Here's a few mods, tips, & tricks I did to my WEPS

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1

Here is a video I uploaded to MODiFiEDZ YouTube channel about some modifications I did to clean, lube & protect the sharpener as well as consistently get mirror polished edges & even hair whittling sharp edges everytime. There’s some more Wicked Edge sharpening videos on my channel if you’d like to check them out.

[video]http://youtu.be/JjBddFC2KME?hd=1[/video]
[video size=100 width=640 height=360 type=youtube]<iframe width=[/video]
http://youtu.be/JjBddFC2KME?hd=1

I hope you guys can find something interesting. Please like & subscribe to my channel to be notified of future uploads.

2

[quote quote=“MODiFiEDZ” post=2390]Here is a video I uploaded to my YouTube channel about some modifications I did to clean, lube & protect the sharpener as well as get mirror polished edges & even hair whittling sharp edges everytime. There are some more Wicked Edge sharpening videos on my channel if you’d like to check them out.

[video]http://youtu.be/JjBddFC2KME?hd=1[/video]
[video size=100 width=640 height=360 type=youtube]<iframe width=[/video]
http://youtu.be/JjBddFC2KME?hd=1

I hope you guys can find something interesting.[/quote]

Awesome stuff. Might start doing a pre-lube during QC.

3

Some great ideas! I will definitely try the washers, they should prevent the stones becoming “sucked” (that is the way it feels when sharpening) to the joints. And the lubrication also sounds like a good idea. And I must also try a magnet…

Funny to see that some people are busy increasing the friction of the rods (in order to remove some play), whereas you try to decrease it. This afternoon I tried the trick with the Subway rods, but this created far too much friction to me.

Thanks!

4

Yes Mark, some interesting ideas. The magnet is a must for me, what an excellent idea that is. Mark, I am just about to send you a PM…give me a few minutes.

Leo

5

great job on the video.

on the play in the joint between the rods and the black elbow, I pulled the assemblies off the sharpener and gave them a tweek in my arbor press to tighten them up. now almost no play from side to side.

I have the same ultra sonic cleaner. I never considered US-ing my stones. Yours is also much cleaner than mine… both the stones and US.

Had to look twice at your stone you used in the video. My 800/1000 stones are yellow and baby blue.

6

pictures seen hereI’ll try to post more about this tonight maybe… but here are the mods I’ve done to mine ().

So, in short, I have:

[ul]
[li]Had a metal fabrication shop make me an exact replica vise out of hardened A2 tool steel[/li]
[li]Had the same metal fabrication shop make me my “straight razor” attachments out of the same… this allows me to get in front of the vise on straight razors to get about 10-12 degrees/side[/li]
[li]Purchased more of the exact same vise screws in different sizes so now I can sharpen a blade that is a half inch thick probably lol[/li]
[li]Re-inforced the rod arm joints with washers (although I am going to try to incorporate Clay’s 6/32" screw idea to get them precisely tightened to where there is no play but they are still loose enough to move[/li]
[li]Purchased allen screws that are the same thread pattern as the knob you use to tighten the rod arm joints to the degree bar… this way I can ensure that they are truly tight and will not loosen during sharpening[/li]
[li]Incorporated the plastic straw idea from straws at subway over the rod arms to reduce play (not pictured yet)[/li]
[li]Additionally I have mounted this to a suction cup base, similar to the panavise (also not pictured yet)[/li]
[/ul]

Clay, I am interested in you looking into maybe making one of the straight razor like attachments out of aluminum, with the small square arm (the one the rod arm base fits over) much longer (i.e., maybe even 3"… what you could do with this is not only use it for straight razors and longer knives, but you could also turn it vertical to be able to get a very steep angle (i.e. in the case of a planer blade which has a steep chisel grind) which you can’t do with the stock WE… just some thoughts =)

7

pictures seen here[quote quote=“razoredgeknives” post=2453]I’ll try to post more about this tonight maybe… but here are the mods I’ve done to mine ().

So, in short, I have:

[ul]
[li]Had a metal fabrication shop make me an exact replica vise out of hardened A2 tool steel[/li]
[li]Had the same metal fabrication shop make me my “straight razor” attachments out of the same… this allows me to get in front of the vise on straight razors to get about 10-12 degrees/side[/li]
[li]Purchased more of the exact same vise screws in different sizes so now I can sharpen a blade that is a half inch thick probably lol[/li]
[li]Re-inforced the rod arm joints with washers (although I am going to try to incorporate Clay’s 6/32" screw idea to get them precisely tightened to where there is no play but they are still loose enough to move[/li]
[li]Purchased allen screws that are the same thread pattern as the knob you use to tighten the rod arm joints to the degree bar… this way I can ensure that they are truly tight and will not loosen during sharpening[/li]
[li]Incorporated the plastic straw idea from straws at subway over the rod arms to reduce play (not pictured yet)[/li]
[li]Additionally I have mounted this to a suction cup base, similar to the panavise (also not pictured yet)[/li]
[/ul]

Clay, I am interested in you looking into maybe making one of the straight razor like attachments out of aluminum, with the small square arm (the one the rod arm base fits over) much longer (i.e., maybe even 3"… what you could do with this is not only use it for straight razors and longer knives, but you could also turn it vertical to be able to get a very steep angle (i.e. in the case of a planer blade which has a steep chisel grind) which you can’t do with the stock WE… just some thoughts =)[/quote]

Josh,
Those mods are awesome! I’ve something I’m working on for the razors which is similar, wonder if you’d like to have a look?

