Steve

I have no idea where the sliver came from. I don’t see any similar damage on the screw threads and the internal threads on the vise still seem to work. My initial guess was that it was some remnant from the initial cutting of the threads, but I honestly have no clue.

I have played around with angles from 15 to 20 on the Ka-Bar. I’m able to hit the apex with many of them, but in the process I’m also wearing on the blade coating. I assume that diamond stones would slice through painters tape without much problem. Any suggestions for how to effectively protect the blade coating while sharpening?

Armed with the knowledge that the screw should indeed come out, I worked the screw back and forth with a liberal application of WD-40 and it eventually came out, along with a long sliver of metal (photo attached). No idea what caused that, but the old screw is out, a new 1” screw is in, and the blade is locked into place as it should be. Thank y…[Read more]

Thank you again for the help. The primary reason that I chose the WE120 over the WE130 was that I have several 1/4″ blades and wanted the flexibility in size that you mentioned.  The instructions for the WE120 say that the lower screw can be removed.  However, mine moves back and forth just fine, but does not seem to want to come out of the v…[Read more]

I greatly appreciate all of your help. It turns out that the inexpensive Ontario knife I was using as my first try at this style of knife had extremely uneven factory bevels. On side was around 40 dps and the other closer to 10 dps. That was contributing to odd results on the Sharpie test and I landed on the “downward-facing-knife yoga” cla…[Read more]

Thank you not only for the help, but also for the outstanding story. I am clearly making some foundational mistakes with the Sharpie test. When I place the knife as you have it, I hit the apex on the straight part of the blade just fine at 20 degrees, but as I go from the belly to the tip, the stone comes way down into the shoulder, leaving the…[Read more]

Rather than starting a new thread on the same knife, I figured I would post here. Aside from the issues related to the heel, I’m having a hard time mounting this knife in my WE120. First, I struggle with the position of mounting this style of knife. Using the Sharpie method, I keep coming up with a position that is very far forward and highly a…[Read more]

Thank you very much for the tips. They helped a lot. My post was perhaps not worded well. I do have the advanced alignment guide, but I still find that when I have the blade taped to protect its finish, taking it out and putting it back again can take several minutes and I’m not convinced that it is always exactly where it was due to possible v…[Read more]

Thank you very much. I’m struggling with trying to figure out that most effective way to finish the sharpening process. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like I am hitting the apex, checking with a scope as you mentioned. But I still have not figured out what “done” looks like. I’m starting to think, as you mentioned, that many of the knive…[Read more]

I am trying to play around with microbevels and the sharpness I get with different grits and angles. As I try different things, if I take the knife out of the WE and then am not thrilled with the result, I spend a fair bit of time getting it mounted again in the WE to try something else. Does anyone have a good process they would be willing to…[Read more]

I am using a USB microscope and confirmed where the marker is being removed. I will try blue and red to see if that changes the observation.

I bought a bunch of the cheapest kitchen knives I could find to practice and some of them have been great examples of problems with mismatched bevel angles, etc. So when I had this issue the first time I…[Read more]

I have continued practicing on a variety of cheap knives and learn more with each one that I do. I have now had two knives where I am having a hard time determining the angle. I’ve followed the process outlined in the link below to use a marker and test where the stone contacts the bevel. I think that I understand the process as far as it goes. H…[Read more]

I played around with your suggestions today, and (as always) it was great advice. I was under the impression that the objective was to always clamp the knife with the spine parallel to the two pins in the depth key. I had been wondering how this would work with knives (such as the Ka-Bar USMC fighting knife) that have a much more pronounced curve…[Read more]

In getting the additional photos you requested and reading your response, I’ve figured out what the issue is. I was incorrect when I said I bottomed out before slipping off the edge. At the heel of the blade, that statement was not true and I am clearly doing so.

I feel like the knife is mounted too far forward. I ended up here based on a S…[Read more]

I’ve started on another test knife. This one is an 8” chef’s knife, and I’ve run into some trouble. The angle from the manufacturer edge seems to be 14.5 per side. I tested with a marker along the edge to find the sweet spot, which was about 2” from the tip as best as I could tell. I started with the 100 grit diamond stone (I’m breaking in…[Read more]

MarcH, your suggestions above really helped me avoid rolling the tips on my first test knife with my new WE120. Thank you again. While I have a long way to go before I obtain that legendary “Wicked edge” on my blades, my first attempt was still far sharper than I ever managed to achieve with my previous sharpening system.

I was able to raise a b…[Read more]

Thank you for the detailed reply. It makes a lot of sense and I greatly appreciate the help. I hope that as I am learning, the USB microscope will help me see if my knife has a sharp tip or if it has rolled after each different motion to help me perfect my technique.

I’ve got my WE120 set up and some practice knives ready to go. I have seen mention on other posts about not rolling the tips, and making sure that you go all the way past the tip, continuing along the same line, when doing a sweeping motion. However, this great video that MarcH recommended also shows circle and scrubbing m…[Read more]

Thanks!  Aside from any potential health risk, I assume the issue is that shavings could get into the ball joints and damage the mechanism.  Do most of you cover the ball joints, add washers to the guide rods, add magnets to the base, soap up your stones, or just use the WE as shipped? I’ve seen a lot of posts and videos about this issue, but the…[Read more]