WE GO Review

Legacy Forum Archive General Discussion (Legacy)
1

I’ve been using a WE130 for just under a year and bought the GO as a curiosity as much as anything. After getting the machine I believe I am going to get more use out of this than I originally thought. So I said I’d review the GO when I had ample time with it and here it is…

I love the roll that comes with it to store and transport the GO, very compact and stores everything securely. Looks great and appears to be durable. When you open the roll the components are secure and accessible. It’s very easy and quick to set up, after a couple times to familiarize myself with the system it takes roughly 3 mins. to setup or pack up. Even came with a Uline marker which I thought to be a nice touch.

The machine itself is high quality as you would expect from WE. The base is very easy to clamp to most tables and holds the unit securely. This is my first experience with the original style clamp, all though I’ve used the same type clamp on other systems, and I found it very easy to use after a couple of go rounds. This will see a lot of use on small knives in the future. It’s just as smooth as the 130, but getting used to the lower height(compared to the 130) took a few passes. The most pleasant surprise and why I didn’t think I would get a lot of use out of this was the fact that it does not come with micro-adjusters so I didn’t think I could match angles with the 130, but to my surprise this is not an issue. The GO bar has marks on it and is tightened using tension instead of dimples drilled into a bar to secure the arm angle. By putting the angle cube on the stone and sliding the adjuster you can dial the angle in very accurately and is actually just as quick to set up a knife as the 130 is. No Micro Adjusters Needed!

The stones did a good job on the knives that I sharpened. The jump from 200 too 600 was not an issue, just a few more passed with the 600 side. The 200 stone did a good job on the 2 re-profiles I did, my biggest concern is with all the scrubbing with the 200 I wonder about longevity but we will see, these stones still amaze me. I have over 300 knives sharpened on the original set of stones I bought in early March of 2017 with my PP3 and I swear they are still getting better but they are not as fast as they used to be.

I did some angle measurements and determined that the clamp with stationary side on the right was a little over 2 deg. different from right to left by the marks on the bar. With the stationary side on the left the angle was only off by one degree, one side to the other and the right side read 20 deg. exactly(19 on left)with 20 deg. being the measured angle with the angle cube. The measured angle was 7/8" above the clamp and I could get the sharpening angle down to 14 deg. without the stones hitting the clamp.

All in all I would have to say that for $199 this system will sharpen and maintain knives better than any other system that I have used or even researched in that price range. The GO is absolutely a stand alone sharpener just the way it comes. The GO has the potential to be so much more with the addition of a stone or two and a strop or two. The first thing I would recommend purchasing with it would be an angle gauge since you can be pretty exact with the angles, but if your just doing your own knives an angle cube is not a necessity but will be very useful.

The GO is a pleasant surprise to me and I was expecting quite a bit when I ordered it! I can highly recommend this machine! This is a great addition to the WE product line!

Only one issue…it came with one old style ball joint on the left side and a newer style ball joint on the right side. I didn’t even notice this until I had sharpen 2 knives all ready and is not an issue to me. I consider it to be personalized.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

 

 

 

2

Great review!

My question is this; where are you coming up with all of these knives to sharpen? 300 blades in less than a year is a very high volume for someone who does not sharpen for money. I’m guessing everyone on your street has wicked sharp knives :slight_smile:

3

Thanks for posting it @sksharp. Would you be willing to copy that review to the product page? https://wickededgeusa.com/collections/sharpeners/products/wicked-edge-go-pre-order

4

Sure Clay I’ll give it a shot.

Hey Organic,

I just looked at my sharpening log and I’ve gotten knives from 19 different people and 1 business, all friends and family. Now I’m starting to get calls from people that they know, but I’m charging for it now so we’ll see what happens from here. I only have 3 people that are paying me to do their knives at this point. Most of the folks have given me 10 to 15 or so knives but I have 2 brothers that have had me do every knife that they own. I counted 42 knives from one and 31 from the other so there’s the better part of 75 between those 2 alone. I myself have 2 block sets of kitchen knives and all the knives in the drawer from over the years, probably 30-35 in the drawer, I haven’t counted all of them so I don’t know exactly as I have not yet sharpened all of my own knives yet. I own 3 hunting knives a dozen or so multi-blade pocket knives plus 20 edc’s. I had to count twice because I thought I made a mistake but it was just north of 300 a little over a month ago now.

