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tcmeyer, you just made an excellent point about the need for a definitive break in process. Makes me think of switching to stones.

Rubbish – LOL

So, how are we supposed to know when they are broken in fully tip to toe. Also, how are we supposed to know when we should replace them.

Looks great

Be aware that these are hot glued on and you can get replacement leather for single $’s per from Clay and then replace them. I did it and my guess is that with minimal cleanup you can flip them over (but may not be worth the risk for $2 per). You can also cut any leather to size and hot glue it. Just watch the thickness.

My feeling is that at this price point, the diamond paddles should be broken in at the factory. How hard can it be under a controlled rubbing machine. Why should we have to do it ? I am thinking of replacing my 100 grit paddles (most aggressive use) and to tell you the truth it pisses me off that I would have to “break them in”, us amateurs do NOT…[Read more]

My 2 cents:

I raise a full length burr at 100 grit, verify it with edge trailing finger swipe (obviously it is on one side only), I then do 1 edge leading swipe (consistently soft) along the full length on the side that the burr is curled to.

Finger swipe again, no burr, move on. 25 strokes per side up thru diamond film and good to go. Every…[Read more]

A vid

I had the same need for a reasonably cheap grinder to fix chips, tips, bolsters, thinning, polishing, etc before going to WEPS for fine tune edging. I wanted flexibility and variable speed. Viel and the like started at $300 & up (way up). That wasn’t for me as a garage once in a while sharpener. If I was trying to make $$, then I understand…[Read more]

The king of mods !!

My current thoughts:

1. A version of the WEPS GO could function as the linear bearing (only needed for one side)
2. Mount it to the same base plate as the WE130, parallel to the knife, with slots to allow for different angles and fine tuning parallelism
3. Use a precision hinge instead of a ball to keep the rod at a fixed location
4. Use ceramic rods…

[Read more]

I tracked down Tom Veff, Edgeologist from Oregon City, Oregon a while back and he told me he still had some in his personal stock. Unfortunately, I did not pull the trigger, I will retry.

Putting a putting a “linear bearing/bushing on a rod that runs parallel to the blade” was also a thought of mine as it would be much cheaper and simpler than a…[Read more]

Challenges for sure, but all you need is a simple (cheap) adjustable step linear indexer which holds the knife and mounts in the clamp. For the rods — yeah there are many but most are arcs or flat angles and off the shelf ceramics cover maybe 80% of them. Diamond rods are probably out of the question. Diamond film on the other hand can be stuck…[Read more]

Keep in mind that the first time any knife is put in a WEPS you need to document it with the AAG and establish the WEPS apex profile. This usually means changing the factory profile a bit because IMO it is impossible to duplicate the exact original profile. Neglecting this will diminish your ability to reach perfect apex (full burr) and ultimate…[Read more]

I have never been a fan of doing the 1-2 deg change either. To me its using the right amount of pressure and “stroke flow”, very similar to free hand touch ups on my ceramic rods. Doing the thumb nail scrape is all you need for a sharpness test. Why strop at 1-2 deg off when you are trying to reach the apex, you are introducing another variable…[Read more]

Sonoma at Columbus Circle in NYC is amazing. Two floors. They told me that the home store in San Francisco is 3 floors.

I have been collecting my ~30 kitchens knives over ~30 years. It started with a Henckel set and evolved into Shun across the different models. If I were starting over I would most likely have a much more varied collection. I will never buy another knife that I haven’t actually held in my hand. It is the feel to me. I really like the design of the…[Read more]

I added a video of the sticky thumbnail scrape to the link below:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8CiCNHSBS3GgtHNLA

Get yourself one of these for next time. Variable speed HF 1×30 hack.