Bill,

At 1000 grit on the WEPS you should definitely be able to shave hair on your arm or the back of your hand (have not tried my face!). As others have said many times, the key is to start out with the burr. If you start with 100 grit, you must raise a burr for the entire length of the edge, and you must get it from both sides. Some blades are more difficult and funkier than others to get the burr all the way along the edge, but it is key. Once you get that burr both ways, then the rest of the progression can go fairly fast, and you don't really have to check for a burr at ever succeeding grit, since you know you are working up to the very edge after having raised the burr earlier.

By the time you get to 600 you should have a pretty sharp edge, and when you get to 1000 you will certainly be hair shaving sharp. Remember also as many others have said, your stones need to break in. They should be in the zone, so to speak after 6 or 8 knives, and get better as they wear in further.

The sharpie is key to setting angles, assuming you want to approximately match the original angle. I mark both sides, guess the angle and use 800 or 1000 with very gentle strokes to see how the sharpie mark is worn off. Adjust the angle to get the best match, then go back to coarse grits and raise the burr.

I was disappointed at first, but my stones weren't worn in, and I did not have the burr all the way on both sides. You will get there, now I can really dial it in and sharpen almost anything!

No, not a Samurai. Something more mundane, but very cool nonetheless.



Rgds,

Just noticed this thread regarding stellite. One of the main uses of stellite is for the exhaust valves of medium speed and slow speed diesel engines which use heavy fuel oil (HFO). HFO, aka Bunker C or No. 6 Oil, is usually high sulfur, high vanadium and high sodium, all of which contribute, especially at the high temperatures where exhaust valves live, to corrosion on the valves. Stellite valves live much longer.

I did not know there were any knifes which used it - thanks for the info!

Rgds,

I've been going with 18 degrees on my Henckels, so I think 20 is fine and may last a tad longer. I only go through 1000 and don't bother with the strops or my ceramics. I feel that the edge is toothier and more useful for kitchen tasks. When I resharpen I usually start with 800 - I don't let the edge get too bad before I resharpen.

I have had good luck with my Henckels steel, which is a textured (not smooth) steel. I give it two VERY gentle alternating ( front -back - front- back) passes and it definitely brings the edge back to better than it was on the thumbprint dyno (equivalent to the butt dyno for cars).

Rgds,

I very often brace the tip with my "off hand" while trying to raise the burr. I find I have a lot of knives which are pretty flexible and need this. Long blades often need bracing as well. I try not to reposition the blade in the vise unless really necessary as it's hard to match the two sharpened sections.

Rgds,

I think the amount of time it takes to do a good job makes it difficult to make too much of a go of it for other than spare change, so to speak. That said, I just put an ad in my local pennysaver newspaper to see if I get any traffic. I was going to start at a dollar an inch, not posted in the ad. I know that depending on the knife this can be a loser, but this is a hobby and I just thought I'd try it. If I make the cost of the WEPS back I'll be happy. I've received one call so far from a meat guy at a local supermarket who was tired of guys grinding down his knives. He hasn't committed yet, but I told him a dollar an inch.

Rgds,

I was thinking of some kind of base for the clamps which allowed precise rotation of each side for a few degrees. Kind of a machinist's base. Wouldn't need to allow much rotation because the amount of taper over the length of the clamp is small. But I agree that clamping a heavily tapered spine knife is a pesky problem and chamois or tape or foam is not the optimal solution, although it works.

Rgds,

Dang there are some talented folks in this world!

Rgds,

More on the Sharpie bit vs. just using a recommended angle. When I try to match angles using a sharpie, I make a very gentle pass with the 800 stone, basically just trying to wipe off as much Sharpie ink as possible. If your setting is off (and it usually is if it is a new knife to you) you are not really taking any significant metal off by doing this. So you make the pass, and adjust the arm in or out a degree or two until you get the most "wipe". Then you know you are about as well matched as you are going to get, and typically you will start your progression with the finer grits instead of the coarser grits.

If I'm doing a knife that isn't in too bad a shape, I don't necessarily want to reprofile it, just match the existing angles. On the other hand the angles suggested in the manual, 18, for example, are just that - suggestions or recommendations. If you have an old kitchen knife with a munged up edge, you're going to want to reprofile it anyway and 18 degrees is a good suggested angle to use. No Sharpie marking needed, just set up for 18 degrees, put on the 100 grit stones and have at it until you get the burr. Now you are on your way to a reprofiled edge as you go through the progression.

Once you get experience you can decide what angles you like, based on how you use your knives. For me, I tend to higher angles on kitchen knives than pocket knives, because my kitchen knives get "abused" by the family and the higher angles tend to last a bit longer. But that's just me.

Rgds,

+1 on the existing angle matching. Use the Sharpie.

One more point, don't worry if, when angle matching, you wind up with two different settings on the arms. It is not unusual for a factory edge, or an edge sharpened by someone/something else, to be asymmetric, and also there can be a bit of play in the universal joints, etc. which make it such that the settings on the arms will be different from side to side when you get the most Sharpie mark removal, i.e. matching the existing angle.

+1

I stop at 1000 for kitchen knives. In my house they get used and abused, and I like the toothier aspect.

