+1 What Clay said.
1600 to strops and your cruisin.
Keep the hand light and you'll surprise yourself, especially after break in.

wickededge wrote:


Ah, very nice. Yes rubberbanding them that way is a great idea!

zig wrote:


Yeah, I fought "heavy hand" for years. Finally (kinda) broke myself of it when I drifted into straight razor shaving 8-10 years ago. That was also where I got hooked on PSA diamond films. Much better edges on my razors than I ever got with loaded strops. Really want to see some glass paddles to use the PSAs with!

By the way, Zig, where did you get my picture? That was back in my youth when I was MUCH better looking!

Cheers,

Ken

Ken,
You had that twinkle in your eye back then

zig wrote:


Yep, glory days! I almost remember them......

Ken

I'll use this as an opportunity to introduce myself as well. My name is Wayne, and I spent much of my life in Calgary, Alberta Canada, in the aviation industry. I retired two years ago (freedom 55 as they say) and two weeks later was on my way to Regina Saskatchewan, following my wife who was transferred here.

My first pocketknife was given to me at age 6, some 52 years ago by my Grandfather. The year after, he began to teach me to sharpen it on stones, something I've been "learning" to do ever since. I've gotten pretty good at it with 50 years of practice, however just when I was starting to get comfortable with the whole freehand sharpening thing, arthritis started to put a "cramp" in things, literally and figuratively.

I've two hobbies; knife collecting and photography. I currently have around 80 knives in my collection, virtually all users. I don't believe in shelf queens, so I need to be able to sharpen efficiently, so I've just ordered my first WE system and am waiting for it to arrive.

Isn't retirement great! Welcome aboard Wayne! Sounds like quite a collection of knives and hopefully you will use your photographic skills to show us your knives. Your WEPS will be well used eh mate! Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Best regards
Leo

Welcome Wayne. I'll second Leo's sentiment. Retirement is great for allowing us to pursue our hobbies!

There is a lot of great info on this board as well as "how to" videos on YouTube. Well worth your time while you're waiting on delivery.

One thing I'll say that, while you'll read it (occasionally) and it makes sense.... give yourself time to adapt to your WEPS. It's a great system but it doesn't sharpen knives for you. You still have to develope your skills and techniques. That said, you can (pretty easily) get a great edge right out of the box, if you've done your homework. But the whole process just gets better (and faster, and easier) as you get more experience.

Enjoy!

Ken

What you say is very true Ken. The WEPS will guide you to an excellent edge but as your skill with it progresses you will find the edges improving and they will amaze you.
I found two of the most important things to watch for are...the proper raising of the initial burr and the proper touch with the diamond paddles after the coarse diamonds used to raise the burr.
The initial burr or lack of it, is perhaps the biggest cause of mediocre or even poor edges, if not developed properly. If the burr is not raised at all, a truly sharp edge will never happen. And if it is raised but not carefully along the whole length of the edge, the result will be mediocre. As for the touch with the paddles, little pressure is required. In fact too much pressure can be counter productive to sharpening. People kid me about this, but I like to say that one should brush the paddles over the blade like a soft summer breeze. Once the burr is up these soft strokes will quickly and smoothly develop the edge you desire.
My two cents worth.

Leo

Welcome Wayne! You definitely made a good choice with the WEPS. And with the forums: if you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. And when in doubt: listen to Leo .

I was also thinking it would be nice if you could us some results of the combination of your two hobbies.

Just finished my Manix. CPM-M4



Man that sucker is sharp now!

Took it to the 5/3.5 strops. Not quite a mirror finish but very nice. I'm guessing it will get closer as the stones break in.

Cheers

Ken