8

pictures seen here[quote quote=“wickededge” post=2454][quote quote=“razoredgeknives” post=2453]I’ll try to post more about this tonight maybe… but here are the mods I’ve done to mine ().

So, in short, I have:

[ul]
[li]Had a metal fabrication shop make me an exact replica vise out of hardened A2 tool steel[/li]
[li]Had the same metal fabrication shop make me my “straight razor” attachments out of the same… this allows me to get in front of the vise on straight razors to get about 10-12 degrees/side[/li]
[li]Purchased more of the exact same vise screws in different sizes so now I can sharpen a blade that is a half inch thick probably lol[/li]
[li]Re-inforced the rod arm joints with washers (although I am going to try to incorporate Clay’s 6/32" screw idea to get them precisely tightened to where there is no play but they are still loose enough to move[/li]
[li]Purchased allen screws that are the same thread pattern as the knob you use to tighten the rod arm joints to the degree bar… this way I can ensure that they are truly tight and will not loosen during sharpening[/li]
[li]Incorporated the plastic straw idea from straws at subway over the rod arms to reduce play (not pictured yet)[/li]
[li]Additionally I have mounted this to a suction cup base, similar to the panavise (also not pictured yet)[/li]
[/ul]

Clay, I am interested in you looking into maybe making one of the straight razor like attachments out of aluminum, with the small square arm (the one the rod arm base fits over) much longer (i.e., maybe even 3"… what you could do with this is not only use it for straight razors and longer knives, but you could also turn it vertical to be able to get a very steep angle (i.e. in the case of a planer blade which has a steep chisel grind) which you can’t do with the stock WE… just some thoughts =)[/quote]

Josh,
Those mods are awesome! I’ve something I’m working on for the razors which is similar, wonder if you’d like to have a look?[/quote]

sure would! send pics my way :slight_smile:

9

Although I’ll wait for Clay’s low angle attachment, I love the straight razor attachment, Josh. Does it work better than “normal” sharpening? I ask this because a straight razor has its own guided angle sharpening system. (And because I just got the first straight razor in my life :).)

And now I’m going to develop a pencil sharpening modification… before I start work on the rocket motor attachment :lol: .

10

[quote quote=“mark76” post=2457]Although I’ll wait for Clay’s low angle attachment, I love the straight razor attachment, Josh. Does it work better than “normal” sharpening? I ask this because a straight razor has its own guided angle sharpening system. (And because I just got the first straight razor in my life :).)

And now I’m going to develop a pencil sharpening modification… :lol: .[/quote]

oh, I definitely would wait for Clays low angle attachment as well =) I just needed something now to be able to sharpen razors with. It is only a small mod, but immensely helpful. I don’t know if you have rotated your rod arm base forward yet and tried to do your razor with it, but I immediately had problems with it binding… which isn’t good when you need to do 1000+ passes per side lol. So this fixes all that. It works just as well, if not better than simply laying a razor flat and using the razor’s spine… what I do is basically have the stone/strop just a hair off of the spine. It is consistent and seemingly much faster, although I have ran into the issue with it taking practically forever to get our the previous scratches from each consecutive grit…

11

here ya go…a few more pics that i didn’t have uploaded before =) Clay, this is what i’m talking about being able to get a steeper angle…

sorry they’re not the best quality in the world… oh, and the only reason the straight razor is in there is for photo purposes only… lol, i was just getting ready to hit it w/ the 10k choseras but wanted to demonstrate what i was talking about first =) i would never put that steep of an angle on a razor! lol

12

These are great, thank you for sharing!

13

np… you see what I’m saying about extending the square arm on the mod to be about 3" long? you could then slide the rod arm base up and down on it, which would then allow for even scissors =) unfortunately (hind sight is 20/20 lol) I didn’t make them long enough so I still can’t do scissors =(

14

Hey, just so everyone knows if your interested… I reinforced the joints on my rod arm bases. It didn’t work as planned at first, so I adapted and now its great. I used a “nut and bolt” style instead of threading the actual aluminum base itself. For the larger part of the base (i.e. the blue part), you will need to drill it out with a 1/8" drill bit (and bore it out a little to widen it) and use a 6/32" screw to go through. For the top part (i.e. the black part of the base) I used a slightly smaller screw, which was 4/40" (if I remember correctly).

Using these items I am now able to (with the help of loctite) tighten the nut just perfectly to where it will still allow free movement but not so loose as to allow any play. This in combination with the Subway straw idea and there is hardly any noticeable play!

