This is a great thread for me as well, because I'm looking at ways to expand my sharpening repertoire later this year. York, PA hosts a rather reputable culinary arts academy which I might approach at some point, along with some of the local restaurants who I'm sure have their own cutlery and no one to sharpen it. I've actually asked the folks running the locally owned supermarket deli department but it seems they use those ceramic wheel machines to keep things... well, "not dull" I suppose!

I've had a lot of folks at these flea markets mention taking their knives a county or two over and getting worse results than even a basic WEPS edge, so I'm sure the word will spread!

I have a bunch of auto body wet/dry from 1000 to 3000 but nothing less. I don't see why coarser grits of aluminum oxide or silicon carbide paper wouldn't work though. I have rolls of 120, 240 and 320 hanging around that I usually use on stock finishing, but I haven't used that on the WEPS thus far. Maybe when I resharpen my kukris I'll try that since it'll need something aggressive.

@JG - I hear you! I guess some of the sticklers are rubbing off on me when it comes to terminology I haven't actually owned a proper chisel ground knife as of yet, oddly enough.

I figured since AUS-8 can't hold up to my usual use (which is medium-heavy duty usually) I might as well make a showpiece out of it for the flea markets and such! If nothing else, it does polish up really well

Phil,

You're absolutely right, I do touch up the CRKT very frequently. I knew AUS-8 had a rep for not holding an edge as long as many steels, but wasn't really prepared to be touching up weekly! Like I said in the first post, coming from 154CM has been jarring and I can't wait until I can get another 154CM blade that will fit my needs better. Finances unfortunately disagree with that

@JG - I wouldn't call it chisel ground. I discussed the M16 series of knives in another thread and noted that the "back" side of the blade does have a proper bevel instead of just a deburred chisel edge. It seems mostly for show and is an asymmetrical grind, which perhaps lends to the behavior I'm seeing on mine. The one I have is a 13T I believe, the non-tanto partial serrated.

@Geocyclist - I often do the same, but right now the only thing better than AUS-8 I have is actually the little knife pictured in my avatar pic. I've been utterly spoiled by that 4" Hogue EX-01 I had and absolutely regret selling it... oh well, I'll get things together here and get my hands on some better knives again soon hopefully

I've had a titanium CRKT M16 for a while, and it's definitely been jarring to switch to AUS8 from Hogue's preferred 154CM. Seller's remorse aside, I've been less than pleased with results thus far and wanted to kick off this sub-section by asking the operative question when it comes to this type of steel:

What are your tips for keeping AUS-8 blades sharp?

Here's what I've got (also on the database) with the CRKT: 19/side on the WEPS, 1000# diamond occasionally with a bit of stropping to clean it up. Results? Seems like it rolls small sections of the edge a bit and ends up patchy, some spots rolled and dull while others are fine. 19 degrees might be too acute, or CRKT's AUS-8 is a bit soft, I'm not sure.

Before I get too horsey with changing angles I figured I'd get a discussion started, given AUS-8 is a very common less expensive steel.

I've done very small pen knives for customers at flea markets, it really surprises me how many people carry those things and are perfectly content with it. Well, that and how dull they always are.

I get a lot of the two and three blade ones between 1 and 2 inches per blade. It's a fun job to do the three blade ones, because they typically come with a clip point, a drop point and a sheep's foot blade so they made great practice!

I have one of the tiny pen knife types in my travel kit with the WEPS, I'll have to dig it out and take some pictures of it clamped up. I tend to go with a fairly large angle setting out of necessity, and I have spare screws I'll be turning down to give me a little extra leeway too. I'm generally happy with the 21-25 degree range on these little knives, they cut surprisingly well with a 1000 grit edge!

For heavy duty EDC use I've always considered 1000 grit diamond to be my personal gold standard, and it seems like a few folks agree with that so I must be on to something

I rarely polish knives out beyond 1000 grit, and most of my stropping on the WEPS is just to clean up and bring out a little extra sharpness. My last 154CM blade was a Hogue, which I kept at 1000 grit straight off the stones and used for everything from cutting through defunct appliance power cords to chopping down saplings around the farm.

Hey some of us still have it! And I think a great many people who are drawn to the WEPS still have it too

Absolutely right about mirror shine being subjective. I polished up the mini Fairbairn-Applegate in my forum pic here to what most people consider a mirror shine. It isn't quite, and definitely isn't under magnification, but it's so much more reflective and shiny compared to my normal 1000 grit edge (or heaven forbid a factory edge on a cheapo knife!) that people are more than impressed!

