jendeindustries wrote:


LOL, that is a good one! Ok, as long as we are getting a bit silly…I haven’t tried this yet, but… Polish the entire blade (not just the edge) of a good sized Spyderco. Then use the blade as a survival-signal mirror. Just look through the spyder hole to aim the sunlight at those you are trying to signal. Anybody try this?

Hi all! I'm back. Thanks for all the hints, especially Jende! I printed off your links, and I'll read them later when I get a sec. To be honest, I've been going back and forth with returning the WEPS. I won't yet, but I'm noticing quite a few little things which are getting on my nerves. I have pretty much stopped the loosening of the arms by switching to the reverse side and tightening them on the side without the holes. They seem to stay put better there. I do have better ideas for them, though, which will keep them from moving at all. If I can get it to work, I'll share with y'all:whistle: . I am noticing, though, that most all of my blades are flat ground, and have been able to compensate for the angles blade by putting a piece of folded paper next to the blade on the side it slants to in order to keep it upright. For right now, I'm just eyeballing it! As I progress I'll do something to be more precise. Here's my next problem I've found. (why do I have so many problems?!) For medium sized blades, everything works pretty well, as long as it's not a flat ground blade. It seems that the WEPS was designed around that; having a blade with equally vertically perpendicular sides at some point on the blade to the base. (?) Since I am into survival, and wood carving, I now have both ends of the spectrum on blade sizes; 1#long x 1/4"high blades up to 7"long x 2"high blades. With the shorter ones, I have trouble mounting them so that the strops/stones don't hit the vise. I can't use the pins at this point. And on the longer blades there is too much movement at the tip to keep the angle even as I finish my stroke.
Maybe I'm making this harder than it has to be. I was completely stoked about this system, and I waited for over 4 months to come up with the money and then to wait 4 more months for the WEPS itself. I think I expected too much, especially since they are still working out some of the bugs. I think I'll keep plugging along for now and see what happens with y'all's help. (Yes, y'all's is a word! It's a mix of southern and Jersey accents!!)
Jende, I'll look over those charts you listed and see what I have and what I can do with it! Those last couple pics look awesome:woohoo: !! Such a straight even edge, it's unbelievable! Thanks again for all y'all's help! You guys are great! ~Frank~

FFG blades will clamp vertically by using an 1/8" strip of double stick foam tape on the top of both jaws. I use 3M VHB 3/4"X .045" thick. This really works surprisingly well. My thumb screws tighten and hold fine in the dimples however, not sure of the problem, perhaps the screw end isn't mating well with the dimple.

CAW

Thanks CAW. I'll go get some of that tape today! One thing I did find out, and love, is that the diamond spray works WAY better than the pastes! It seems that the medium for the pastes causes the paste itself to rub off onto the knife, while the spray medium penetrates the strop and leaves the diamonds on the surface. Wow! What results from that stuff! Should I wipe off the black metal from the strop, or just leave it on there? ~F~