tcmeyer

A very dear friend of mine had a bumper sticker on the wall of his office.  It said “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity”.  I expand that a little further: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by ignorance.  Another friend had a bumper sticker that said: “Stupidity is forever, but ignorance can be…[Read more]

The tape you see used on folders (or any knife, for that matter) are usually not intended to keep metal shavings out of the internal workings, but rather to protect the knife from accidental scratching during the sharpening process.  Once you have accidentally damaged a high-end or customer’s knife by bumping it with a coarse stone, you’ll tend…[Read more]

I bought a large Plano Gun Guard case for my old over/under shotgun in 2017 and I’m really pleased with it.  It has the “pluckable” high density foam interior.  I found a version that looks to be workable here.  I’m not sure what the dimensions of the individual foam pieces are but they might be pretty close to what you’re looking for.  It’s a pre…[Read more]

So who is the Knowledge Base Administrator?

I never meant to suggest that someone be assigned to mine threads older than today for apparent relevance to a technical issue.  I was imagining that Forum Monitors, such as yourself, (unpaid, I assume) be given the authority and access to insert links onto KB pages as they arise.  For example, you m…[Read more]

Thinking harder on it, I can’t see why a Knowledge Base administrator couldn’t include links to the forum.  We’re not talking about having a search function built in to the KB, but rather hard links which take the user directly to a specific thread, or even better, a specific comment.

So is it possible to embed a form of the “knowledge base” in the forum and have that link to relevant threads?  I’m certain that users would find that the very concise info offered there is much more efficient than threads which can be anything but concise.  What’s more is that threads can include incorrect bits of information.  I know that be…[Read more]

This discussion has prompted me to browse a little more in the “Knowledge Base” pages.  I think the individual sections are done very well and I especially applaud how concise the explanations are.  I think it would be really neat to include links to related Forum threads and videos.  Rather than having to pore through multiple threads and hu…[Read more]

I actually bought two sets of small Torx drivers for the same reason.  One set didn’t go high enough, while the next set up overlapped a little.  Some of the screws on folders go down to T2.  Same goes for some thumb studs.  Both sets are made by Wiha (a big name in specialty screwdrivers, as you can see in Ed’s link) and are sold on Amazon.  Wiha…[Read more]

I don’t see how not asking an “old question” would provide “an opportunity for new and different discussions to develop.”   I, for one, don’t have the patience to pore through old and long threads, trying to find relevant answers.  Having to follow a long series of posts, only to find that no clear or relevant answer was offered is more than do…[Read more]

You can’t get past the problem with the rounded edges of the stones without changing to one of the natural or synthetic stones with sharp corners.  I suppose you could tape a high-grade sandpaper to a hard platen, like glass or metal.

In any case, you still have to solve the issue of the abrasive not working the heel (less than 3/4″ from the…[Read more]

I had a similar situation with an 800-grit stone a few years back.  The offending clusters of diamonds were oriented longitudinally, so they had resisted the normal break-in process.  They made some god-awful chips in my ZDP Delica (see photo below).  I clamped a piece of glass in the vise and within a very few strokes, the clusters were gone.

Eric:  I hope you don’t read my post (above) and think I’m disrespecting your experience, which I know is extensive.  This same thing has happened to me quite a few times.  In every case, I know that I had seen a fine line reflected along the edge and made the decision to proceed to the next grit, thinking that I had applied plenty of strokes th…[Read more]

Good to hear from you again, Eric.  Glad to know you haven’t forgotten us.

I have no S110V experience either, but I do have experience with my ZDP-189 Spydies – a Delica 4 and a Stretch.  I’ve found that they tend to chip in use at 17 dps, so I’ve stepped up to 19 dps and have had few problems since.  Spyderco lists them at about RC64.  Mic…[Read more]

The aircraft-grade aluminum that WE uses is some really tuff stuff.  Try to drill a hole in it and it seems almost as tuff as steel.

All materials that are subjected to repeated stress have a predictable life, but normally that’s measured in tens or hundreds of thousands of cycles.

The problem with the bent vise issue is probably tied to…[Read more]

In my experience, flexible blades seem to sharpen just as well as others, if you use a consistent technique and the same amount of pressure from stroke to stroke.

When you can’t seem to figure out why a blade just doesn’t want to get sharp, think about the basics.  You need to reach the apex – or form a burr the entire length of the blade.  I…[Read more]

No doubt that’s what happened here.  The question is:  How did this happen?  What is the mechanical reason?  Hmmm… That’s two questions…

I keep a spritz bottle of lacquer thinner handy for just those sort of problems.

Incidentally, lacquer thinner is the best thing I’ve found for removing magic marker (Sharpie) ink.  It literally floats away as the thinner rolls across it.  You gotta watch out though, it doesn’t like most plastics, including WE handles.  There, I use alcohol.  For…[Read more]

Mark:  As we used to say when I was in the “black shoe navy”,  you needn’t call me “Sir.”  My parents were married.

It seems like we all get these scratches eventually.  Usually, you never notice it when it happens.  Later on, you’ll see the scratches and wonder how they got there.   The more serious sharpeners, most notably those who do it for…[Read more]

My phone book paper will cut vertically but not horizontally.  The sharpest knives I have won’t cut it – even scalpels.  I’ve decided that the paper is just too weak in that direction.  It’ll tear before it’ll slice.  I’m not sure, but I think that if I start a cut vertically, I can then steer it to horiz.

Absolutely scratch free bevels are rea…[Read more]

Those are scratches caused by letting the stones slide off the bevels.  It may be related to your upgrade to the Gen 3 vise.  Is it maybe a little higher than before?