Cameron

[Cameron]

Thanks for the continued help!

Couple more quick questions. How do I determine what the best angle for my knife is, and is there a good “failsafe” angle to sharpen at? I tried to sharpen a small CRK Inkosi at 15dps but kept hitting the clamp edges and was unable to strop it. I’m assuming I need the low angle adapter to do it at this angle, or just increase it a bit. Additionally, does anyone know if WE sells replacement clamps for the WE130?

[Cameron]

I’m extremely happy to report that I finally achieved the sharpness I was going for! I very much took my time this round, measuring the angle in-between every grit, checking the edge with a loop before moving on, and applying more pressure with the strop. Edge is far from mirrored, but it will push cut through paper without problem.

The only issue I have is there doesn’t appear to be a lot of compound left on the strops. Quite a bit came off onto the blade, which I understand is normal, but the leather looks more or less bare in some spots (picture attached bellow). Not sure if I applied too much pressure, didn’t spread the emulsion correctly, etc.

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[Cameron]

Marc H wrote:

Cameron if your new to sharpening and your diamond stones are new, It takes time for your diamond stones to break in, and time for you to learn how to use them properly and develop and practice good sharpening technique. There is a learning curve period of time it takes to put it all together. Then you’ll start to see improved results. The stone break in is about 8 or 10 knives and by that length of time users usually figure it out. Looking back I see you’re at it for about 5 months now, I’d expect you’d have a handle on it by now and seeing results to your liking. If your not seeing sharpening results you feel are worthy yet, then please share with us in detail your progression and technique. Maybe we can help make suggestions to help you with your results. You really didn’t say whether you felt the knife wasn’t sharp enough or that it wasn’t shiny enough! The shine and sharp develop all along the entire process as you progress from stone to stone and then continue with the different mediums. It’s true that strops are considered a polishing step more then a sharpening step. But if your sharpening steps with the diamond stones weren’t done well enough and correctly the polishing strops may not be able to give you a shiny sharp knife. PS: I did look up your stropping diamond emulsion and find that Wicked Edge doesn’t call it a spray although it has a spray or squirt applicator top. I use a similar diamond emulsion product.

Marc, I really appreciate the reply. I’ve owned the system for a few months now but sadly haven’t had much of a chance to put it to use as I’ve been busy with a few other things. I’ve done about 10-15 knives now, and the last few definitely turned out better than the first few. I’ve been able to get the knives very sharp by practical standards (they’ll cut just about anything with not much resistance), but I haven’t been able to push cut through paper, which is the benchmark I was going for. I haven’t yet had a chance yet to test out the strops with an increased pressure and less of an offset angle but I’m hoping to today and will report back with pictures and step by step methods if I still don’t get a good result.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Organic, Marc H

[Cameron]

Marc H wrote:

Those strops appear well covered. Is that the WE’s 4µ and 2µ diamond emulsion spray? My sprays are more dark muddy brown/muddy gray in color when I apply it to my leather strops. My diamond emulsion sprays are an older product WE sold, a while back, when they got those products from a different supplier. My strops are older too. They’ve been cleaned and reapplied a few times. That may contribute to their darker appearance. I’ll be curious too if you like the way it stays on the leather. I recently cleaned my strops then reapplied the emulsion and have since stropped seven knives with good results. The strops still appear well embedded though the leather is more shinny now.

Thanks for the feedback. It’s just the diamond emulsion (4 and 2 um), not the spray. I elected to go with the emulsions as everything I read says they stay on the strop better. I’m going to try again with them in the next few days using a 1.5 degree offset and more pressure to see if that helps. My progression right now is also from the 1000 grit to the strip – would it make an appreciable difference to add a ceramic stone or finer strops, or is the effect largely cosmetic at that point (mirrored edge)?

[Cameron]

Took the advice here to apply the diamond emulsion the night before using. Applied a few drops to each strop and rubbed them together to spread. Going to allow them a day to dry and attempt using them tomorrow. Curious any feedback if I applied the proper amount or spread it sufficiently.

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[Cameron]

Thank you to all for the replies, and I apologize for not responding sooner, I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on some additional knives for sharpening until now (picked up a 5 knife set at Walmart for $8).

I was able to practice on some more knives and feel pretty good with the diamond stones. Set the angle by the digital cube, create a nice burr with the 100 stone, and then work my way up, checking the angle every so often (which didn’t vary more than 0.2 degrees). The beater knives I practiced on were quite soft, so I was able to get through the process relatively quickly. I checked the scratch pattern with each grit before moving on to ensure that I had reached a good point, and by the time I got to the 1000 grit the knife was quite sharp.

Despite this, I’m having some issue with the stropping I feel. I have the 4uM and 2uM leather strops with the diamond emulsion. The bottle of 4uM emulsion I got was broken, so I actually had to remove the cap and pour out a small amount on to the leather. I did this to both strops and rubbed them together to spread the emulsion, which seemed to largely dry on top. I lowered the angle 2 degrees, and stroked up and away with light pressure. A large (if not almost all) of the emulsion seemed to come off in the process (flaking on to the blade and base), and after 25-30 strokes each side with each grit, the knife would still not push cut paper. I’m wondering if I did this process incorrectly in some way, or if my expectations are just unreasonable given the progression grits I’m going through.

[Cameron]

What is the rational of altering the stop angle relative to the sharpening angle? It seems like increasing it would cause a “micro-strop” while decreasing would cause you to be sharpening behind the edge, and not the edge itself.

[Cameron]

Thank you both again for the help.

On the Wicked Edge site, it indicates that there are features new to the 2017 model of the WE130. Is there a version before the current 2017 one, and if so, how can I tell them apart?

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wickededge

[Cameron]

Really appreciate the reply!

Could you explain a bit more the differences between the clamp in the WE120 vs WE130? I understand that the WE130 uses a lever instead of a set of screws found on the WE120, but what are the other advantages aside from just ease of use?

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