MarcH

John, I have a large and diverse knife collection made from a variety of steels many different steel hardness.  I have carbon steels, high carbon steels, stainless steels and super hard powdered tool steels. The hardness of my knives range from HRc 56-58 to HRc 67-68.  

I have found no direct correlation between hardness and ease of sh…[Read more]

Be aware that edge trailing strokes may result in a very thin yet very sharp knife edge.  Sometimes it’s an elongated wire edge. It starts out incredibly sharp but lacks durability and may fail before not too long.

Are you using a lighted magnified visual aid like a jeweler’s loupe.  Or maybe a USB Microscope .

Being able to see your sharpening results are invaluable.

I’d suggest you simplify the issue.  Only sharpen to 1000 grit,  to start.  Visually inspect your sharpening progress and finished edges to be sure the apex is true, exposed and there are no…[Read more]

I use each grit in my sharpening progressions the same.   The same stroke routine, again and again.  Just by the nature of my repetitive technique I apex the edges on both sides and form burrs with each stone pair.  It’s not intentional, just the result of my consistent technique.

I do verify my guide rod angles with my angle cube.  I make micr…[Read more]

Electric belt sander/grinder.  The paddle plastic does melt so you may have to clean up the remnants with a sharp edge.

Yes, the second side appears to apex quicker.  Your scratch pattern apexing the edge on the second side is easier to discern.  The second side burr will begin to form quicker.  That’s because the bevel height was lowered a lit…[Read more]

I use a scrubbing stroke as the beginning sharpening stroke with each and every grit I’m employing in my sharpening progressions.  I keep this scrubbing stroke moving so the stone is never positioned too long in any one place along the knife edge.  I also alternate my scrubbing strokes from knife side to side to keep my edge work even and b…[Read more]

Panavise makes some practical options like the Panavise Jr.

There are two ways to tackle this issue.  Both require a little mechanical ingenuity.

• You can wrap something around or apply something to the knife blade where it’s positioned and clamped in the vise jaws.  Some W.E. users apply tape like blue painters tape or silver aluminum foil tape to the blade.  The tape stays in place on the knife st…

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Todd, it appears to me you are scrubbing over the top of the thumb stud that sticks out on the right side, as the knife is mounted in the W.E. vise.   It appears to me that the top surface of the stud is showing signs of stone wear and contact.   My guess is the stud contact while scrubbing is effecting the angle which your stone is meeting the…[Read more]

All the different length guide rods are compatible with all the models, with the exception of maybe the WEGO model.  The threads 9n all the guide rods are the same.  I have bought and use all the longer guide rods W.E. offers.

The longer rods are designed for users employing accessories, or modifications like the Low Angle Adapter, a Tormek s…[Read more]

It really is a hard thing to answer simply with black and white terms, do this, this way, and don’t do that, that way.  There’s a lot of factors we’re dealing with and the uneven bevel is really about steering the way the knife cuts and passes through what your cutting or slicing, because of how it is ground. I’m attaching a post, I copied, by a…[Read more]

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum, Dennis.

With the Gen 3 Pro it’s a balancing act.  A give-and-take between the convenience of simultaneous gross angle adjustment of both knife sides and the positioning of micro-angle adjusters.  First, the inscribed angle indexing is really just a suggestion or general indication of the angle associated with t…[Read more]

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum, Andy.

Forgive the beginner’s spiel:  I suggest you save your good knives for when your sharpening stones are broken in.  This generally requires about 10 knives worth of sharpening with them.   That’s about the usual amount of time and practice it takes most new users to get the hang of using their W.E. sha…[Read more]

I try to start each knife I’m sharpening with the least coarse or finest grit stones that get the job done efficiently.  That is quickly and without too much effort extended.  Even when profiling a knife I’ve never sharpened on the W. E. before, or to apply a new edge profile or configuration. This is very often the 400 grit stone.  I use the co…[Read more]

Dwight, what are your criteria for determining when you employ the 50/80 stone pair?  From what you wrote it almost seems your saying you use it for every knife you sharpen????

My preference is to use whetstones (mounted on W.E. paddles) for any knives made from steels that are HRc 60 or harder.  That’s not to say you can’t use the diamond stones on some harder steels.  On some hard steels the diamonds may work. The issue is I found steels that I had edge failures using the diamond stones.  I don’t want to take that ch…[Read more]

Welcome to the W.E. forum, Bill.

If the steak knives have never been sharpened before you’re left to believe the angle you found using the sharpie method is an indication of the original existing bevel angle.  Realize it may be difficult to see exactly where you’re removing the marker ink from the knife edge without a lighted magnified visual…[Read more]

That’s an older model Commercial Series Sharpener.  It has since been redesigned and updated with the newer version Gen 3 vise system.  I think you’ll be better served to take your questions directly to Wicked Edge.  There’s been no conversation on this forum around that model in my years of participation.