How is there NOTHING? Zero content available for users to check out covering this add-on?!?!
Lol
Hi KnifeKnerd:
A while back, I posted an example of the process I developed, asking for input on how others used them. All I seemed to provoke was a bunch of thankyous. To my knowledge, this is considered WEPS standard procedure now. Read my thread at https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forum/10-advanced-techniques-and-sharpening-strategies/13050-using-the-variable-thickness-stone-adapters#18125
Bob Nash also posted some info on his early testing with it but I think that at the time, there wasn’t much interest. Maybe not many had bought their SWATs yet
I use my SWATs with EVERY grit change and am sure I can hit the angle within about 0.15 degrees.
I never did a video of it - I’m horribly camera shy. Maybe I’ll overcome the shyness and come up with something worthwhile.
Ok, I think I get it… The adapters are a reference point that begins the next step in the entire stone progression?.. Like the starting block a sprinter takes position on to start the race.
I’m looking at it this way - I’m imagining that each sprinter in the illustration below is a different grit stone, and rather than there being X number of starting blocks, there’s actually only one starting block because the location of the starting block is relative to the location of the sprinter on the track. And because 2 objects can’t occupy the same space… Am I crazy?!
Attachments:
you are crazy..the race is run with 2 runners and timed. Then the next 2 runners (next grit stones) step up to the starting block (SWAT) and run the race.
When a person starts to really really go OCD..cough me…and obviously Tcmeyer 
and you start to look at things under the microscope to see exactly what is going on..any slight differences between the rod and the stone or plate or strop or lapping film..will make the angle it is hitting the edge very slightly.
This is most noticeable with lapping films since they hardly take anything off the edge and to make up for the slight angle difference by grinding longer is not possible.
Makasense now? B)
p.s. Once you start using them you will not go back..
[quote quote=“Zamfir” post=21225]you are crazy..the race is run with 2 runners and timed. Then the next 2 runners (next grit stones) step up to the starting block (SWAT) and run the race.
When a person starts to really really go OCD..cough me…and obviously Tcmeyer and you start to look at things under the microscope to see exactly what is going on..any slight differences between the rod and the stone or plate or strop or lapping film..will make the angle it is hitting the edge very slightly.
This is most noticeable with lapping films since they hardly take anything off the edge and to make up for the slight angle difference by grinding longer is not possible.
Makasense now? B)
p.s. Once you start using them you will not go back..[/quote]
I’ll be honest, I had one too many pale ales when I wrote this. And you just have to know my personality. I can be a bit of clown. :blink:
I do understand how it works thanks to TC’s incredible ability to explain things with such clarity… The angle cube is so cumbersome so I definitely like the idea.
Just found this SWAT video on YouTube that was literally posted like 2 hours ago!
Wicked Edge V.S.T.A. / SWAT jig set up and how to:
What I would like to know is how you guys deal with cross contamination when using the SWAT with the STROPS?
What do you recommend? Is it OK to just clean the SWAT with alcohol every time you change STROPS or use painters
tape and change the tape when changing STROPS? :huh:
[quote quote=“aelt” post=21247]What I would like to know is how you guys deal with cross contamination when using the SWAT with the STROPS?
What do you recommend? Is it OK to just clean the SWAT with alcohol every time you change STROPS or use painters
tape and change the tape when changing STROPS? :huh:[/quote]
Since we’re now talking about abrasives in microns, I probably wouldn’t even use the SWATs with the strops.
[quote quote=“aelt” post=21247]What I would like to know is how you guys deal with cross contamination when using the SWAT with the STROPS?
What do you recommend? Is it OK to just clean the SWAT with alcohol every time you change STROPS or use painters
tape and change the tape when changing STROPS? :huh:[/quote]
Yea…really no need to use the SWAT when u get to the strops. I just automatically drop my angle down 2 degrees from where my SWAT is set and then use all of my strops at 2 degrees below the angle I sharpened at.
[quote quote=“lwaller1980” post=21251][quote quote=“aelt” post=21247]What I would like to know is how you guys deal with cross contamination when using the SWAT with the STROPS?
What do you recommend? Is it OK to just clean the SWAT with alcohol every time you change STROPS or use painters
tape and change the tape when changing STROPS? :huh:[/quote]
Yea…really no need to use the SWAT when u get to the strops. I just automatically drop my angle down 2 degrees from where my SWAT is set and then use all of my strops at 2 degrees below the angle I sharpened at.[/quote]
Exactly. I’d just move down 2dps and call it a day.
