“Wings”

[SHVentus]

I have an older WE that has black “Wings” attached to the silver bar with angles. They are approx 1″ tall X 6″ and 1/8″ thick, angled up approx 20* towards the back. What are they and what is their purpose? I don’t remember why I added these. I’ve called WE and left 4 messages, but they don’t answer their phones or return my message. Thanks.

[Marc H]

• I believe it is called VSTA, Variable stone thickness adapters.  They allowed you to position and set the planes on the square bar to manually align all the different thickness stones and mediums you may use, all to the same set angle you started with.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

2 users thanked author for this post.

000Robert, wickededge

[SHVentus]

Thanks. Yes, those are them. I don’t recall using them, nor see them on the WE site. Did they fall out of favor?

[Marc H]

They never really caught on. They take a bit of time to get used to using them.

I prefer to use an angle cube to maximize the precision WEPS affords users.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

1 user thanked author for this post.

000Robert

[000Robert]

Hi SHVentus. I can’t remember ever trying to call Wicked Edge. I usually contact them by email, and I always get a pretty quick response.

[SHVentus]

After 4 messages left, over as many days, at WE,….I got a return call this morning,……..at 5:00 AM my time. Mainland people often don’t seem to grasp the concept of time zones.

[tcmeyer]

I used the VSTAs quite a bit and with good success when I was using custom stones which varied in thickness by more than 0.010 – 0.015 of an inch.  They take only a few seconds to make an adjustment, as compared to using an angle cube with each grit change.  Like Mark says, they never really caught on and users simply found it easier to either use the angle cube or toss out any odd-ball stones.  The original intent was to allow the inclusion of Chosera stones and strops in the mix with diamond stones.  Then came the Gen 3 Pro, which doesn’t use the angle bar and there was another nail in the proverbial coffin.

I had modified my first sets of  handles, adding bronze bushings to tighten up the slop between handle and rod.  This worked really well, but my manufacturing process produced too much variability and I had to adjust for the differences in the distance from stone face to rod center.  This happened with every grit change – not just every handle change, and I found that once I had mastered it, using the VSTAs became second-natured to me.  I don’t know if any other serious user felt the need to use them enough to become comfortable with them.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by tcmeyer.

3 users thanked author for this post.

NotSharpEnuff, 000Robert, Marc H

[Marc H]

Tom, you’re the only only one I know that made use of that practical adapter. I would have liked it better if the plate had swiveled to make contact more in-line with the stones on the rods. For me how it sat locked for use my stones crossed the flat plane parallel but at an angle.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Marc H.

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