Chazz

Here’s Forum member “Danny’s” new table top “Rack-It”.  This model has a capacity for 48 stones, (24 stone pairs), in a 3 drawer base.  The removable drawers are totally functional and practical.  They are large, wide and deep enough to actually hold many of your W.E. sharpening accessories.

The “Rack-It” is in the mail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEnSR9l-Kic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vODnFnKUV8I

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-merit-of-a-super-eraser.1491800/

That’s a great idea!  Looks very functional.  Is it sturdy and steady enough to zero your cube and get consistent readings?

Danny, you might want to tackle the job your self.  You can use one of these super erasers available from many sources.  I’d clean up that old beauty.  It’s got to have some sentimental value.  I’d be afraid to return it for repair.  They may just replace it instead under it’s lifetime warranty.  Who’s to know that the new materials and quali…[Read more]

I know this brand but it appears to be the most expensive.  I really believe all the red DXL360s are the same in the $70 range.

-Terry, some of us begin with the scrubbing strokes, up-down-up-down as we work back and forth along the entire knife edge, on both sides of the knife, in a manner to keep the work effort balanced from side to side.  This scrubbing stroke is a good method to remove steel, quickly, from the shoulder to the knife edge, the apex, and to establish…[Read more]

Michael, I use old phone books as a source for testing paper.  They keep dropping them off and I haven’t used a phone book to look up a phone number in many many years.  I don’t think it so much which paper you use as how it feels as the knife slices through the paper, and how it sounds.  It’s only a qualitative test but it gives a basis for co…[Read more]

Christ, I have seen this issue related on the forum in the past.  First thing I will say to relieve any doubts you may have.  If the guide rod angles measure the same with the properly zeroed, then properly used digital angle cube, then the bevel angles are set the same to allow the bevel to be sharpened to the same angle, on both sides of the k…[Read more]

That’s a keen observation Richard.  The extra height above the jaw line would certainly require very long guide rods and a much longer square bar then the standard one pictured here.  Pythagoras shows himself here, again.  That’s not to say the concept is wrong.  Just, it’ll require all the components to put it to practical use.

Be careful.  The steel may not be like a knife.  It may be plated not solid.  There’s no telling what it’s made of.  Possibly it’s ornamental and not the real thing.

I can’t really get an idea of the daggers dimensions from the photos, other then it’s long.  The other aspect I’d consider is this a valuable collectors item that may go down in value if it’s alter by sharpening.  Some things have their value in an untouched, unused, unpolished and unaltered original state.  With the original patina.

The ot…[Read more]

The numbers are intended to be just an indicator, not an actual or true reference to be used to set your bevel angles.    These numbers do coordinate with a reference size knife that is 5/8″ above the vise jaws, center.  Use the inscribed numbers only to give you a reference for the direction to move your angle brackets , up or down as you in…[Read more]

Welcome to the W.E. Forum “-Terry”.

Time and time again new users ask this same question and report these same results and sharpening experiences.  It’s a combination of new, unbroken-in stones and more so, your inexperience and lack of a W.E. sharpening technique.  There is definitely a break-in period for the stones.  When the stones have br…[Read more]

Welcome to the W.E. Forum Punxsyjumper.

These are the 1/4 inch jaws offered by W.E. to clamp thicker knives.  This may be the accessory you need.

I’d be interested in seeing that conversion kit.

That is correct.

I prefer to use high power while I view the bevel from the side.  Other Forum members prefer to look down from the top at the apex of the edge.  Try different methods and the different scope powers to see what you prefer to work with.  Be aware on most of these USB microscopes the low power which is always a wider view is when the focusing ring is…[Read more]

Richard, not intending to correct you but to help you and other  W.E. sharpeners to understand your experiences correctly.  You are not opening up the angle due to the knife edges increased height above the jaw line.  You are increasing the distance the rod end is positioned away from the knife’s center-line in order to achieve the same angle se…[Read more]

Michael,  I don’t think it takes a lot of stropping compound to be effective.  There are YouTube videos and videos in the W.E. Knowledge Base you can view. The strops will improve as the compound rubs in and spreads across the surface.  That being said, I don’t think you can really use too much compound either.  If you apply an abundance of com…[Read more]

The longer rods are for taller and longer knives.  I’d rather use a rod that is slightly longer then necessary then find out during the stone progression I need to switch to a longer rod. The long rods are also a little more gangly to get use to.  I still sometimes bump the rod ends when knife sharpening with very long guide rods, when using a…[Read more]