Yup, you can just drop the 2 dps and proceed with the strops without using the VSTA’s. However, if you’re using the superfine and microfine ceramics, or as in my case film on glass, you stay with the VSTA’s. If you’re concerned about cross-contamination picked up from the VSTA’s, give the face of the VSTA’s a quick wipe when you’re wiping the edge. What? Maybe an extra three seconds? Frankly, I hadn’t thought about it, but it seems like a good idea.
[quote quote=“tcmeyer” post=21222]Hi KnifeKnerd:
A while back, I posted an example of the process I developed, asking for input on how others used them. All I seemed to provoke was a bunch of thankyous. To my knowledge, this is considered WEPS standard procedure now. Read my thread at https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forum/10-advanced-techniques-and-sharpening-strategies/13050-using-the-variable-thickness-stone-adapters#18125
[/quote]
You did kind of write the book on this, so it is so far the SOP for the adapters. I’m hoping that’s what you meant Tom though I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that your rightfully calling me out for not having formalized this and some of your other suggestions. We’re sort of maxed out on bandwidth for the moment, though planning on acting on a lot of your suggestions as soon as we can. If you weren’t calling me out, then I’m doing it to myself 
We will get on these things. Ultimately, I need to conduct an inventory of all the great suggestions that have been supplied and set a priority list for them.
[quote quote=“wickededge” post=21274][quote quote=“tcmeyer” post=21222]Hi KnifeKnerd:
A while back, I posted an example of the process I developed, asking for input on how others used them. All I seemed to provoke was a bunch of thankyous. To my knowledge, this is considered WEPS standard procedure now. Read my thread at https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forum/10-advanced-techniques-and-sharpening-strategies/13050-using-the-variable-thickness-stone-adapters#18125
[/quote]
You did kind of write the book on this, so it is so far the SOP for the adapters. I’m hoping that’s what you meant Tom though I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that your rightfully calling me out for not having formalized this and some of your other suggestions. We’re sort of maxed out on bandwidth for the moment, though planning on acting on a lot of your suggestions as soon as we can. If you weren’t calling me out, then I’m doing it to myself We will get on these things. Ultimately, I need to conduct an inventory of all the great suggestions that have been supplied and set a priority list for them.[/quote]
I will say…I believe there needs to be a SWAT made for the new arms. The current one (which I own) looks to me to be made for the older arms. It needs to be longer and a different angle on the top. There also needs to be some other way to tighten them as it is very difficult to do so with the WEPS allen wrench because it hits the base when you try and turn it. I have resorted to purchasing long T handle allen wrenches that extend beyond the WEPS base which makes it a lot easier to turn. I may be wrong here but I have problems at times with them because of these issues.
I’ll agree that tightening the SWAT screws requires something other than the supplied wrench. I use the screwdriver type with no problems. But other than that, I don’t think the design is a problem. My tests show that if I use a consistent method, the angles are repeatable within 0.15 degrees.
If WE were asking about how the design could be improved, I’d suggest making the clamping section thicker, to reduce the amount of skew induced when you tighten the screw. This is a place where the design of the screw tip could also be improved. Maybe a brass point, to reduce any twist caused by the end of the screw. Or maybe a brass plug under the screw? Hey! That’s a good idea! I gotta go look for some brass rod!
great idea Tom! brass plug. That will help some. I will have to think on the “readjust” the swat makes once you tighten the screw..it does move a bit to make it flat..I think maybe that can be overcome by pushing on the swat the right way while holding it and holding the stone to the swat..I will have to tinker with that.
I do see where Iwaller is coming from. I agree with Tcmeyer it works just fine. But could it be better suited for the upgrade arms.. yes.
I think there could be a change of them that would work better for both styles of arms rather then perfectly working (the stones align up with the full paddle) for the old arms and sorta working (paddles only partially align up) for the new arms.
Hi guys,
remember the good ol’ days when there weren’t any SWATs or VSTAs? You’d set your angle, sharpen with the first stone, move to the next grit and check the angle with your Angle Cube and sharpen again. And again and again through all the grits you were using. Then came the godsend, the VSTA. Now, imagine you are resharpening a knife with a 15 dps bevel and a 19 dps secondary. You set your 15 degree angle and sharpen away. However, you are starting with your stone resting on the shoulder of the secondary. By the time you form a burr the angle will be somewhere between the 15 and 19. In the old days you’d achieve the 15 degrees by successively adjusting the angle. With the VSTA you finish with what you start with.
Just a thought.
Gerald.