Modernflame

[Modernflame]

I am grateful to everyone for your feedback. Thank you.

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Dwight Glass, Marc H

[Modernflame]

Marc H wrote:

I’ll try one last time….

Thanks for the warning. I’m fully aware that I can stop at 400 grit, then strop on the inside of my leather belt. I could also sharpen freehand and make lots of Uncle Randy comments on the internet about sharpening on river rocks, but then I would not be a WE customer. I’ve chosen to use all of the media for two reasons. First, they need to be evenly broken in. They would serve no purpose if they were neglected, then later used only to discover that they leave rougher scratches than the rougher grits that preceded them. Second, I want to learn how to create a sharp edge with a mirror finish as a service that I can sell.

And by the way, my edge is not “floppy.” It was a burr. The point of this thread was that my stropping technique on the WE did not completely remove the root of the burr, but my freehand technique did. I’d like to improve my WE stropping technique and would welcome advice on this topic.

[Modernflame]

Thanks, Marc. I’ll check out that video. Pretty sure it’s the last step, though. Otherwise a few passes on a submicron strop wouldn’t clear it up. Last night I sharpened a cheap santuko with the above listed media, but I skipped the WE strops and went straight to the freehand paddle strops. True, I don’t own the edge on up, but I achieved my sharpness goal. Gotta be something about the strops, the angles, and the pressure. I’m going to do more experimenting.

[Modernflame]

Very interesting. I’ve been programmed to use leather strops with minimal pressure, so my first thought was that I had backed off too far and thus was not cleaning the apex. But maybe I’m actually rounding off the apex because I haven’t backed off far enough. Maybe I’m just stropping too much? I know I don’t need all of that polish, but I like the bling on some of my finer knives.

[Modernflame]

The height of the blade is not likely to pose an issue. If you were to build a “big rig” with multiple units in tandem, then neither is the curvature of the blade. In fact, these would easily be taken in stride. The real issue is the length of the blade and the time invested in each sharpening venture. The WE is a precision system, the stuff of knife geeks’ wet dreams. (Yes, that includes me.) However, no system is perfect for every task. The question is how your money is best spent toward your objective.

[Modernflame]

You would need to reposition the sword in the clamp at least a couple of times in a standard WE.  A couple of advanced users on this forum are sporting a “big rigs,” which means that they can sharpen longer knives in one go. I’ll let them elaborate, but I think the sword might still be too long without repositioning. This can be done, albeit with care. If swords of this length are your gig, then the WE might not be the best option for you. Instead, you might consider bench stones, or a water cooled grinding wheel with long blade fixtures. Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Modernflame]

Best advice on the internet, my friend. I will look into this.

1 user thanked author for this post.

000Robert

[Modernflame]

wickededge wrote:

Hi Kenny, Try mounting the blade so that the back of the vise is lined up with the start of the belly of the blade, or thereabouts. You’ll have to tinker a little to find the “sweet spot”. If you need more info on finding the sweet spot, do a search here on the forum and you’ll find some excellent posts from forum members. You’ll probably find that the factory angle is pretty wide, maybe even 25 degrees per side (DPS) or more. I’d start with sharpening at the current grind and see how it goes before trying to re-profile it to a lower angle.

I’m still unclear on how to approach the heel of the blade on a knife like this. Doesn’t the ricasso prevent the stone from reaching the entire edge? I’ve decided I don’t want to cut off the plastic finger guards on the platons. Do some people carve a small choil into the edge? How would you approach a knife like this if it belonged to someone else and carving a notch were not an option?

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Hogdog

[Modernflame]

A great leap forward! I changed the order of my sharpening media, not by grit but by substrate, and it made an immediate difference in the finish of my bevels. Whether it improved sharpness is another question, as I don’t have the Edge On Up (yet). My perception is that this edge on my XM18 skinny skinner (sharpened tonight) is sharper than my other XM18, but I can’t prove it.

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GJHM28, wickededge

[Modernflame]

wickededge wrote:

I use my Micro-Fine ceramics if I want extreme sharpness. In our testing, some of the lowest (best) values we’ve gotten for sharpness on the BESS machine and our own machine have been after finishing with the white Micro-Fine stone. If I spend enough time with strops and emulsions and then kangaroo strops and diamond/cbn sprays, I can get a better score but it’s a lot more work.

Much appreciated, sir.

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GJHM28, wickededge

[Modernflame]

I’m resurrecting this thread because of the discussion regarding ceramics. The consensus seems to be that  (a) the break in period is longer and (b) they do something quite different than the diamond stones. WE recommends using them after diamond stones and before balsa strops and lapping films.

What are some philosophies of use that have been developed here? In particular, how are the 1.6 and 0.9 ceramics best used? Certain types of steel? Achieving a certain finish (or not)? Creating an edge for a specific purpose? Touch ups? Or do most people find them unnecessary?

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GJHM28

[Modernflame]

Yes! That’s why I keep this gem. Yes, that’s Frog Lube clouding the finish of the knife. A2 tool steel is not stainless, so I have to keep it oiled in long term storage. It lives in my knife drawer, awaiting the zombie apocalypse.

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000Robert, Brewbear

[Modernflame]

It’s a beautiful knife, sir. I like the hollow grind particularly. Large outdoor style knives are hardly a necessity for my suburban life style, but that does not stop me from wanting them!

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Brewbear, 000Robert

[Modernflame]

Fair enough. The official number is only ten. Two of these were kitchen knives. I’ll just keep rolling with what I’ve got for a while. Adding a couple of lapping films would be about $100. Not really a big deal, but I’m married. Sometimes it’s not about what I can afford, but what I can get away with.

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Brewbear

[Modernflame]

This thread has helped me a great deal. I realize it’s okay to do something like 3 micron, 1.5 micron and 1 micron DLF, then go to 4 and 2 micron leather strops. Then I can finish on 1 micron and 0.5 micron leather. That is, unless I’ve completely misunderstood, which is certainly possible.

I bought the 1.6 and 0.9 ceramics because I thought they would be ideal for removing diamond scratches, but I’m not getting the mirror polish I would like. So now I’m thinking I’d like to go up to 3000 diamond, then move to the sequence of DLF and strops listed above. I might just use the ceramics in the process of finishing knives that don’t need to sparkle.

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wickededge

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