Just received my Pro Kit, and am trying to sharpen 2 small folders, a SOG Twitch II, Kershaw Ken Onion.
When I clamp (using top holes with depth guide) both knives are still able to roll from side to side. Has anybody sharpened either of these knives? No use trying to sharpen if knives wont stay perfectly vertical.
Watch Clay’s videos on sharpening fully flat ground blades. We are all using double sided thick foam tape to take up some of the taper of FFG blades. It will explain it better in the videos on Clay’s youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/clayallison1969?feature=watch#g/u
I found some foam rubber that I cut into “wedges” that fit into the clamp on either side of the knife. I have yet to try the foam tape idea but bought some at WalMart so I’ll be trying it soon.
I use synthetic chamois you can get at any auto parts store. I cut an appropriate-sized piece for the knife height (so the stones and strops don’t drag and cross-contaminate), wet it, and wrap it around the spine. The jaws compress the cloth as they are tightened on the blade, and any gap between jaw and FFG blade is automatically filled in by the cloth and the blade stays centered effortlessly.
The coefficient of friction is quite high when damp and remains very high after the chamois dries. Additionally, it becomes very stiff. The knife don’t move!
Reusable almost infinitely. Rewet, brush off, and clamp again.
I’ll post a pic later tonight.
***No chamois were harmed in the sharpening of my knives–only me…
I hope you do post a pic, i went out and bought some from my local NAPA store, bought the tape also.
Here are some pics of how I use a chamois. Get it wet, then wring it out until just damp. When you’re done just wash, rinse, repeat.
Great pics, thanks for posting. Will definitely give this technique a try.
Thanks for the link. The only video I found at first for a FFG did not show the tape technique. He had a vid of a curved hand made blade.
dgriff
The chamois worked great! Finally got to sharpen the Twitch II. Had to take the blade out of the body because the plastic on the hones would hit the frame of the knife and not sharpen the last 1/8" of the blade. The 12001600 ceramics are Sweet! Not quite a mirror edge, but they really put a nice finish on the blade. Thanks to all for your help.
So I have been pretty lucky in getting FFG blades straight in the vise, confirmed by the angle cube, but has anyone has issues with the knife leaning left or right, and how did you adjust the knife to be more vertical? Shims? Something else?
There are a few threads including this one that address that. A shim is helpful if it’s equally shimmed on each side. Otherwise you have to have an eagle eye to insure the blade isn’t canted. Foam tape or chamois or some other fabric that isn’t slippery.
:ohmy:
I have been using the double sided tape trick for the last month or so, and luckily I havent had too much of an issue with any knife being centered. THe worse one was 1 degree off on the angle cube.
