James

Tom, I believe that is what I wrote.

If it’s from the bottom jacking screw it’s probably a heli-coil insert. A tightly torqued jacking screw exerts a lot of force on the threads.  As long as it tightens and the vise works well I would just use it.  If it fails at some point W.E. customer service will take care of any issues.

Tape applied to the knife sides should protect the knife steel from unwanted damage from inadvertent, unintentional damage from steel dust that falls on the knife that’s shed with sharpening or that gets rubbed across the knives trapped on your fingertips as you handle the sharpening stones.  New stones will shed abrasive dust also as they are…[Read more]

BTW, if you can’t find flat hex socket head screws at your hardware store Phillips flat head screws can be used.  All that matters is 10/32 and the length you need.  Don’t buy screws that are too long because if the heads sticks or ends stick out too far your sharpening stones may hit the screws.

Steve,

On the standard vises, WE100, and WE120 models, both vise screws, top and bottom, are removable, (if without unexpected defects), and interchangeable with suitably sized longer screws.

Steve, your photos didn’t appear

I’m not a defendent of the W.E. System.   I’m the first to say it has it’s limitations.  It is what it is.  It doesn’t work perfectly well with every shape and style knife.  Work with it and it’ll work for you.  I did need to buy a variety of longer screws when I was mainly working with the “standard vise model…[Read more]

That’s why I’m a proponent for using creative thinking, accessories and modifications to help W.E. user’s to use their sharpeners easier, more efficiently and effectively.  The W.E. alone cannot clamp and sharpen every knife. There are too many varieties.  Sometimes the W.E. needs help and we have to get creative and intuitive.  Afterall, the W.…[Read more]

Whether simply sharpening knives or reprofiling them, the process is essentially the same…it’s just a matter of degrees, how much steel is removed.  You still need to find the best, most efficient clamping position, “the sweet spot” to carry either one out.

The poster, “Steve” who resurrected this old thread is using the technique to find…[Read more]

I have no experience with that particular military style knife.  For similarly shaped long-ish knives when I need to rotate the handle for clamping to best find a “sweet spot” I always rotate the handles down and the tip up, both.  It’s a slight downward position for the handle below the horizontal of the jawline and a slight upward rotation of t…[Read more]

Henry, your post #57396 above, with all the close-up USB photos makes it hard to figure out your issue.  As 000Robert likes to post, “a picture is worth a thousand words.  If you could include a wide-view photo of the entire knife clamped in your Gen 3 Pro it would be very helpful.  Your sharing the issues you’re dealing with, without us being to…[Read more]

Henry,

TMI

You are making yourself crazy worrying about too many details.  The precision you’re seeking, it seems to me from reading your post, is way more than needed. We’re just sharpening knives.  We’re not polishing jet engine turbofan blades.

There is some tolerance or slop between the stones and the guide rods.  The W.E. guide rods we…[Read more]

Jake, In my experience, most knives are tapered from the spine to the edge and often tapered down to the tip also.  Only a knife that is the same thickness with parallel ground sides where it sits and clamps in the vise and rests against the vertical stationary left side vise, will be vertical with no lean.

A properly zeroed cube will give you…[Read more]

Jake, here’s a link to a previous forum thread you might want to read with videos you should watch…

https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/instructional-video-series-on-youtube-finding-the-sweet-spot/

There are two things going on you need to learn to deal with.

1. Setting the appropriate sharpening angle, and
2. clamping the knife in an…

[Read more]

Watch this video.  It should help you compensate for the blade lean.

Welcome to the forum, Jake M.

You are correct.  You can set the bevel angles using the digital angle cube to reprofile your knives to angles of your choosing.

I’d still use the marker trick to allow you to see the progress your making removing steel and where your stones are contacting the knife edge.  I’d continuously reapply the marker as y…[Read more]

Steve, if you confirm your guide rod set angles are still correct with your angle cube after reclamping the removed knife, making any necessary micro-angle adjustments, that’s all that really matters.  Even if the knife is positioned slightly differently if the set angle is the same you’ll be good to continue.  Of course you’ll want to try to g…[Read more]

Steve, it’s about a year since you first started this thread.  Did you ever upgrade this PP1 model you began with?  Which vise are you using now?  Knowing that will help us understand why you’re having difficulties removing knives then re-clamping them back to the same position.

The alignment guide or the advanced Alignment Guide is useful to gi…[Read more]

No disrespect meant…what do you want your microscope to do?  For me it’s a magnifying visual aid to help me to sharpen my knives with my W.E.  My scope let’s me see where my scratch patterns are being laid down so I can better assess my sharpening progress.  It just takes a quick glance.  A spot check that I’m doing what I want to do cor…[Read more]

Of the two Shapton stones, the more expensive, Shapton Glass Stone sets are my preference.  The same eBay guy made those sets for me too.  He also made me several other sets of other brands of whetstones.   I haven’t used all my different whetstones sets with enough of a variety of steels types to be able to correlate steel hardness with a pre…[Read more]

I use pressure commensurate with my sharpening mediums for the job I’m doing, at the time.  If I’m scrubbing at the start of a reprofile I’ll use more applied pressure and as I get the steel removing as I’m wanting, I’ll back off on the pressure.  I reserve the “light tough” for the lighter, finer grits when I’m into the polishing stage of my s…[Read more]