Definitely need a 3rd arm support clamp for longer flexible knives regardless how much you “Inspector Gadget” your WEPS…unless you like working one side at a time while bracing with the other.
As it happens a buddy recently asked me to sharpen his super old Mac kitchen knife, chipped, pitted, blunted, never sharpened…you get the idea. So I decided to give it a shot with the new setup…
First I thinned the blade at 3.5dps to remove as much previous damage as possible, then placed a 1000 grit edge bevel at 14dps…now I really wish I would have taken a before shot but didnt think of it until too late.
Keeping in mind Ive never thinned a blade before, and that this setup is a new deal, I was really happy with the results. Before applying the final edge bevel I also took it lightly to the buffing wheel. I think my buddy will be surprised.
Cliff, how long does it take to thin such a blade by hand with your setup? I think some guys have done it freehand, but I always thought it was a very tedious process and best done with a belt sander & fixture.
That plastic sleeve you’ve added to your rods - it reduces the effective length of your stones (you can’t use the top inch and a half or so). I’ve even cut down the length of my ball joint connectors to gain more length. As there is almost zero tensile force applied to the rod, I cut them down to about two threads.
I think the time involved will ofcourse depend on how hard the steel is and how much you are removing. I have another crazy idea to mount a slightly larger courser stone to a paddle for re-profiling work, maybe something like 2" wide by 1/4" thick? Any grit/stone suggestions for reprofiling?
This practice job here didnt take long, maybe 1/2hr, but didnt remove a ton either. Just cleaned up the years of poor sharpening that had left it rounded over to a blunt edge.
Sharp eye on the plastic sleeve, your right, it is inhibiting full range. I had it for use with the LAA/Tormek “high rise” configuration and dont need it here as set up. Nice to have all the options.
Thx Mark & to everyone for the positive feedback on this. It’s very encouraging to hear when your not really sure if what you’re doing is gonna work out or if you’re doing it the “right way”.
It’s a fine line between risk taker & crackpot. :silly:
The 3rd photo of knife in jig does show thick sharpie being used as reference, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect & was concerned about keeping it even. Turns out the process was comfortably similar to doing a normal edge bevel thank goodness.
The 1st & 2nd photos show the 3.5 degree bevel with 14dps edge bevel approx .5mm high. The knife was on the thin side & I flexible to begin with. Another reason I chose to just remove the damage towards the apex while keeping some strength.
2 more things are needed to really get playing around thinning & reprofiling kitchen & ffg blades…
The first is the ram clamp, which digging thru older posts it looks like you have? Does yours have a 1" ball or the 9/16th? After debate I ordered a 1" ball setup from Amazon yesterday.
… And the final thing is a small benchstone approx 2"x 8"x 1/4" that I can attach to a paddle. Maybe something in the 400grit range? I’ve seen & read info on re profiling but didn’t retain much because it wasn’t pertinent at the time.
By far the most fun I’ve had in YEARS trying & learning new things!!!
