sksharp

I sent you a private message.

You have everything you need, and more, except experience.  With practice and broken-in sharpening stones you will get Wicked sharp edges.

The other way to look at is…now that you know that finger hold position and pressure effects how the stone scratches the bevel.  Study the resulting scratch patterns of these different finger positions with a magnified visual aid.  Then use this knowledge to steer where you place your scratches.  By understanding this cause and effect you can us…[Read more]

Stark sharp, welcome.  It’s not hard to use a Wicked Edge, but it’s far from simple, either.  It takes quite a bit of practice to learn to use it well.  The is a pretty good break-in period to the sharpening stones before they start to come around a yield consistent results.  This takes most of us 8 or 10 knives worth of practice.  Always put safe…[Read more]

Don’t over complicate.  If you don’t see the results you want in the place on the bevel you want them, whatever the stroke and whatever the medium,  adjust your position and pressure to achieve the appearing results you desire, where you want them.  Our technique needs to be flexible.  This is results driven.  Do what it takes to achieve the resu…[Read more]

I will take another try at this….

If your knife is clamped securely and steadfastly.  Then the bevels on either side of the knife edge do not move either.

The scratch patterns are imparted onto the bevels by the moving stone, (what ever sharpening medium it is), which is held in your fingertips, as you direct it’s movement across the…[Read more]

There is no wrong.  The key is making what you do, work for you.  That’s all that matters.  If you can get good sharp results you’re doing it right.  Now from there, you can experiment with tweaks and changes to improve your results, to be even more so, to your liking.

Down the road in your sharpening journey you may decide to invest in an obj…[Read more]

There’s always “one other thing”…  this is why those of us that have figured it out and have learned to use our Wicked Edge Sharpeners well share the same bit of advice, consistency is key.  Once you figure out how to use and control your scratch patterns to your benefit then you begin to realize how consistent finger/hand-hold position and p…[Read more]

In one of the many emails I exchanged with -Terry, I suggested to him to become a better sharpener I found it helpful to become a student.  I used the USB microscope to observe my scratch patterns and correlate the placement of the scratches or the position the scratches are laid down on the knife edge bevels with the different finger positions…[Read more]

-Terry, thanks for the kind words.

Just to be clear…Knife sharpening with the Wicked Edge is an individual thing.  By know means is how I do it the only way it can be done.  There are many different methods/techniques we can employ to achieve the sharpening results we seek.  Please take what you like from me, and leave the rest.  Take som…[Read more]

Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum and sharpening community, JohnnyR.   That’s a great set-up you chose.  You have pretty much everything you’ll need.  I write that with a smirk on my mind.  Once you get the hang of it you’ll find other accessories you just need to have.  Enjoy the journey.

Leo you set your angles making gross adjustments first then microfine adjustments to fine tune your sharpeners angle settings to read the desired angle with your angle cube.  Not the opposite way.  Don’t use the sharpeners settings to set your desired precise angle settings.

The sharpener’s inscribed settings are simply an indication of the a…[Read more]

My knives are so sharp they called me to borrow one to use in the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva Switzerland to split atomic particles.

LOL

I rely on visual inspection with a USB microscope in conjunction with finger feel for the burr and edge sharpness.  I also test each grit edge for sharpening progression by pulling a piece of newspaper down across the clamped knives edges.  I’m looking for the change, that is the improvement, in ease of cutting the paper and the sound made while c…[Read more]

Just yo be clear…nobody is right or wrong.  The beauty of it is our techniques can be totally different while each of us can have similar results.  Take what you like from each of us and put it together how you like it and it works best ffg or you.

As long as you’re angles are consistent and your sharpening strokes are as apexing the knife e…[Read more]

I don’t share that experience.  For me the burr forms quickly and easily with little effort, once the initial burr is created with my beginning coarsest grit.  As I progress through the finer and finer grits the burr forms quicker and easier with each subsequent finer grit.

I don’t keep a track of my time spent sharpening. There is no reason f…[Read more]

A burr is the direct result of exercising good proper sharpening technique well enough and long enough.

-Terry, as you wrote, consistent repeated stone position, while making these angle readings, is key and necessary to take advantage of the sharpener’s potential precision.

Many of us use our angle cubes to make angle readings to double check and re-adjust our sharpening stone angle settings, each and every grit change.  I’m of the belief to have a knife sharpener that allows this level of repeatable precision to take advantage of this ability.