Dave Schur

[Dave Schur]

Awesome info Clay. Given these findings, I wonder if you have any tips to simplify my sharpening regimen?

Currently (mostly sharpening stainless such as VG-10, CPM 154, S30V, ZDP189, S90V, etc), I am coming off the 1000 grit, through both ceramics, and then onto 5u, 3.5u, 1u leather strops. I often finish with some clean paddles that have just a touch (looks like regular leather with a couple of diagonal crayon marks on it) iron oxide jewelers rouge which seems to increase the polish . I should probably stop doing that last step, I may be imagining the benefit.

Is there a step or two I could reduce? Maybe coming off the ceramics and just doing 3.5 and 1 u? I am doing about 150 strokes on each side.

I’m not looking for mirror perfection, All of my blades are users, but I do like a wicked edge 😉

[Dave Schur]

cows?

Sorry, couldn’t resist :silly:

Based on the original leather, I would think a quality 6oz veggie tanned but not dyed leather (the type used in crafts and for tooling) would be great. I’d look on eBay (I bought some great 10oz armor leather on there a few weeks ago that I use as a mat and when cleaning guns). That said, I have many small nicks in my WE leather strops, and I have no plans to replace it any time soon, then again I am not going down to sub micron sprays.

[Dave Schur]

That is very true – you’re in for the long haul on s30v and s90v, even with the diamonds!!!!:whistle:

Yes, I found that I need about 150 strokes on the S90V. It took a while.

I’ve been putting off my new Spyderco Military in M390. I need to get around to that, I image it will take a while.

[Dave Schur]

Here’s my small matrix that I print and keep with my WEPS:

Knife Depth Position Angle
Spyderco Military CF S90V 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Navaja CF S30V 2 C 15
Spyderco Superleaf CF VG-10 2 B 15
Spyderco Manix 2 CF CTS-XHP 2 B.25 15
Spyderco Manix 2 CF S90V 2 B.25 15
Spyderco Paramilitary 2 CF S90V 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Stretch 2 CF ZDP-189 2 B 15
Spyderco Sage 1 CF S30V 1 B.5 15
Spyderco Lum Chinese CF VG-10 2 A.5 15
Spyderco Caly 3 CF ZDP-189 1 B 15
Spyerco Chaparral CF S30V 1 B 15
Spyderco Kiwi CF VG-10 1 A.5 15
Spyderco Ladybug VG-10 1 A 15
Spyderco Temperance 2 VG-10 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Schempp Rock VG-10 2 B.5 18
Kabar NextGen 440A 2 C.5 18
Lone Wolf Lobo CF S30V 1 B 15
Leatherman Charge TTi S30V 1 A.5 15
Richmond Remedy CPM154 2 D 15
CRKT Minimalist 5Cr15MoV 1 A.25 15

Yes, I have a Spyderco problem 😉

[Dave Schur]

The stealth factor with the wife is pretty good 😉 . Looking around a bit, the one I have is exactly the larger of the two listed on the hobby lobby website:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=167326

But I only got the larger one and it was $15 (maybe it was on sale – it was on the floor with their other storage chests in the middle of the store surrounded by all the other “smelly stuff” ). It does a nice job of blending in. I like the 3-inch depth (it’s actually 2 3/8 interior) because it will hold 2 rows of paddles, but a base system WEPS only would not need it. As it is, there is room for me to expand, should I ever see the Shapton paddles in this lifetime 😉

Dave

[Dave Schur]

I don’t worry about trying to store the base and everything else as one set. The base is just too bulky (especially in granite) for me to consider that.

For the “Everything else” part of the equation, I stumbled across a kinda neat fake book case at Hobby Lobby one day that works pretty well (I think it cost 15 bucks):

It holds my diamond and ceramic stones well

And my other wicked edge “junk”:

I keep my strops in ziploc bags to keep em clean and the pastes separate:

The whole kit packs up nicely:

And I store it upright on a shelf next to the base in my office:

[Dave Schur]

First I would steel it to see if any was just rolled. Next step, I know nothing other than removing material to get back to the burr. It doesn’t look like that much will be needed to me from your pics. Should be much easier if it’s already seen the wicked edge once and the settings were recorded. If it were me personally, I would back down to 600 to try removing material (depends on the steel, of which I know knotting about Hitachi Aogami) and, see if 400 was needed, and then work my way up normally.

Enjoy the great knife I say, after all they are tools meant to be used foremost. A few knicks and chips along the way are just badges of pride.

[Dave Schur]

Yep, I just scrub in some barkeepers friend (cause I have it sitting around, I wouldn’t go out and get it just for this – just use dishsoap) and then let air dry. I Do it every 10-20 knives or so, really just to keep the dust/dirt down.

I do the same for the ceramics.

[Dave Schur]

I find my 50/80 combo get’s through the S90V, S30V and ZDP189 pretty good for the big reprofile (I wouldn’t want to do it with just 100 though).

I have some M390 knives on pre-order that should be in in a few months. Can’t wait to try that. I hear the Bohler K390 is real fun stuff too (not :dry: ).

[Dave Schur]

After using them for a while, I would say the strops only get good when they are not slippery at all.

