Joel Casto

[Joel Casto]

Choseras are SOLD.

[Joel Casto]

Your drawing illustrates my point. As the clamp is tightened the blade leans to the left off vertical as shown in your illustrations. I don’t think it has anything to do with right or wrong, just physics. And it’s not just the blade, the jaws themselves flex to the left. You can clamp a quarter in it and it flexes or leans left.

[Joel Casto]

One thing that I notice on my WE, and I assume all do, that can cause the blade to cant left is the clamping action itself. As the bottom screw is tightened it creates incredible bending (and clamping) force, moving the uppermost part of the clamp jaws to the left. That movement is amplified if the top screw is not sufficiently tightened. Clamp and watch the blade closely as the bottom screw is tightened and you will see the blade rotate to the left as the clamp jaws flex to the left. I don’t see this as a problem. Rather, the point is that the lower screw exerts incredible bending and clamping force and as it does it also torques the clamp jaws to the left. This makes sense – as the bottom of the right jaw moves to the right, the top must move to the left. To limit that rotation, the top screw must be tightened completely, and securely.

I think. Or am I missing something?

[Joel Casto]

Thank you. It’s important to know, but better to know why!

[Joel Casto]

Very nice write-up on the micro fine ceramic stones. What did you use to take the pictures of the scratch patterns? They’re outstanding.

[Joel Casto]

The July WE Newsletter says this about the 3 Micron diamond stones:

“They are designed to remove scratches left by the coarser diamond stones and further the refinement of your edge.”

When I bought my 3 Micron diamond stones I had the same idea as bleomycin, that they would fill the 3 micron niche. In my nimrod mind, it seemed logical but found the grit chart is not linear, at least with respect to the substrates. To illustrate that, a 3 Micron diamond stone leaves a totally different scratch pattern from 3 micron lapping film, which is different still from a 3 micron diamond paste strop. I’ve started using the following progression: diamond stones, ceramic stones, lapping films, then strops. As I get more experience I may understand this concept better.

My 3 Micron diamond stones have the same scratches as bleomycin’s, having been used on 4-5 knives.

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[Joel Casto]

Update. Talked to WE this AM. Replacement 3 micron diamond stones are on their way. WE has the best customer service I’ve ever seen! Pleasant, caring, responsive. Thank you Sarah!

This gave me a reason to dive deep – so I ordered Choseras. I still haven’t “decoded” the process of moving through the grit order. And the different mediums, diamonds, ceramics, lapping film, strops, add to the complexity. The microfine ceramics leave a different scratch pattern than lapping film of similar or larger micron. And as some of the more experienced posters note, sometimes you go back down to go back up. It’s not a linear process. My guess is a lot of the more experienced folks have learned most of this or intuitively “get it”. But not me, and I’d like to see more discussion about the order folks use and the reasons why.

[Joel Casto]

Sure, here are the stones with the DMT laser engraving. The wear points appear as shiny on the left stone and dark on the right. It’s hard to get the lighting right. The wear area is in the area of the engraving, except on the end of one stone.

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[Joel Casto]

Thanks. The 3 Microns followed a 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1200, 1600 progression on Wusthof kitchen knives and a couple Kershaws. All knives were factory angles, re-profiled to between 18-25 dps.

I sometimes use a toward-the-edge technique with larger grit stones until a consistent profile is established and then away-from-edge until I get a burr. After 1000 grit I sharpen away from the edge with everything, the same as a stropping motion. As you note, the ceramics and especially the lapping films and strops won’t tolerate a toward-the-edge technique. As I mentioned in a comment above, I don’t see this with any other stone that I own, including lapping films or strops. I have several older DMT stones (not WE) and the diamond coating wears smoother but does not come off.

[Joel Casto]

Thanks for the response.

No ceramic knives and I don’t rub any stones together (except strops) – not sure why anyone would want or need to lap the stones. And believe me, my first thought was “operator error” but none of my other stones/strops show this effect. I’d think I’d see it on the more fragile lapping films and strops if it were technique. They are all just fine

I thought about the plating process, too, although I don’t pretend to understand much about that.

[Joel Casto]

Your thoughts about micro adjustments is exactly what I’m trying to do. And I agree the leather “plugs” could eventually break down. I will try stacking two poly plugs and see what happens – you may be right that it needs to be thicker.

Plastic is probably the best medium for the plugs, I just need to find the best kind of plastic that doesn’t compress too much, provides some rotational resistance, and still protects the threads.

[Joel Casto]

I just received the Superfine Ceramic stones in the mail this Saturday and both 1200 grit stones and one 1600 grit stone fell off after two uses. Luckily, the stones did not break.

It looks like they’re hot glued and I’m surprised they came off at all but especially after three days and two uses.

UPDATED: Next day…called WE and spoke with Sara(h). The superfine ceramic stones are hot glued. WE offered a replacement, complete with return postage but I wanted to repair it myself since there’s really nothing wrong with the stones. So I cleaned the old hot glue off the platens and hot-glued them back. Good as new.

Nice folks at WE. But I don’t have to say that here, do I?

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