When to switch to next grit?
- This topic has 21 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 09/27/2016 at 11:04 am by
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Mark: If you use the standard WE handles ( I prefer to call them blocks ), with each transition to finer grit you’ll be pretty sure of hitting the apex. Clay called it a “happy accident.” Each of the blocks is slightly thinner (from face to face) than the previous pair. This means the next pair will have a higher angle than the previous pair. I think it was a result of the diamond matrix being somewhat thinner with each finer grit. This would carry the principle not just to the handle, but also with the grit change on the same handle. The distance from bore centerline to the 1000-grit face would be less than the distance from the same centerline to the 800-grit face. The differences are certainly small in terms of angle change, but consider what would happen if the opposite occurred: with each step up in fineness, you’d be less sure of hitting the apex.
The value of measuring small angles accurately is two-fold. First, it allows you to adjust accurately where you have a handle whose centerline-to-face dimension that falls outside of the previous pattern. Careful use of the VSTA adapters can serve much the same purpose. The second advantage is psychological – assurance that the effort you are investing in a particular knife will not be wasted.
Before everybody runs off to buy DXL360’s, please note that this is not my intent. I wanted only to show that 0.1 degree errors can, in fact, produce a bad result; the user who can’t seem to get his knife any sharper. That said, DULLEDGE, thanks for putting the photos right. And you’re going to really like your DXL360S.
Again, I’m not trying to preach the logic of my modifications, hoping to convert any sinners. I’m just an OCD guy trying to demonstrate how angular errors can produce less than ideal results. As long as the Wicked edge system has been out here, there have been users who can reliably achieve edges every bit as sharp, or sharper than I can, even with my dead nuts precision. My modifications were done mostly as an exercise of curiosity and partly to assuage my doubting mind. I wanted to go to diamond film-on-glass and believed (wrongly it seems) that doing so would require a higher level of precision.
As an exercise, place your 1000-grit stone against a blade in your WE vise. Apply a normal amount of pressure with your grip point about centered on the handle. Attach your AngleCube to the upper part of the handle and observe the reading as you raise the handle from below the knife edge to a point above the knife edge. What you see is why I recommend keeping your grip point below the knife edge, but it also tends to tip the stones away from the apex.
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I don’t have a WE200, but I use both the Gen 3 and WE100 vises regularly. I’m gonna say that I think the old vise is a little more stable, but the Gen 3 wins hands down with FFG blades. Use masking tape (or some other grippy surface) and they’re both rock-solid.
That said, the old vise is capable of being used incorrectly and requires some degree of skill to get the most out of it. If we had our Wiki site working here, maybe we could post some valuable training info. How long has it been that it’s been offline?
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If we had our Wiki site working here, maybe we could post some valuable training info. How long has it been that it’s been offline?
The Wiki still lives here: http://162.243.110.196/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. The web company just hasn’t integrated it into the site yet.
-Clay
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