This question comes up occasionally, so how about a “How small a knife can you sharpen?” with examples thread.
Post the knife, a brief description, a photo if you can showing it mounted, the angle sharpened at, the dimensions, and any notes.
Here’s an example:
Small “Swiss Army” knife (generic)
Sharpened at 22 deg.
Blade Length 1.3" Height .230"
Clamped as high as possible
Thanks for posting. Is 22 degrees your choice or the acutest angle possible with this knife? I have several like this.
22 comfortable… 21 maybe 20 if I had messed with using a shorter screw, making sure I was as high as I could, etc. But easily cleared everything at 22.
Edit: p.s. On these style knives, you usually don’t need to go much lower anyway. 
Most of these are FFG. Did you use anything to (moleskin, puffy tape) to keep centering even? Looking at the photo of the vice I don’t see where there would be room. Does it clamp up evenly?
It clamped no problem… I don’t think there’s enough taper in this small a blade to be an issue. I didn’t use anything (tape etc.) to hold it.
I have some carving knives that most carvers sharpen at 12/13 degrees. I’m encouraged to see these small knives, about the size of my carvers.
Small Knife HolderTormek came out with a , that I thought, “Hey, this might work on the WE”. So I snagged one to try. Here it is setup with the knife I posted earlier in this thread…
It worked! I was able to hit about 14 deg. per side without any fuss (on a PP2 setup). It’s designed primarily for single blade carving knives, so it might require some fiddling if, for example, you wanted to sharpen a small blade that wasn’t centered with the handle.
Has potential, so thought I’d mention it… if you do a lot of knives of this type, might be worth it!
Wow! That’s a great device! Can you tell us how well it works? Particularly, is it stable enough in conjunction with the WEPS vise (no wiggling)?
Would it be possible to post some more pictures of it, particularly of the “inside” of the knife holder? I am curious how it can hold any (?) type of knife handle in such a way that it the knife is stable and that the blade is completely centered.
And now I think of it, wouldn’t it be possible to devise vise insert that holds knife handles rather than knife blades? That would be the ultimate solution for ppl wanting to sharpen their blades at angles much lower than 13 degrees.
Definitely possible Mark. I’ve been devising such a device for a couple of years, just haven’t gotten it completed. Curtis has seen some of the drawings. If a lot of people think they’d like to see it developed, I’ll push ahead with it, assuming I don’t run foul of any intellectual property of Tormec’s.
[quote quote=“mark76” post=10513]Wow! That’s a great device! Can you tell us how well it works? Particularly, is it stable enough in conjunction with the WEPS vise (no wiggling)?
[color color=#0000ff]It’s stable… no wiggling at least on small knives. I did stick a bigger knife in it, and it didn’t wiggle, although you start having interference, for exmaple the stones will now hit the handle at lower angles.[/color]
Would it be possible to post some more pictures of it, particularly of the “inside” of the knife holder? I am curious how it can hold any (?) type of knife handle in such a way that it the knife is stable and that the blade is completely centered.
[color color=#0000ff]Basically, it’s shaped like a ‘V’, then when you tighten it, a strap pulls the knife into the V. Works better than I thought it would when I first looked at it. It has a mark to try and line the blade up vertically (see the instructions), but it’s pretty easy to just eyeball it[/color]
And now I think of it, wouldn’t it be possible to devise vise insert that holds knife handles rather than knife blades? That would be the ultimate solution for ppl wanting to sharpen their blades at angles much lower than 13 degrees.
[color color=#0000ff]I’ve thought of this too, and actually tried it. On a very small knife you can get away with it, but you start coming across other issues… the interference I mentioned above, plus the fact you lose the ability to adjust the knife horizontally… which then brings up “bevel width” issues as you approach the tip, etc. Probably could be designed around though.[/color]
[/quote]
Where can you purchase these?
Amazon had them, I called around, all about the same price. They’re selling like hotcakes, I called and talked to the company, so you might have to wait for the next shipment.
Sharpening Made EasyEdit: It looks like Steve at might have them too… I’ve dealt with Steve before, he’s a good guy.
This is a really exciting device for those troublesome little guys! How repeatable is the setup? Can you get the knife set in there exactly the same spot each time, or is there some guessimation?
Good questions. Haven’t gotten that far, but it doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult to come up with a way of documenting how you set it to repeat the results.
Curtis,
You seem to like it so I thought oh what the heck? So mine is on the way. Takes 6-9 days just to ship? But I figure it will be a fun new tool to add in? Now those pesky little blades will be Wicked Sharp!
I’ve done very small pen knives for customers at flea markets, it really surprises me how many people carry those things and are perfectly content with it. Well, that and how dull they always are.
I get a lot of the two and three blade ones between 1 and 2 inches per blade. It’s a fun job to do the three blade ones, because they typically come with a clip point, a drop point and a sheep’s foot blade so they made great practice!
I have one of the tiny pen knife types in my travel kit with the WEPS, I’ll have to dig it out and take some pictures of it clamped up. I tend to go with a fairly large angle setting out of necessity, and I have spare screws I’ll be turning down to give me a little extra leeway too. I’m generally happy with the 21-25 degree range on these little knives, they cut surprisingly well with a 1000 grit edge!
Let me be the first one. Definitely interested in this or any other type of low angle attachment.
Nice Curtis. I gotta get me one of those.
Soon 
Ken
[quote quote=“KenBuzbee” post=10618]Nice Curtis. I gotta get me one of those.
Soon
Ken[/quote]
Yeah when I saw it I just ordered it. My good buddy has this old little Case penknife. It is without a doubt the single hardest knife I have ever tried to sharpen!! Freehand, whatever?? I’m hoping this little tool can turn this around so I can hold my head up high again? I told my buddy if he ever brought that knife back to sharpen, I would pay him $20. just to throw it away!!