 

5

Clay I had to shorten the review to fit it in the review section on the product page but it’s a done deal.

6

You are welcome loremipsum,

The older stones still work great . I’ve noticed that the 100/200 stones were not nearly as aggressive as they were even 50 or 75 knives ago, the fall off came fairly quick at least as far as my noticing anything. These are still giving me great results and are in many ways getting better and better, just not as fast.

My wife bought me a full set of new diamond stones for Christmas, 50 thru 1500 grit, (yea I know I’ve got it rough) so now I’m starting to break those in to go along with and eventually replace the old ones. This is one of the coolest experiences so far for me, to use the old with the new and compare. I wanted the complete set because of the recent upgrade in the paddles and I want the stones to break in as a set. I know that the new stones will not give you the results that they can after they are broken in but you can put a pretty good edge on a knife with stones that have only had a couple knives on them. Light pressure to finish a stone is way more important with the new stones compared to the older ones.

Progressions…Unless your asking about a certain type or style that is a tough question. I get myself in trouble with stuff like this because there are so many different factors to consider. These are generalities…Hunting knives to between 600 and 1000 diamond lightly stropped. Kitchen knives 600 to 1500 diamond, then maybe lapping film on the more refined. Fillet knives to about 1000 and edcs are all over the map depending on a number of factors but 600 to 1000 diamond works pretty well on most but who can resist throwing everything you have at a couple of your own favorites.

For pure sharpness diamonds thru 1500, then lightly stropped (maybe 10 to 20 passes with each side of strop) can produce crazy sharp edges when done correctly. Throw in the 6,3,1.5 lapping films in between the stones and the strops and you can get a whole different level of refinement.

Then my favorites the shapton pros which I generally stop either at 2000 grit or 8000 but have taken to 30k. The shapton stones impart a completely different scratch pattern, closer together and much more uniform than diamonds. The shaptons are capable of a different level of refinement in my mind.

I hope maybe some of this can help you. Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions you might have and maybe we’ll be able to learn together.

 

7

Shapton Glass Stones are similar to all stones that they also are available in many different grits. To make this blanket statement IMO is to short change yourself.

I have a full compliment of Shapton Glass Stones cut and mounted for my Wicked Edge Systems. These I use on quite a few Chef’s knives made of what you called the “modern super duper steels”, with great success and results. For example ZDP-189, SG-2/R2, AS, and HAP40, to mention a few. These rate in the range of Rockwell hardness from 62 to 68 as compared to CPM S30V at HRc 58-60.

I suggest, maybe you should apply the right stone and right grit to the job and live by your own quote:

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FYI, Josh of Razor Edge Knives says that he gets about 400 knives worth of sharpening per set of WE stones.

9

I don’t know what else I can say about the durability of the WE diamond stones other than they have around 350 knives sharpened, they still work great, in fact I believe they are capable of edges now that were unattainable previously.

I have the shapton pro stones. S30V is not a problem at all, in fact I can probably sharpen S30V faster with the shaptons than with the diamonds to achieve a similar result, all though the result has always been better in my experience with the shaptons over the diamonds.

As far as a progression for vanadium steel goes, I can’t give you one absolute for any steel! Every steel manufacturer has there own recipe and heat treat and tempering process. I can say that of the knives that I’ve done, S30V is the best steel that I have experienced to this point. However I really love some high carbon steels as well.