15

Great video. Thanks for the suggestions. I feel like the farmer’s anxious rooster - just looking for something to ****, ah.. sharpen.

16

I decided to try out the magnet idea from the video: a magnet to keep the WEPS and its base clean. That was fun!

I had no idea how strong a magnet I should get. Since I guessed it should be pretty strong to attract steel dust from the air, I ordered a 38 kilogram magnet. That is not a magnet that weighs 38 kilograms :), but a magnet with an attractive force of 38 kilograms. Still it is not very large: a disk with an intersection of a little over one inch and a height of half an inch.

I had no clue how strong 38 kilograms would be in practice.

The fun started when the package arrived. I used my EDC to open the package and immediately my knife was drawn strongly towards the center of the package. It took me quite some force to remove the knife and I had to open the package by hand :mrgreen: :mrgreen: .

I wanted to know how strong the magnet really was and kept it next to my pocket knife. That was a loud bang! And then I had to remove the pocket knife… Well, I must say that 38 kilos is a lot of force to apply to a small and open pocket knife. Definitely not safe! (But fun :mrgreen: .)

What was less fun was that this magnet caused the battery of the flashlight of my camera to sparkle when I took the above picture. I think I wisely kept this magnet away from cell phones and computers.

How well does it perform on the Wicked Edge? Well, it definitely draws some steel dust from the air to it. But not a lot; there is still some dust that comes down elsewhere. Perhaps that is not so surprising if you know that the magnetic force probably decreases with much more than the inverse square of the distance.

And to be honest, the dry stones on the WEPS do not cause much dust. The magnet works well in attracting the steel dust, however, if you move it over the base, close to the base. However, so does a wet cloth.

And I now have a new problem: how to remove the steel filings from the magnet? :mrgreen: I think this magnet will have to leave our house…

17

That’s one strong magnet!! A while ago, I took a slightly different route. I glued a small magnet to a Popsicle stick. When I am done sharpening, I just run the magnet over and under the WE to pick-up any steel dust. After that I use a hand-held vac over the WE, to make sure I get any grit out of critical areas, like the arm pivots, that may have been missed with the magnet.

18

i have tried to use a Neodymium magnet that size and i put a film of plastic over it and taped it down, so i could remove steel powder from the magnet.. and it just ended up magnetizing stuff.. i scrapped that idea and continued to look for the smaller magnets i have somewhere.. stuck to something

19

Hi Mark76,

Your magnet can lift 38 Kilograms? So, 38 Kilograms * 2.2 Pounds/Kilogram = 83.6 Pounds. That is one VERY strong magnet.

Most magnets (not all) have a dipole or dipole-like field, so their strength drops off extremely rapidly with distance. But with such a strong magnet, it’s still powerful enough to demagnetize your credit card from a fair distance, and induce voltages in nearby moving metal objects the same way that happens in a dynamo/electric-generator (like inducing voltages in your camera). And don’t let anything metal nearby accelerate into the magnet; at up to 80+ lbs of force, that could cause serious bruising of a finger, or the impact could shatter/chip the magnet (which is actually fairly brittle). And never never let two such magnets click together! You can separate them if you are very strong, but the impact will most likely chip one or both magnets and crush anything in between them.

One possible problem with magnets is only the metal swarf from the knife is magnetic. Most abrasives (SiC, AlO, Diamond, etc.) are not magnetic. So the small amount of abrasive released won’t be attracted to the magnet.

Maybe, a simpler solution is to use a fan or vacuum, to blow the swarf away from your sharpener. You could try a saw-dust collection scheme like those in a wood-shop (where air is used to suck sawdust into a collection bin/filter).

This picture is of a vacuum nozzle on a wood drill press. (It is not a coolant sprayer!)
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=58751&amp;cat=1,42401,62604,58751

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2001850/3121/multiple-machine-dust-collector-set.aspx

For me, I would hate to do this, because I find sharpening very relaxing and meditative. So having a loud vacuum running would just annoy me. Unless maybe the vacuum itself was far away in another room, and one ran a very long suction hose to the WEPS…

Instead, I like to keep a small amount of water on the stones, so that a swarf slurry drips off which I find easier to clean. Although, you don’t want that slurry to drip into your folding knife’s pivot, or the WEPS joints.

A much more complicated solution, is to use the opposite of electrostatic powder-paint coating. In powder-coating (for say for automotive and industrial), the paint particles are given an opposite electrostatic charge as the object to be painted. That way, they are attracted to and stick onto the surface for an even coat, and so that they can be permanently baked on in an oven. I suppose the opposite could work: Just hook up the WEPS and knife up to a Van Der Graff generator and give everything the same charge, so the swarf is all electrostatically repelled away. Just try to ignore sparks you will get from touching a metal door knob etc. And don’t bother to comb your hair, as it will all stand up anyways.

Of course, I’m totally joking! :smiley:

Sincerely,
–Lagrangian

“What grit sharpens the mind?” --Zen Sharpening Koan

20

ROFL!!