I have to say that "stopping at 1000" is a position I've evolved to, because at 1000 grit the edges are sharper than any hand sharpened edge I've had for the last 30 years... So it's not exactly settling for less to stop at 1000 grit!

Rgds,

I also wet the stones. I take a cup of water and use a small paint brush to wet the stones before I put them on the rods. It takes quite a few swipes of the paint brush before the stones get saturated, they are like sponges as they soak up the water. Finally the water will sit on the surface of the stones and that's when I start to use them. After that point you can rewet them with the brush while on the rods if needed.

After use I just stand the stones on end on my workbench and let them air dry before I put them away.

Rgds,

If I want to match a factory bevel, be it reasonably symmetrical or not so much, I always "sharpie" the edges, set up the WEPS angles at a guess to match the edge, and then make a light pass or two with the 1000 grit stone to see how well it matches the edge. Then I adjust the angle to get the most coverage of the edges, i.e. the most ink removal on each side. The I go back and work the progression from coarse to fine.

Rgds,

Hi Brian,

I'm certainly not the expert that some folks are here, but I'm not sure what you mean by sticky. By bite and stickiness, maybe you mean what I'd call toothy? For example I think folks like a toothier edge for tomatoes, so you get the teeth to "tear into" the skin on a micro scale and start the cut. The coarser the grit, the toothier the edge, obviously. Clay just posted a comparison of a new 600 grit stone edge versus a very well used 600 grit edge and you can see how much toothier the new stone is. So perhaps stopping at 600 or 800 will give you the bite you are looking for?

Just my thoughts.

Rgds,

The Forum doesn't really have an off topic section, but this is sort of about photos - a video anyway. Not really about knives per se, but this is fascinating video of a cutter like a lathe might have while making a cut in a piece of bar stock or something, done at super slow-mo and super close up.



If this link doesn't work, search youtube for iscar chip formation and look for the vid which is 5:57 long. Amazing how the workpiece steel looks like putty or clay or something very malleable! And how the different steels act with the cutter.

Rgds,

Nice work on the grips. Handles for the knives won't be any more difficult, I'd say. Keep up the good work!

Rgds,

Holy thread resurrection, batman!

Thanks for the comments. I like "kitchen hunter" too. Never know when I'll have to skin a wild chicken carcass or fend off a mean carrot... Actually I think it would make a good EDC belt sheathed knife for someone who is on a boat and fishing, etc. The blade is quite stiff but with a bit of give, and the edge is very sharp, of course. The handle is long enough to be gripped with gloves on if needed. The balance point is about 0.5" from the joint between the handle and the steel, on the handle side. It feels nice in the hand, well balanced.

It took probably a bit more than an hour for the entire process, grinding didn't take too long, but I didn't want to hog material because I didn't want to heat up the steel too much, so I took it slow, maybe 10 min to grind, then close to an hour with the WEPS, as that spine is thick, so a lot of material had to be removed with the 100 grit stone.

Kind of cool to salvage a throwaway.

Rgds,

Howdy Crimson,

I'm a mechanical engineer with a lot of knife making experience. Been around a lot of shops, ground a lot of metal in my day. While I probably touch my face just as much as anyone, the black in my handkerchief wasn't from that! Just reprofile a set of half a dozen kitchen knives in one setting and take them up to 1000 grit. Then look at the WEPS mounting board, look at the paper towels or cloth rags you use to wipe off the blades from time to time. Lots of metal dust there. Lots. And some percentage is going up your nose, if you aren't using a respirator.

Someone noted that the stuff was most likely coming from my nose, rather than my lungs - I don't disagree, it most certainly was metal dust (and yes, perhaps diamond dust as well, which I don't want inside me either) which had stuck to the mucous membranes in my nose, later to be blown out. But I could feel in my breathing after that session that some was in my lungs as well. The feeling went away after some hours, can't say as I know the mechanism for that process, biologically speaking.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to preach or "convert" everyone to using a respirator, far from it. I was just asking if others had adopted the habit. The older I get, the more I pay attention to stuff like this, and hearing protection, and gloves when applicable, etc.

Rgds,

Hi Clay,

The filters on my 3M are purple (2091 type) and I use the respirator for other stuff like wood sanding and rough metal grinding, so at the moment the evidence is tainted and somewhat difficult to see.

However the evidence was graphic in my handkerchief after doing several knives around Christmas time one evening. I too thought that most of the metal dust would be too heavy to float and be breathed, but it appears not to be so. And it's not like I'm swiping the stones with wild abandon - I think my technique is normal, at least after viewing tons of WEPS videos!

Rgds,

I noticed a discussion about magnets to lessen the cleanup and swarf which collects around the WEPS after a session. I also noticed some direct evidence in my handkerchief after doing a few knives in a row and blowing my nose!

For a quick touchup - no, but If I'm reprofiling from scratch I'll put on my respirator (3M 7503 type). Doesn't help the cleanup of the WEPS, but I'm sure it helps my lungs. In my shop over the years I've used disposable masks and other single cartridge type respirators, but I find this 3M to be very comfortable and effective. Highly recommend this as a preventative measure.