ET has been wanting more participation on the forum. I am starting this thread to help generate some activity.
So what are you sharpening today on the WEPS? Just a wide open thread.
For me I just got my first CRK Sebenza, a small sebenza 25. I am wondering how others deal with the long thumb stud that won’t come out? Most of my knives are Benchmade. In the beginning I taped them, after rubbing through the tape I just started removing them. That being said the bevels look perfect and the angle probably where I want it though it could go more acute.
I am especially interested in what Clay is sharpening (and on what WE model).
He Geo! Today I’m sharpening a Gerber DMF that was sent in by a customer from San Francisco. He’s giving it as a gift this Christmas and asked for the following:
I'd like to get the basic level for this model which I believe will be enough for the plain edge only, also I want to point out an issue with it which I feel it should be an easy fix.
The point of the knfie is rounded and I don’t feel comfortable with it, having said that I’d like it to be point and sharp too, if you consider that it will not be enough or the best choice going for the basic level and you consider it would need the advanced on please do so and notify me.
And by all means, keep the original angle of the knife too. Thanks!
So this is a new knife, moderately sharp and definitely does have a rounded tip. It’s a coated blade which is going to limit how I can attack establishing a new tip since I’d normally take some metal from the spine, but I don’t want to remove the coating there so I’ll have to do the reshaping all from the edge side of the blade. My plan is to tape up the blade and the folding mechanism and then mount it up in the G3 Pro. Once I’ve found the sweet spot and matched the angle, I’ll flatten the edge toward the tip until it meets the spine at a nice point. Then I’ll start to sharpen the whole thing, ending with the 1000# stones and a few light passes with the 5.0/3.5 strops to finish it off.
I matched the 15 dps bevel that the knife had and I worked it with the 100#-1000# diamonds, then both sets of ceramics and then the 14/14 micron strops. I really liked the edge at that point so I didn’t go to any finer strops.
Unfortunately, I had a major boo-boo. Although I was very diligent about taping the blade (since it was coated and serrated) one errant stroke with the 100# diamonds went right through the tape to find a couple of the teeth on the serrated portion:
[caption id=“” align=“alignnone” width=“1439”] All Taped Up[/caption]
[caption id=“” align=“alignnone” width=“710”] Here’s the major boo-boo.[/caption]
ET, thats a good looking job on the ZT. Looks like you’re an old hand at this already. Even better, it speaks not only of your skill but of the ease of use of the WE system. It may look complicated to the masses, but its really very simple to use if one understands just a few basic things about sharpening.
Great job.
I sharpened my Delica 4 in ZDP last night and (probably for the first time) really put some effort into the finishing; all the way to 0.1 micron film. I was astounded at how sharp it ended up. I usually use it to unzip envelopes - a practice not really intended to test the edge - but this time it slices them open… silently.
As an experiment, I recently bought an el cheapo straight razor, just so I could try sharpening it on my WEPS. Well, it wasn’t a razor; it’s a knife, with the same knife edge you’d expect from an el cheapo knife company. The edge was about 0.025 thick at the bevels, which were about 20 dps. Good razors are close to foil thickness at the edge. I measured about 5 dps to be the correct angle for normal straight razor stoning on this one. I spent about 7 hours in three different sessions before giving up, as the edge would not take a proper form. As much as I tried to keep the coarse grit stones from the apex, the steel would break out when I got near it. As the bevels were by then about 5-6mm wide, it would take days to remove the broken edge with finer grit stones. Also, to avoid removing the thickness at the spine, I had chosen 5.6 dps, which meant that eventually using normal SR stoning would be impossible.
To make things worse, I suffered a minor catastrophe while stoning with my 400’s. Apparently a piece of diamond grit came loose (or I knocked off a piece of a file from the cheap blade steel) while I was scrubbing and it proceeded to scratch up the face of the stone badly. All for a $7 knife. Curiosity and the cat, eh wot?
Last night I sharpened my Tadafusa santoku. It’s a Christmas present for my brother-in-law. I finished the knife with my Chosera 10K’s, so it’s got a nice polished edge…
I forgot to take a photograph while it was still in the WEPS, but here’s an older photograph I took of the knife.
no pictures of my amateur trials, but I did an Opinel number 8 carbone to 40 inclusive, a spyderco kiwi to 40 inclusive, and the shitty kitchenaid I make my roommates use to 37 inclusive. Still not as sharp as my factory Asai Hayabusa, but getting there! Will likely get there with the 800/1k and 1.2k/1.6k stones and a proper base on sunday!
I make the assumption that by 40 degrees inclusive Colin sharpened the edge at 20 degrees per side, or 20 degrees exclusive. So, 37 degrees would be sharpening each side of the blade at 18.5 degrees. I have come to love the angle cube persionally, as it helps ensure the bevels match up.
Colin; I have found that while stopping at the 600 grit stones creates a sharp edge, continuing to the 800/1k will reifine it even more. Also stropping makes a differance. I am by no means on the same level as a lot of the guys on this fourm, but I hope that this helps. The fourm, and the info the folks here share have been a huge help to me.
Tried sharpening these 2 knives, but the Gen 3 upgrade vise would not hold them. The black knife is a OKC Spec Plus Air Force. It was too thick to fit in the clamp. The other had no Mfg info, it would not work because of groove in blade. To get it to mount in the vise, it was the to low to get the 25 deg angle I was going for. Is there any update info on swap out jaws for thicker, special applications. I was going to imbed pictures in post but it said 512k limit, that’s not a lot! How are you guys posting embedded pics? Attached is link to photo bucket.
With a typo, lol. 17 each side, 34. Used an angle cube. Never said I didn’t have one, I used it on the knives I could while hand sharpening with my basic whet stones. Had it once I had to get a set of spacers fabricated for my rsv mille r upright handlebars with an angled top triple tree. It’s a pretty common tool alongside a digital slide caliper, and maybe mine isn’t overly accurate, as it was a $25 one, I’m sure you guys use much more accurate tools. And like you said, without a base, my hands and slow stropping motion (what is the term you guys use for the passes?) Were the only stability, so I can’t be certain of my angles yet, but I did see a video a while ago explaining why the angle cube was a good idea due to the clamp not holding blades at the correct angle, so I think I’m in the ballpark, but obviously still an utter newbie.
Hey Mark, Is the A1 a convex edge like the F1? If so how to do sharpen it initially? And what do you do for touch ups? I got a F1 recently, still sharp and I like the factory edge, angle seems OK and the bevel is pretty even so I don’t see doing a re-profile any time soon.
Gerber DMF - After Sharpening[/caption]
Gerber DMF - After Sharpening[/caption]
All Taped Up[/caption]
Here’s the major boo-boo.[/caption]
. The smileys are not very distinct on this forum, but the last one is a wink smile 
