Chazz

I would have done essentially what you did.  I probably would have profiled both sides to 20.00º just to have a whole number angle.  Also that would insure both sides were fresh steel.  Good job.  We love to see posted pictures of sharpened knives.

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum and Community Cate.  Which model WEPS did you get?

James, I don’t have any more knowledge or experience than a lot of others that were here before me.  I have the time to stay tuned into the forum and to promptly provide my insight along with the knack for writing and teaching well.  I learned everything I know from those here before me and from gaining hands-on experience and knowledge from p…[Read more]

One forum member made brass platens to use for lapping film due to the soft nature of that metal.

James, Some WE users have used the blank aluminum platens as a lapping plate.  It is probably better to lap the aluminum (i.e., sand the surface smooth and level) with sand paper before using it as a lapping plate.  Aluminum’s soft nature makes it easy to dent or ding.  Lapping the aluminum assures it is smooth and level.

The glass lapping pl…[Read more]

Hi James, like Mike said, it’s very important when stropping to use only edge trailing strokes.  These are up and off the knife edge.  When you strop the tip areas, as the knife tips generally curves down, there is a tendency to follow the curve when stropping causing you to loose the up and off stropping direction.   It is particularly easy to…[Read more]

Hi Mort, Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum and Community.

I’ll contact you via private message.  You’ll see the notification in the upper right of this browser window. Click on your forum screen name or hover on your forum screen name to get a drop-down menu. Thanks

Here are the two racks I built for Reaper:

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum James.  The leather stropping medium has “give” to it.  It is a softer substrate and compressible as compared to mediums like the diamond or ceramics stones that are hard and solid, ungiving, incompressible substrates.  The leather tends to compress and wrap up around the steel edge of the knife as you drag the le…[Read more]

I’m glad you have the success your looking for.  It sounds like you took your time, exercised extra effort and attention to detail all through the entire process.  I believe this good technique along with extra care, the proper angle setting for you exerted stropping pressure and good stropping technique finally came together to give you the r…[Read more]

Michael,   When you purchases the two labeled strop sets: set 1) 5µ/3.5µ and set 2) 14µ/10µ.  They should have come with two tubes of diamond strop pastes of the same grits 5µ and 3.5µ and two tubes of diamond strop pastes of the same grits 10µ and 14µ for the other set of strops.  This is what you apply to the leather.  Like grit applied to l…[Read more]

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 st…[Read more]

Michael, it’s not just one step in the whole process that gives you the shine.  It’s the whole process done well throughout.  In your case if the whole process is done well in the order I suggested, you should see a shiny looking bevel.  That is the part of the “learning curve” with new or newer Wicked Edge users to learn how to do the whole pr…[Read more]

I would follow: 1500 diamond, 6µ DLF, then 14µ, 10µ, 5µ, then 3.5µ strops.  If you have spent enough time, effort and attention to detail with the diamond stones through the 1500 grit, there’s no reason you shouldn’t bring up a shine with the strops.  Remember to lower the angle setting by 1.5-2.0º for the strops.

If you left bad scratch…[Read more]

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 c…[Read more]

John,  I recently got the scissor attachment.  So far I’ve only sharpened three pairs of scissors.  I used a sharpie and determined the angle that way.  I did find the bevel angle on the scissors was not flat and consistent across the thickness of the scissor steel.  Thicker scissors that was more evident than thinner steel scissors.  I conce…[Read more]

John I don’t know the angle….scissors cut by the precise meeting place between the two sides of the scissor blades.  In my experience the angles of the two bevels are very wide angles or obtuse.  The metal does not cut like a knife by insetting into what they’re cutting and passing through it. It’s a pinching between the precise meeting place o…[Read more]

Ralf, The charts put the grits together in order by grit or particle size which is just what you were trying to, with logic.  There is a helpful Grit Comparison Chart for this Forum in the “Knowledge Base”, upper right.

This is what and how I try to use the stones.  When staying within the same medium, by this I mean only Diamond stones, or o…[Read more]

There’s a lot of good information available , although, some is quite technical, by subscribing to this “Science of Sharp” Forum/Blog.

Ralf , Welcome to the WE Forum.  You present a similar question as most new sharpeners do, essentially what order do I use all these stones and strops I have.  First let me invite you to read, read, read through this Forum.  This subject is covered in great detail, many times over.  To try to attempt to repeat it here I’ll overlook more then I’l…[Read more]