Baxsin

If it is a knife you really want to protect from any accidents, I’d recommend covering the knife steel sides with some kind of tape.  Blue painters tape works fairly well.  Nothing replaces proper careful sharpening technique and experience.  I do employ stone stops, both upper and lower, to limit the stones travel to across the knife edge, on…[Read more]

My riser blocks are Wicked Edge parts, no longer made or used, repurposed, from previous hardware upgrades we used in the past, during the evolution of the WEPS models over the years to the current version models. So in short, they are obsolete used W.E. parts.  It is my understanding that W.E. does not sell these or any other parts.

I use the cow leather for the 4µ/2µ and the 1.0µ/0.5µ. (Diamond Emulsions)

I bought the nanocloths for the finer grits; 0.25µ/0.125µ.  I have not yet loaded or tried these strops.

I have never used Kangaroo.  I have heard good things about it from those who have.  Thin and stiff, less angle reduction required.  Just the same experience in realit…[Read more]

The bar stock is a good way to accelerate the stone break-in.  I suggest first you work with some junk or beater knives to learn how to clamp and position knives.  Also, how to set guide rod angles and lock the positions, and then how to employ the various sharpening strokes.  This way while gaining the muscle memory from practicing your knif…[Read more]

I own and make use of all of these three, : A)  riser blocks, B) L.A.A., (low angle adapters) and C) the Tormek Small knife holder.  Each one has it’s place and it’s value.  My preference is the W.E. vise on the riser block but that doesn’t always hold a small knife.  Then I’ll try Plan B and if that fails,  Plan C.  All three are worth ownin…[Read more]

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum and sharpening community Michael Labus.

This is one of the best video’s I’ve seen to breakdown the different Wicked Edge sharpening stokes and explains the techniques in detail, well.  Ignore the title it really doesn’t reflect the subject matter.  In the second video of the two part series he goes on to use Ch…[Read more]

I do each and every grit the same procedure or routine as you wrote you did with the 100 grit.  I do not count strokes.  I do enough strokes to reach the results I’m looking for, then move on up a grit.  I start with 100 grit only as needed.  If I can get by starting at a higher beginning grit, (say 400 grit), I will.

Here are photos of my modified, (modded) Wicked Edge Set-ups:

WE130:

Gen 3 Pro:

Be very safety conscious when bring your fingers down onto exposed sharpened edges.  I suggest no-cut-gloves or Safety shields to “save the digits”.

I sometimes mist my strops with Isopropyl Alcohol.  The mist seems to affect, (improve), the paste compounds more then the emulsions.

Welcome to the forum Dnjiemor,  I wipe my guide rods, from time to time with a silicone rag like one used to wipe down guns and fishing reels.  I also pull a small swab of the same cloth through the sharpening stone handle bores, with a thin cord.  I drop a small paper clip, acting as a weight, down through the bore, then pull the silicone wad thr…[Read more]

The Low Angle Adapters, (LAA) allow for angles as low as 10º-12º.  You are not excluded from setting wider bevels when using the LAA.

Welcome to the forum PowerHouse.  The vehicles whether it’s the paste compound or the emulsion are just the delivery system to apply the diamond abrasives to the strop.  I wouldn’t be concerned about the vehicle.  Only the grits.  I wouldn’t want to contaminate the strop surface with mixed grits of a large size difference.   Mixing 3.5µ and 4.0µ p…[Read more]

Here’s another worthy light solution.  I use this LED light with the weighted base.  The weighted base allows me to place it anywhere I choose to.  It is a costly lighting solution but it works very well and can be positioned and aligned directly over the knife clamped for sharpening.  It can be positioned so it doesn’t shine in my eyes.  It illu…[Read more]

Richard, for the new users it’s often not one thing to single out, that you may be doing wrong.  First, as you know, the stones take time to break-in.  Then the stones will continue to give improved results as your technique and skills improve.

Often, I believe the new user stops short of bringing the two knife sides together at the apex, that i…[Read more]

For me the DLFs are to smooth and polish the bevel to be mirror reflective.  Since the two smoothed bevel sides intersect at the knife edge,  the knife edge may become narrower, too.

The strops I use to refine and smooth the cutting edge and add just that extra bit of sharpness.  By refine, I mean smooth out the rough, draggy or edge catching fe…[Read more]

Leather strops are directly mounted to the new handles.  The nanocloths appear to have a backing plate of some sort, possibly a hard plastic plate.

They both use the same edge trailing strokes, that is up and off the knife edge.  The different mediums behave differently.  The microfine abrasives are affixed to the films, just like the other sharpening stones.  The abrasives are embedded in the strops but can and do roll between the strop and the edge steel leading to the burnishing ef…[Read more]

phillyjudge: the stropping process is more flexible then the sharpening process.  We back off the strop angle 2 degrees or so to avoid rounding off the edge.  Some of us have found 1.5 degrees works best for us.  Others use 2 degrees and still, others may use only 1 degrees.  My point it is that it’s subjective and influenced by technique.  Ther…[Read more]

Part 2