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.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by tcmeyer.
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