Joyal Taylor

[Joyal Taylor]

Follow-up. I took the same knife to yet another professional sharpener at another healthfood store. The sharpener was female this time and she seemed to take great pride in her work. I made up a story and told her that a friend of mine had sharpened the knife and it felt rough on one side of the edge but I didn’t want to say anything to my friend. Could she make it better? She felt the edge and said that it must have been sharpened on a belt sander but mostly on one side. She also said that my friend didn’t hone it. She said “let me give it a try”. She put it on her belt sander and then on her ceramic hone machine. After feeling the edge, she redid it on the belt sander and honed it twice more. She spent maybe 2 minutes (twice as much time as the other two people) and charged me the usual $2. When she was happy with it, she handed it back to me and said “Check it now. That should be better”. It was.

Here is her edge:

Of course this doesn’t compare to the WEPS edge but, compared to the other two attempts, this was pretty good.

What I learned is – it matters who the sharpener is and their skill level – with those professional sharpeners. And, of course, nothing compares to the WEPS system.

[Joyal Taylor]

I sent you a private message.

[Joyal Taylor]

The 50/80 grits also work very well if you ever want to change a serrated edge to a plain edge.

[Joyal Taylor]

I have both types of stones and experimented with using them in different progressions. I’ve noticed a considerable difference in the resulting mirror polishes. I prefer the polish left by the Choseras. It’s more consistent for me. The ceramics leave a “wavy” mirror finish – maybe it’s just the way I use them because I haven’t noticed where anyone else has commented on this.

However, I haven’t gone straight to the 10,000 Chosera after the 1,000 diamond. I’ve only done it by going back to the 800 Chosera and progressing to the 10,000. I think it was jendeindustries who recommended dropping back to (at lesst) one grit coarser than the previous grit – when changing types of stones during a progression.

I’m not sure about differences in sharpness, edges, etc between the Choseras vs Ceramics.

[Joyal Taylor]

Maybe I’m the only one who doesn’t know about “Angle Tilt Rate Calculation”. What exactly is it and what does it do to add to the regular Angle Cube in relation to the WEPS?

[Joyal Taylor]

I couldn’t be more pleased with the mirror edges after lapping the ceramics.

I had a different result as far as mirror edges. I sharpened a Kershaw Blur from 100 diamond thru 1600 ceramics. Then I switched to 5,000/10,000 Choseras before going on to the 1.4/0.6 micro ceramics. The mirror edge after the 10,000 Choseras was great, to the naked eye. But after the micro ceramics, the mirror edge had changed – inconsistent polish thorughout the edge that just didn’t look right. Has anyone else noticed this?

However, at 400x magnification, the edges seemed about the same.

I couldn’t get the lightening right with regular photos showing the mirror edge difference but I did take some 400x photos of both 10,000 Chosera and 0.6 micro ceramic edges.

After 10,000 Choseras:

And here are two more photos of the same blade after the 0.6 micro ceramics (different lightening):

This is just one knife so I’ll try some more after lapping the micro ceramics.

[Joyal Taylor]

Thanks Mark76

I got another one right

I think I’ve got this down. When I sharpen the blade, especially when I make heel to tip strokes, I stop short of the tip. Then I work on the tip separately and slowly. Also, if there is even the slightest flex in the tip, I reposition the knife to get the tip closer to the vise, to stabilize it.

This is an on-going learning experience, isn’t it.

[Joyal Taylor]

Somehow I got one right but I don’t know how I did it. Just lucky I guess.

[Joyal Taylor]

Along this same line:

If you run into a torx screw that is stuck, do you know any tricks to loosen it?

I like to disassemble/reassemble some of my knives but I have a couple of knives (Kershaw OSO Sweet, Byrd Cara Cara) with stuck screws that I may have to send back to the companies. I’ll do that as a last resort but I don’t like to feel defeated. I’ve tried loosen them with TuffGlide, WD40, PB Blaster, and even banging on the bit with a hammer. I’ve rounded off Torx bits as well as the screws trying to loosen them. I’ve tried using T7 bits in T6 screws. I have something called Micro-Grabit that is a screw/bolt extractor but I’m hesitating using it because it will distroy the screws and I’m not sure if I can get replacements.

The knife companies probably run into this problem often when they repair their knives. They must know how to deal with those badly stuck screws.

Anyone have other suggestions that have worked for you?

Here’s how I finally got those stubborn torx screws out. I used a dremel to carefully cut a slot in the head of the screws and used a plain screwdriver to unscrew them.

Here’s one of the T6 torx screws (on the right) compared to untouched torx screws:

I’ll post this on BladeForums too.

[Joyal Taylor]

Along this same line:

If you run into a torx screw that is stuck, do you know any tricks to loosen it?

I like to disassemble/reassemble some of my knives but I have a couple of knives (Kershaw OSO Sweet, Byrd Cara Cara) with stuck screws that I may have to send back to the companies. I’ll do that as a last resort but I don’t like to feel defeated. I’ve tried loosen them with TuffGlide, WD40, PB Blaster, and even banging on the bit with a hammer. I’ve rounded off Torx bits as well as the screws trying to loosen them. I’ve tried using T7 bits in T6 screws. I have something called Micro-Grabit that is a screw/bolt extractor but I’m hesitating using it because it will distroy the screws and I’m not sure if I can get replacements.

The knife companies probably run into this problem often when they repair their knives. They must know how to deal with those badly stuck screws.

Anyone have other suggestions that have worked for you?

[Joyal Taylor]

I’ll try add to this study with before and after sharpening with the SharpMaker and KME system. I used Kershaw Crown knives that were on sale at Walmart a few months ago. The bevels are at 40 degree inclusive angles. With the WE, I stopped the progression at 1000 grit and didn’t strop. The edge photos are at 400x.

factory edge

KME system

SharpMaker

Wicked Edge

For fun, I took a look at the knife point before and after sharpening with the Wicked Edge.
I didn’t try to sharpen the top of the point. It just turned out that way for some reason.

[Joyal Taylor]

The monitors give karma ratings Bob. I give them for starting a thread, for interesting comments and ideas and for encouraging members to post. I try to give them also for good pictures or amusing anecdotes…whatever I see or read that enhances this Forum. Now I am not here as much as I used to be but Mark can also give them using his criteria.
The ‘thank you’s’ are up to the members when they read a good piece of advice or see an idea that lights up the brain.

Cheers
Leo

Hey Leo,
Why don’t I have a Thank You button in my posts?
I feel left out.
LOL

[Joyal Taylor]

Hey HM,

I believe they are one of those “Group Hug” type things (if you do something for someone or people in general). The feature allows you to be rated by a “smite” or an “applaud” for your actions.

I may be all wrong. LOL

Well, I just gave you another “applaud”.
Now you have 2.
LOLer

[Joyal Taylor]

Does anyone have experience or thoughts about the following?

Since the new 1.4 / .6 micro-fine ceramics are 15,000 / 30,000, does that make the Chosera stones (that only go to 10,000) no longer necessary? Or would using the 10,000 Chosera before (or after) the Micro-Fine Ceramics but before the strops, make sense?

[Joyal Taylor]

Thanks Mark76. I sent Ken a PM. Then I saw BobNash’s reply. I wish I had known that the kangaroo strops for WEPS was available. I would have ordered some as soon as they became available. I’m excited to get them and put that beautiful final finish on my blades.

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