Hi Robert,

One thing that helped me a lot in getting those shaving edges that you are looking for is you tube. Clay has made a lot of videos and as idiot proof as the wicked edge is I still found myself making mistakes. I took the time and watched a dozen of Clays videos and it made a world of difference. I went from good results to shaving on my next knife.

Cory

Stephen and Wayne,

Here is my experience with the wicked edge crew. I ordered my wicked edge about two years ago when it was on a one month back order. After one month I received a notice that there was some issues with quality control and it would be another month. At this point I was aggravated but what can you do but grin and bare it? So at sixty days I got another notice that it was going to be another month and I lost it. I wrote to both Kay, and Clay to express my displeasure. The bottom line was they weren't going to put out a product that they were not 100% satisfied with. They were having some issues with the factory at the time and were behind on many orders but they were taking all of the abuse put forth by who knows how many people so that the product was perfect! Remember even though the company has been around a few years it is still basically a small family owned and operated business that is trying to keep up with a rapidly growing demand. Anyway I waited my 90 days and got my sharpener and have never regretted the wait or the purchase. Perfection may take a while but when it finally gets here it is always well worth the wait! Trust me when I say that Clay and crew are busting there butts to get it out as fast as they can and with the best quality possible!

I would never try to discourage you from getting something to go in between your 1000 and .5 microns. Having said that though it takes your strops a while to wear in. If your just on your second knife they are probably still green and sliding like they have grease on them. Once your strops break in this will change. They will become some what sticky. At that point is when the real polish begins. This process takes a different amount of time for everyone depending on how heavy handed you are and how much paste you applied. But once you get them broke in you will see a big difference. The other piece to this is your diamond plates aren't broke in yet either. That means they are still cutting more aggressively than normal and it is harder to polish out the marks. If you stick with it though by the time you hit your 15th knife or so the difference will amaze you.

Welcome to the forum sauce. I have a few questions for you before I try and help you out. First are you using an angle cube and second are you sharpening from your lower vise setting or the upper? I ask both of the because in there are a few things that you can do. I know that some of the guys here raise the knife higher in the vise and mark there vise jaws. Higher as in above there upper limit holes. Others reverse there arms to where the detents are no longer a factor and they can run the arms as close in or as far out as they want. The only issues with this is you have to have an angle cube Also you have to be very careful not to hit your vise with your stones. I hope this helps a little.

I am Army prior service so any time I get a chance to rib a toefl hunden I am required to take it.

I'm sorry if I didn't help out I was just trying to say is if you spend some more time on them they will get there. I was trying to be encouraging. Like you Phil I do a lot of research and there are guys on YouTube getting awesome results on the wicked edge out of S90v which if you look it up like I have is reportedly harder to sharpen than S30v. At the end of the day though all of us use the same product and will have very similar results if uses properly. I have watched everyone of Clays videos on YouTube umpteen million times and I try to do what he does. It could also very easily be a matter of my standards of sharp vs yours. Like I said before I was just trying to be encouraging sorry if I fell short.

Cory

Just to chime in I have quite a few s30v knives and I think that they sharpen up and hold an edge great. I do have to spend more time and they never do polish up as good as my other knives but I think that they are every bit as sharp and to me hold an edge a lot longer than my others in say 154cm or n680 or 5160.

I'll pitch my two cents in with Phil I just don't see a problem with using your 100 stones. Yes you are going to possibly take away a little more material BUT we all have a wicked edge and we ALL keep our notes of sharpening angles so you only have to form a bur once on your knife the entire time you own it for kitchen knives which is where this conversation started. You sharpen them at 40 inclusive and the next time you sharpen you go back to 40 inclusive and knock it out. Why is there a need to raise a bur if you already know your at the edge? Sharpie it and roll out.

Now if you are sharpening a $300 knife that is a different beast all together. Then your going to tape the spine and cover the pivot area and do all sorts of stuff to make sure you take care of that knife because it is expensive. If your already taking your time and doing all of that you can use your higher grit stones to form a bur or you can pay closer attention on your lowers.

