Organic

Welcome Steve!

If they fit into one another then I don’t see why not. It might get a little wobbly and the 12 inch rods may not be long enough but it will make the angle more acute.

Similar in finish to the diamond lapping films is a statement that I take issue with. The ceramic stones provide a sharp finish that is kind of hazy. They don’t seem to be able to produce that mirror-like glitzy looking edge that the diamond lapping films excel at. This is not to say that you can’t produce a mirrored edge using the ceramic stones…[Read more]

I would expect that you’ll need 50 to 100 passes to get similar levels of scratch pattern uniformity. As you already suggested, this will depend on the knife’s blade steel, the blade length, and how worn in your diamond stones are. The only real way to judge this is with the use of a magnifying device such as USB microscope or a jeweler’s…[Read more]

I think your main problem here is that you aren’t doing enough passes. Diamond sharpening media abrade metal much more efficiently than ceramic. You will need to do a lot more passes relative to what you do with the diamond stones in order to remove the scratches from the previous grit. The stones might not be broken in yet either, but I got…[Read more]

If the angle guide rods didn’t move then the answer is likely that your knife slipped downward in the clamp ever so slightly. I suggest that you should set it up for 19 degrees per side again when resharpening and then check with a sharpie to see that you have removed metal all the way to the apex. If not, make minor adjustments and check…[Read more]

You’ve already received some good advise. I want to reiterate Marc’s point: do not sharpen you Kramer knives right away. Do yourself a favor and sharpen a few knives that you don’t care about too much first. This will give your stones time to break in and will help you to figure out how to find the sweet spot, how to avoid accidentally marring the…[Read more]

Strops work quite differently than the hard abrasives (diamond lapping film, diamond plates, ceramic stones). The leather is malleable and the diamond (or CBN) abrasives are not firmly anchored. Consequently, I find it beneficial to intentionally overlap the grit ratings of strops and hard abrasives in my sharpening sequence. For example, I…[Read more]

Don’t feel too bad about cutting up your leather strops. Everyone has done it a few times. Like Marc said, strops with cuts in them are still fine to use. They don’t look good, but they still get the job done.

If you determine that the issue is not caused by the blade leaning in the clamp then you may need to pay more attention to how much you are working each side. If you work the right side more than the left side then it will have a wider bevel even if the bevel angles are identical. The bevel widths can be evened out by working on the small side…[Read more]

Clay almost always uses edge trailing strokes in the videos that he produces because edge trailing strokes are generally easier to execute in a safe manner. Both edge trailing and edge leading strokes will get a knife sharp, but edge leading strokes have been shown to yield a cleaner apex. See this thread for details.

10 degrees per side is a very acute angle even in the world of high end kitchen cutlery. Are you sure you are getting a burr? The angle at which the knife is sharpened shouldn’t affect whether or not you can develop a burr.

Welcome Robert!

Welcome Caleb!

Despite what some knife manufacturers may lead you to believe, the angles on most production knives vary quite a bit from one example to another even of the exact same model. The best way to find the angles on your knife is to use a the sharpie method. The two sides of the existing bevel might not even have matching angles.

Welcome Jayson. Make sure to check out the articles in the Wicked Edge Knowledge Base (link at the top right of the forum).

I own the micro-fine ceramics and I like them. I will typically use them after the 1500 diamond instead of reaching for the lapping films. The ceramic stones are not a rapidly consumable item like the lapping films are (although you might be able to wear them down over the course of a lifetime or two of sharpening). They also leave a different…[Read more]

A solution that sometimes works for folders with little to no flat spot is to remove the blade from the handle and then clamp on the pivot area of the blade. Alternatively, you can try the Tormek small knife jig, but that is a compromise and will introduce its own issues.

I don’t count strokes when sharpening. I go by the results that I can see with the aid of a magnifying device (usually a loupe, but I also sometimes use microscopes). Once the bevels are looking like I want at a particular grit I will then do several (again, I don’t count) alternating strokes with decreasing pressure before moving to the next grit.

Make sure you check out the knowledge base (link in the top right of the forum). These are articles compiled by the WE team and many of them are aimed at new users.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned (about sharpening with the WE?)

What you are experiencing is normal. Small knives at low angles is a difficult combination for the WE. The low angle adapter doesn’t clamp these knives very well either which you have clearly observed as well. Your best bet is to go for a more obtuse angle. Some people have modified their sharpeners to have a riser block between the clamp and the…[Read more]