown a knife away. After getting my WE PP3 those old knives became invaluable and largely responsible for me learning, that and asking everyone I knew for some of their knives but be careful with that because once you do a couple for them they’ll want the rest done. LOL Some of those knives are in my kitchen now and work very well.

Those knives are in my grandmother’s drawer MarcH! LOL

The light touch is a very good tip Chris. I’m always concerned with pressure and technique now where I really wasn’t as much when I started.

[graphite]

That video with the arcs on the cardboard is really interesting. In the video he places a small range of black tic marks on the stones and sweeps that across the blade edge of the clamped blade in order to judge how close the blade edge comes to conforming to the arc that the stone sweeps.

How wide a range (of the black tic marks on the stones) would be considered negligible angular error? This looks like a fairly easy thing to do once a knife is clamped (i.e. adjust the clamp position of the knife edge to be within some range of the black marks), but how much is too much? Is an inch of range what you’d shoot for? In the video it looks like approximately 1″ of range of his black tic marks.  But what if you can’t get less than an inch no matter what position the knife is in? Does that just mean you have to live with uneven bevels?

[Organic]

If you really can’t get the blade clamped in a way that is going to work well for the whole blade you always have the option of working the blade in sections and changing the clamp position to fit each accordingly. The downside of this is that it takes longer and requires more work. It is by no means impossibly difficult. I did it with my Lansky (before I had a Wicked Edge) when I wanted to sharpen anything over about 6 inches in length and it was fine. You will have to blend the sections at the end.

The reality is that every tool has its limitations and I think you’ll find that all clamp based sharpening tools will require some level of compromise when it comes to optimal clamping position. When sharpening free-handed, you can make adjustments to the contact angles on the fly so it is easier to accommodate a wide variety of grinds and blade profiles. However, you also give up the precision and reproducible results that the Wicked Edge offers and it takes a fair bit of skill to achieve levels of sharpness even close to what an average person can produce with a Wicked Edge.

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Brewbear, sksharp, wickededge, Marc H

[graphite]

Thanks Organic, but I think I’m going to avoid moving the knife and blending sections, as I’m still ramping up on the basic techniques and getting good edges repeatably, and all the other basic stuff. I’ll live with uneven bevels if that’s what results on certain knives (at least until I master the basics). The moving of the knife was one of my greatest aggravations with using the Edge Pro that I used previously.

Edit: Never mind on my question about drawing the arcs. I figured out a way to do it using a beam compass. 7.1″ is about the smallest radius to just clear the jaws; increase from there to get larger arcs for larger knives.

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wickededge

[graphite]

I threw together a “sweet spot finder jig” using 1/8″ whiteboard, and circles drawn with sharpies on the whiteboard using a beam compass. I cut out slots for the handle and tension lever so it can sit right up next to the knife and clamp when clamped. Still need to add a base so it stands on its own. I should also probably buy a clear thin plastic laminate sheet to cover the sharpie marks longer term (the sharpie doesn’t wipe off easily, but it will wipe off).

The black lines are 1/2″ apart (in radius), and the red lines are in between, offset at 1/4″.

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wickededge

[Organic]

Nice job!

[wickededge]

@graphite have you tested it yet?

-Clay

[graphite]

wickededge wrote:

@graphite have you tested it yet?

No not yet. I’ll have some questions to be sure I’m applying its use correctly (I should probably start a separate thread for that, since this thread has its own separate and very useful purpose).

Do you ask because it doesn’t look like it is going to work? I won’t be offended if you see a flaw in it, and in fact it would save me the time in messing with it and not getting the results I’m expecting.

[Author]

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