On that same note if your sharpening your knife so much that you are wearing it down then you should:

A: Do better maintenance between sharpenings

B: Find the right tool for the job if your damaging your knife blade that much (or use a better steel)

C: Try using a convexed edge it lasts longer

What I ended up doing on the longer blades was shortening my strokes. You can walk your strops from one end to the other in 2 or 3 strokes and not nick them at all and still get good coverage. The other thing that I have tried to do is slow down a little. I know I know you get in that rhythm and it just feels right to go for it. The problem is that rhythm was created with your stones because you use them more than everything else and it doesn't matter if you drag a stone like it does a strop. My first set of strops lasted about a year and then they were falling to pieces. I feel your pain but I promise the second set lasts a lot better. I have yet to nick set two and I'm a good 25 knives into them. Oh and Chesty is a wuss!

Since I saw your topic I figured I would try on my iPad. I don't have an issue uploading but once I save nothing happens. Any ideas? Is it the server? Is there a limit to the photo size maybe? I'm going to try and attach the photo to this post and see if that works.
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If your looking to convex your edge you should really check out clays video on you tube. I believe he does a chris reeves knife and it is extremely educational. I started with just one micro bevel and it helped but convexing makes a WORLD of difference. Seeing clay actually walk you through it step by step really makes a different also.

I have been using a buck vantage pro as my edc for the last few months and I have really enjoined this knife. It has the S30V steel and a very deep carry pocket clip that fits my activities very well. I also rotate a couple of benchmade a in and out of the line up. I love the axis lock but I hate that they always make there knives a little on the heavy side. As for the spyderco I have a love hate relationship with them. I love the quality of there knives and have owned and carried a few but I HATE there pocket clips and to be honest most of there blade shapes. If I had a the money to drop on a knife right now though it would be a ZT561. It is a little heavy but I sure do like the look of that knife and have read a lot of good reviews also.

If you are talking about a chisel grind like on an Emerson where only one side of the knife is sharpened I personally don't like them. I know Emerson says that they are easier to maintain in the field but I personally don't feel like they get as sharp as a traditional double bevel. Then again I'm not in the field like these are intended. I go out for a day or three and come home so it isn't really a big issue for me to actually sharpen my knife. i don't want to use a rock or whatever to straitened the edge like the chisel grind is designed.

Scott you if my understanding of micro bevels and convexing are good then you haven't made a mistake at all. If your going to convex an edge you start at a steep angle and broaden it. For example you would start at 15 on each side through your 1000 stone. Then move to 20 reburing and all through your 1000 stone. The bur in this case takes about 3 passes so don't worry about removing to much. At this point you would softly hit 19 then 18 then 17 then 16 and polish the entire blade when your done.

Clay has an awesome video of him doing this on a chris reeves knife on you tube. I have started doing this and my edges hold WAY better!

Geocyclist wrote:


I don't use balsa for my really small micron stuff but on a 5 and 3.5 I can tell you that I really like it. I used leather for a long time and it works but if you have a slightly rolled edge the balsa cuts your touch up time by a lot. Both of them polish differently also if you check out Clays posts on abrasion and burnishing you can see the difference in his magnified pictures. He bounces back and forth between multiple strops so it is pretty educational.

I played with moving mine around a little and found really no difference in comfort. To me it is more the height of the table your working at and the chair your sitting on then the WEPS. I also am not a very patient person at times and get a little over zealous with the pressure so a solid mount would be a bad thing in my case. The tipping of the base lets me know I need to back off and take my time. Just my 2 cents.

If you read the post he didn't reprofile and started with a good bevel of 16. I can see this taking five minutes using only 600, 800, 1000, then the ceramics. I don't know about most other people but once my reprofile is good it doesn't take long to go through the rest of the stones. Maybe 50 to 75 strokes per stone and if you have a good rhythm that takes less than a minute. Then an additional minute stropping sounds right also. It is the reason I really love this sharpener. As long as I have done the knife before it is a 5 minute ordeal to get it back to tip top shape. This is an amazing tool and I thank Clay every time I use it.

Just my 2 cents on this one Scott. I put on the one inch rubbed it in and just trusted Clay. On my first few knives I was having the same issues that you are talking about but I just stuck with it and didn't reapply for a good 10 to 15 knives and then I hit them with just a little more paste maybe a half inch. Once again I felt that everything was coming off on my blade and then after a few more knives I guess the break in finally ended because I started to feel the "stiction" that everyone is talking about and my blades started shining up a lot faster. I think it is just a loading process for your leather and there is no way to rush it. Once it happens you will notice a difference imeadiatly and if your experience is like mine you will not have to add much to your strops at all. Once they are loaded a little goes a LONG way.

Good point. I would like to eat this next week.