It's a fun goal to reach, but it definitely takes a lot of time, a lot of steps and a lot of that virtue stuff we just mentioned earlier

That's how I treat sharpening too, and also since I do it for fun and profit with a traveling kit most of my work is just to 1000 grit. The polished edges are great conversation pieces though!

I think if I had multiple sets of strops and different mediums I would likely do more to keep the strops supple, but overall it's working great as is. Making the best out of the kit I have and saving up those database points for some more strops

+1 to Phil and trying different methods and techniques. It's all about finding what works for you and what you can get the best, most consistent results with. I actually hold my WEPS paddles much differently from anyone I've seen doing videos or Clay's palm rest technique, but it works great and I'm used to it by now

I kind of wonder if intentionally drying out the leather could be a plus... On the finer abrasives having softer leather would probably be better, but I've got this crazy idea that maybe a harder, dryer leather could be somewhat similar to balsa in some respects.

Re: rubbing alcohol I didn't mean to imply spray it while there's still too much paste on the strop Clean off what you've got and re-apply a smaller amount nice and even, then after it's thoroughly dry give the alcohol a shot if you like. I rather like the extra grab it provides, but I don't polish out edges often beyond 1000 grit with a few whacks on the strops so softness on the leather isn't critical for me.

I think the haze of scratches you're seeing may just be remains of previous grits. By now your stones should be wearing in a bit, but after 20-30 (there's no exact science here) you should be pretty well broken in. There is also the option of lapping your ceramics, which has been discussed numerous times here on the forums and seems to give nice results too. When you're going for high polish spend extra time making sure you get all the scratches out at each grit level, even if the first few times you do it it takes way too long

I didn't see your thread here the first time around, but I'm glad to hear you're getting great results! I do a lot of those little pen knives at flea markets and community sales, I tend to just clamp them as high up as I can, use a slightly higher angle than I'm used to (usually 22-25 degrees) and go a bit slow. My clamps are plenty chewed up from dealing with these little buggers, maybe at some point I'll blacken them up with some touch up finish I use on AR-15 receivers

Usually my strops leave a little bit of gunk (probably because I haven't cleaned them or charged them for a while now) but not a whole lot. Like any polishing method you might get some fine debris on the blade which is why it's generally a good idea to clean it off between stropping grit changes just in case you cross-contaminate your strops.

I did the same thing overloading my strops initially, and it'll take off the excess as you use it. You just need to clean the blade frequently to get the excess paste off until it settles in. Generally I've noticed a dry, properly set up strop won't have a ton of "stiction" to it but it isn't a glide either... then with the alcohol added you get some grip!

What I do when I recharge strops is apply evenly and let it dry pretty thoroughly. It sounds like you might have too much paste actually, a little goes a long way. I've taken to using the rubbing alcohol trick after Clay mentioned it and it's very helpful in my experience. A quick spritz or dab from a q-tip will do fine.

Initially you'll probably have a little paste on the blade, just clean it off and keep at it The leather does take a bit of seasoning to get working its best. I can't recommend the rubbing alcohol trick enough though, it really does work and you'll notice a lot more "grab" to the leather!

Well, I'll say first that 200 strokes is way, way overboard. When I do most knives I stop at 1000 grit and use the 5 micron paste strop for 10 to 25 strokes tops after cleaning the blade off with some rubbing alcohol. There is an immediate and extremely noticeable difference between a 1000 grit diamond stone edge and a 5 micron stropped edge even with 10 strokes. As I've posted a few other places my normal routine is to use the 5um strop as a "cleanup" just to get that last bit of razor edge out of a freshly sharpened knife.

Here's my normal routine broken down in steps, if it helps:

- 100 grit to set edge, usually with sharpie
- Raise burr on both sides, even up with another 10-15 strokes
- Progress 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 usually with 35-50 strokes per grit
- Clean blade, apply a small spritz of rubbing alcohol to 5um strop and run 10-15 strokes
- Optionally, clean blade again, apply spritz to 3.5um strop, use that one too

If you've got the burr and everything set properly early on, you'll get a fantastically sharp edge by 600 and just improved from there on. Then like I said above, the strops bring out that last bit of sharpness. Some folks prefer to reduce the angle on the WEPS to strop but for my quick pass I leave it the same and use very light pressure and it works very well in my experience.