Most of the knives that I sharpen are Chinese/Taiwan or inexpensive US made. Most folks around here don’t have a $500 set of kitchen knives much less $400 pocket knives so my experience with super steels and high end steel is limited. The few knives I’ve done with premium steel proved to sharpen a lot easier and to a better result than a lot of the unidentified and cheap knives. The cheap knives have been much more challenging to find an edge that is not only sharp but will hold up.

10

Hello Lorem Ipsum ?

That is an interesting name you chose.

I’ve tried hand sharpening and I suck at it so I’m a little envious of that ability. I could never hand strop in the past either, but learned stropping(to a point) very quickly with mostly good results in the past year so maybe with an increased knowledge of what an edge is and how it’s created I may be able to get results now but I’m not willing to invest in both methods at this time.

You let us know if you are able to produce edges with your WE, that out perform what you are able to do by hand. I’ve done a couple sets of Wusthof knives, those and Zwilling/Henkels sharpen very nicely and quickly and I really like both of their knives, mostly. I believe you will find that if you are hand sharpening at the same approximate angle as the WE that you will not be able to produce edges quite as good by hand. Now you may find that not to be true but I really am interested to hear your experiences comparing the two methods side by side.

 

11

I will revisit it down the road I suspect, we’ll see. You do a way better job hand sharpening than I ever did. All I could say were they were usable when I got done you know, OK. Nice video and review. I liked wet stones (arkansas) when I used a lansky but they are messy to say the least. I’m really anxious for you to do 10 or so knives on your WE and then see your reaction to the results. I’m looking forward to that.

12

Loremipsum, Just FYI, mineral oil you can purchase at the drug store/pharmacy is odorless and tasteless, food grade. and makes a fine sharpening oil without the downsides of Kerosene.

I believe when you put your time in and practice with your new Wicked Edge System you will be able to sharpen all of your knives, of any steel, with better results than you’ve previously achieved with all the other methods you’ve mentioned.

The Wicked Edged may not teach you what you’re doing wrong with those other systems because it’s different.

13

Man, that video reminded me of how thankful I am that the WE diamond plates don’t require honing oil. That stuff is messy.

14

It’s like the difference between a chore and a “Zen like” experience; oily free stones compared to WE. LOL

15

Cool video Loremipsum! Your edges will get better with experience and as the diamond plates break in, but I think you’re getting pretty nice results right out of the gate. I’m not even certain if it is possible to get a hair whittling edge before the diamond plates have broken in.

You actually can get other types of abrasives for the Wicked Edge. Third party retailers like Jende Industries and Oldawan Tools offer Shapton glass stones, Shapton pro stones, and Naniwa Chosera stones fitted to Wicked Edge handles. I believe that Ken Schwartz also has several offerings of abrasives that you can ask to have mounted to WE paddles. You can put whatever type of abrasive you want on the blank handles that Wicked Edge sells as long as you have some way of getting it cut to the proper size.

Water is not a significant problem. I believe that all of the metal parts are either aluminum or stainless steel. People regularly use whetstones with their systems without long term corrosion issues. There is actually a video where Clay suggests using a wet sponge on the diamond stones in order to prevent the metal dust from becoming airborne.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

16

Good evening sksharp,

Thank you for taking the time to review and compose such a well thought out analysis.

Derek

17

My pleasure Derek, thanks for replying and the kind words Sir.

18

Update on the WE GO!

I’ve had a couple more weeks with the GO (I’ve had it 4 wks. now) and the stones are now starting to break in, 15 or so knives. I went to a friends house today and by some strange coincidence I brought the GO and a set of 5/3.5 leather strops which I carry in the GO case. One thing lead to another and before I knew it I had sharpened 6 knives in about an hour and a half.

The look on the faces of the 4 guys that I sharpened for was fantastic and I have to say that their knives were sharp. While the GO is limited by the 200/600 stones, with just the addition of the 5/3.5 strop it is really impressive. The angle range and precision of this little sharpener just blows me away.

While I love my 130 and can do things with it that I can’t with the GO, the GO is proving to be more fun than I could have imagined. This little guy continues to impress.