Let them get dry, crusty and black. Use them far, far longer than you think you should, and then they are starting to get good in my experience.

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but give it a try.

As for sound – I would not go by it at all – I have no idea what they should “sound like”.

[Dave Schur]

I usually clean my ceramics every 10 knives or so with a still brush and soapy water. I will sometimes do the diamonds at the same time.

Recently I have switched to Barkeepers Friend as I had some on hand anyway and I saw someone suggested it. I found it to work even better restoring the ceramics, but little difference on the diamonds.

[Dave Schur]

As it is though now with the non-drilled I have to really crank the thumbscrews to prevent movement which is why I like setting them once, and am a little hesitant to adjust mid stream.

Same here – I constantly check to see how tightly fastened those screws are. I check and double check! But really, if you’re aware of it, you’ll quickly become “trained” to tighten that screw well. 😆

I am looking forward to getting and trying the Shaptons. Hope to see them available soon. The idea of staying “on stone” down to 30K really appeals to my mind (but not my wallet :ohmy: )

We’ve hit upon another arguing point, dschure: cost. It’s always a factor, of course. The higher grit stones are investments.[/quote]

I hate to admit it, but I use a pair of pliers on the set screws. Nothing sucks worse than having a suspicion that they just shifted on you.

I won’t argue cost, I realize that quality products reflect that in their price, otherwise I’d be using a Lansky. I also have learned the value of not buying things 2 or 3 times to get to what I really need :silly:

I will probably buy the Shaptons down past 8K in stages though *to hide it from the wife, hehe)

Dave

[Dave Schur]

An introductory guide to the Shapton and Chosera WEPS stones can be found in the

More practically, using the Angle Cube with the screws positioned so they are on the side of the WEPS wings that DO NOT have drilled reference holes in them is the best way to account for the different angles caused by thicker stones.

In my opinion, using the angle cube is a necessity with all the plates, stones, and strops if you want the absolute precision you are asking for. There are slight differences between the paddles (nothing the beginner sharpener will notice, but I’m a propeller-head when it comes to using a guided sharpener… :blush: ) That slightest variation combined with the fact that the stones will wear over time, makes using the angle cube even more essential for long term repeatability. It really becomes second nature to use the angle cube, too.

Thanks for all of the great info Tom, I haven’t introduced using an angle cube into my wicked edge routine yet, I may have to start thinking about that. As for using the non-drilled sides of the guide rod, that’s not a problem for me as I have a gen 1 (no sides are drilled). As it is though now with the non-drilled I have to really crank the thumbscrews to prevent movement which is why I like setting them once, and am a little hesitant to adjust mid stream.

I am looking forward to getting and trying the Shaptons. Hope to see them available soon. The idea of staying “on stone” down to 30K really appeals to my mind (but not my wallet :ohmy: )

[Dave Schur]

Let’s talk about hand stropping. I would consider myself an intermediate hand stropper. I started a year ago, but didnt go crazy practicing until about a month ago.

What leather do you like to make your strops from?
Do you buy strops from different places?
Compounds – yes, no, differences?

I recently purchased from KSF (knivesshipfree.com), a 2 sided leather hand strop with the Bark River black, and green compound. I heated the leather, heated the compound, mixed in some mineral oil, and really loaded the green side up well. The black compound didn’t seep in quite as well, but overall the whole package is excellent. Stropping even a standard Kershaw factory edge made it able to push cut newspaper after 20 or so swipes on the black, and 10 or so on the green. My Spyderco’s are almost hair whittling sharp doing it by hand.

Do you prefer soft nap or harder nap leather?

I love hand stropping, I don’t know why but I find it really relaxing and a great way to give my EDC knives a little attention. I even strop in my office during the day when stuck on long conference calls (a little weird, I know).

I have bought few strops from a fellow on eBay (apluslandscape) and been real pleased with Robert, even had him make a custom small 2 sided block strop (2x2x6) that I use at work). He also got me into trying out whittling. All his strops are rough side out (unless you ask for smooth), but to be honest I would probably prefer smooth for the red compound as it takes a lot of breaking in and I’m on the lower grits these days (due to the WEPS).

After using the wicked edge for a bit though I am thinking of switching to just a smooth dual sided 5/3u or 3/1u diamond paste strop for hand touchups. The diamond paste seems quite a bit more efficient.

I started with the Black/Green before the wicked edge, but since using the wicked edge I have switched to Green/Red and I mostly use just the red for a quick touchup. I felt the black was too aggressive (I come off the WEPS at 1u), and I like the red for a quick hit after using the knife for a bit to set the edge or polish off a little tape residue. The red seems to me to be very focused on literally just polishing and not very abrasive at all.

[Dave Schur]

I will just add for color that I have not seen any factor edge that did not need a complete and total reprofile, and some of them are just wicked screwy (admitedly on my cheap spyderco’s not a strider). I didn’t need to take off a ton of steel, but the edge was either really skewed, or inconsistent. What I love about the wicked edge is it sets a very scientific edge (as long as you record your settings).

I can’t say I blame you waiting for the 800/1000 on the Strider. I would maybe hand strop it for no and then reprofile when you feel confident you have the stones you need.

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