Also in regards to the visual polish, there's a pretty big gap between 1000 grit stone and 5 micron diamond paste. You can polish all day with the strops but it won't take all the scratches out, probably... though it will make the portions other than the deeper scratches very shiny! I would probably hold off on going for super shiny polishes until your stones wear in fairly well, and in the meantime practice very light, even and consistent pressure which will help you in the future

edit add: I also want to say that striving for mirror polishes is really something that highlights anything you're doing wrong or inconsistently, which is why getting all the basics down is very important. I've found that practice, light pressure and bridging the gap grit wise will make that goal much easier and less frustrating to achieve.

As someone who deals with gun and knife carry on a regular basis I would be VERY hesitant to even entertain that thought simply because many states and local municipalities have wildly varying definitions of prohibited weapons. Sharpening a flashlight bezel could be construed as such in many places, here in PA inclusive. Just food for thought.

Aluminum is too soft to hold much of an edge for long or be especially useful for striking except in utmost emergency. I don't think a sharpened aluminum bezel would be any more effective or useful than a plain one, and actually would be more problematic to carry if it's pointier

Additionally the bare aluminum would oxidize without finishing over it, further affecting whatever dubious effectiveness it would have by sharpening.

Yep, I think everyone's got it covered pretty well. My normal process is to use only the strops if it's not rolled over too bad or damaged, and if it is rolled over I'll use the 1000# diamond stones to fix it in a jiffy. My normal EDC edge is a 1000# with a few clean-up swipes on the 5/3.5 leather strops, so one of those two options always gets it fixed up quickly. It really doesn't take long for touch ups, one of the best parts of the WEPS!

From what I've gathered, I think that we're all basically saying the same thing conceptually. The "zero" is that the angles are perfectly set, and further refinement at finer grits is microscopically thinning the very apex of the edge while simultaneously smoothing it by decreasing the size of the teeth caused by the abrasive scratches.

I think my original point was that for most practical applications, at least from my own experience since the VAST majority of sharpening I do is EDC and hunting knives rather than fine cutlery or razors, was that the smoother cutting is the primary thing I notice when increasing grits. In the bulk of my sharpening work and the types of knives I work on the sharpness (generally speaking) is already established by the 600 grit, and definitely beyond sharp by 1000 So anything past that isn't really showing a major difference in what it can cut, just HOW it cuts, if that makes any sense.

But hey, we started a whole other interesting conversation by my generalizing! I suppose that's a win of a sort too

Mostly what I was getting at was that the definition of "sharp" is kind of nebulous to begin with, and the biggest thing you're likely to notice with finer grits is the toothy vs. smoother cutting. Angle might make a much more pronounced difference in what would be considered "sharp", like an exacto knife or razor blade being a very acute angle typically.

Curtis, you got me thinking when you say "a smaller width edge"... with the WEPS we're almost taking identical amounts of material off with each pass per side, so is the edge really getting smaller? With the angles set and everything working as intended I'm inclined to think it wouldn't, while the very edge of the edge is being refined with fewer "teeth". Perhaps it's more that the very apex of the edge is getting finer and smaller though the rest of the bevel isn't (angles remaining consistent). Hooray thought experiments!

Good info on the grits and results, I've always considered the 1000 grit to be a really great all around finish but have done some stopping at 600 with good results also. I think Clay has some strop images under the microscope showing the "smearing" effect the strops have on a rough grit, I forget which he used though. Very cool stuff.

And yes for those unfamiliar, the acronym "tl;dr" stands for "too long; didn't read". It's a light hearted way of summarizing a long post by joking it's too long to comb through

Sharpness has a lot of variables, and it's not quite as straightforward as saying finer grits make things "more sharp" per se. That's a discussion a lot of folks have had here on the forums and there's a lot of great info on it and the science behind what makes a knife truly sharp!

What higher levels of polish do (independent of angle, type of steel, and so on) is refine the edge to be a smoother, less toothy cut. The type of cutting and edge finish you need really depends on the use of the knife, which is why we have techniques like micro-bevels that let you get the super polished look but retain a lower grit toothy edge for cutting utility. Best of both worlds!

To more directly address your question, the 1000 grit stones for the WEPS will absolutely get your knife shaving sharp, particularly once it's worn in a bit and gets a little more refined. I use the 1000 stone as my gold standard with a few strokes on the 5 and 3.5um strops just to clean up and give that extra razor edge. Some folks keep just the plain 1000 grit for the bit of extra tooth and don't strop it, and that works great too.

tl;dr yes if everything went well, and not exactly