Hi all, I go by the same name over on BF and Josh with Razor Edge suggested I create an account over here. I really like that the WE has it’s on dedicated forum so here I am. If someone can assist me with why I can’t find this forum on Tapatalk, that’d be great!
I’m not a sharpening newbie as I have a lot of experience with the Edge Pro (EP) and other systems, and was diligent enough to get very good results with them and produce hair-whittling edges and clear, mirrored edges with the various stones and strops that are out there now. I sharpen for myself and others, and there were just several things over time that irked me about the EP to the point that I had to sell it and go with the WE. I was hoping to attend Blade a couple weeks ago and meet Clay, seems like a super nice guy and I appreciate that he’s constantly improving the system and trying out different things and sharing with us. It didn’t work out that I could go, but next year I fully intend to stop by and say hello.
I want to thank Bob Nash for his outstanding customer service and quickly correcting a slight issue I had with my order without me even asking…another great guy.
As an experienced sharpener, but new to the WEPS, I wanted to post my findings and if you guys see any flaws or have any thoughts to my comments, I would be glad to hear them. I’ve had the system for about a week now, and to this point have done 6 knives all of the kitchen variety (4-10") to work on getting my stones broken in and to work on my technique. I have these findings posted in a recent thread on BF, but I like that I’m in a group of dedicated WE users here that actually have something to add to the conversation.
I got the WE set up and sharpened a cheap steak knife just to get the feel of it. Being so used to waterstones and this being my first time working with diamonds, my observation was that going up to the WE 1k stone yielded a finish about equivalent to the EP 400 grit stone. I know the diamonds need breaking in, and they’re probably scratching deeper, but that was just my observation. I also understand that the EP “grit” scale is a little funny.
The clamp is nice although while sharpening a thin steak knife at ~15.5 degrees, the right hand stone would scrub the lower portion of the vise when in the low, beginning part of my sharpening motion. I worked around this by just starting the stone higher. I’m sure this is due to the left half of the vise being fixed while the right half moves in/out.
Only had time this weekend to sharpen a 2nd cheapie (same cheap set of steak knives) just trying to work on technique, break in the stones, and try out the strops and ceramics for the first time. The first knife I stopped at 1k, and it was a little rougher than I expected it to be, but I’m not doing a huge amount of refinement at each grit, maybe about 25-30 passes per side. Did the 2nd knife same way, got to the 1200/1600 ceramics and they perform pretty nicely then transitioned to the 5/3.5 strops. These left a decent amount of paste on the edge that I had to wipe several times to get off. I assume with subsequent sharpenings, it won’t do this. Paste was applied to the strops per included instructions. Again, didn’t spend a ton of time purposely working on getting scratches out, then went on to 1/0.5 CBN spray on roo to finish, again maybe just 50 passes per side. I wasn’t impressed with the aesthetic finish at all, but again, I wasn’t purposely aiming for that. The EP waterstones do leave a smoother finish, but I do understand that the WE stones need several more knives to get broken in so they don’t scratch as deep so I’ll be holding off for awhile before I do a knife that I really want a nice, aesthetic edge on. Basically after the EP 2k grit tape, you’ve got what most people call a mirror edge of course with some visible scratching remaining whereas this edge was more hazy with visible scratches left. I fully expect my finishes to get better as the stones break in and if I actually try to get the scratches out, but I will say this, that cheap steel was whittling hair nicely no matter the finish. As the stones break in more, I think I’ll really like this system.
Only major complaint thus far is the thumbscrews loosening while sharpening. I have the bar turned backwards for unlimited adjustment, and once, one of them completely loosened. I also don’t think I’ll be using that much paste when I have to reload the strops.
Update as of last night, 6/16:
I’ll say one thing I’ve already noticed about the system–it’s great for doing more sharpening per session than when I was using the EP. I did 4 knives tonight to 1k grit, all 6-10" back to back to back really only stopping to unclamp at the end and really check my edge up close and do some slow phonebook paper slicing feeling for smoothness and consistent sound while slicing. Once you become accustomed to a certain level of sharpness you become OCD about if your paper slicing registers above a certain decibel level. Sick, I know.
Anyway, I was basically able to do all 4 back to back without resting which was unheard of with my EP as I had to always stand beside the sink constantly rinsing the knife, and my back and feet would get crazy sore. I found sharpening with the WE enjoyable. The 100 grit isn’t the fastest at reprofiling, but once the edge is apexed, I enjoy getting a rhythm going, alternating my strokes and it’s much faster and sitting while working is great. Best thing is I didn’t have a pile of wet masking tape and paper towels to mess with and trying to scrub my stones or level them after a few knives. I also didn’t have to sharpen the long knives in sections like on the EP so it was much faster.
It seems after 5 knives or so, one of the joints on the arms became stiff where it’d kinda lock up when bringing the stone back towards me after a long stroke. This really slowed my rhythm on the last knife as I couldn’t rotate that arm back towards me as easily as the other arm. Seems this was due to friction between the arm and the inside of the blue piece. Tried to wash it out good and lube that area. We will see how it fares on the next knife.
Well guys, sorry for the longwinded post. Just wanted to say hello and throw in my first observations with the new system. It’s crazy because I actually look forward to sharpening now like it’s not a chore. I’m looking forward to doing some more after I get home.
But if I put the tip where it’s able to be held by the support, I’ll get a very thin and even bevel along the straight portion of the edge, then as the tip sweeps up it gets much much wider and takes a fair amount of grinding to get all sharpie removed. I sometimes find myself reclamping to clean up the tip and make sure it’s apexed.