Drilling additional angles in the Lansky Clamp / Alternative Clamp?

[malaverdiere]

Hello everybody,

Overall, I love my Lansky sharpening system. Problem is: I got myself a nice Japanese VG-10 petty knife and even the 17deg option in the Lansky clamp is too obtuse.

How safe is it to drill an additional hole in the Lansky clamp? Is that going to affect its strength/stability?
Or are there any alternative clamps I can get? Ideally with a continuous edge selection?

Obviously, I want another/cheaper answer than 'Buy KME!'

 

[irona]

The biggest issue I see with that is that the narrower of an angle you go, the more the stones might be blocked by the clamp, so you end up grinding the top of the clamp instead of making contact with the edge.


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[jpm2]

In the 17 degree hole, I can get a range of way less than 10 and up to about 19 degrees per side , depending on how deep the rod sits in the stone holder, and how far the knife edge is from the clamp. Those hole markings are worthless.
No need for any other holes.

 

[Kai Winters]

Depending on the knife blade you can scrub off metal on the clamps using the lowest setting now...I've done it...not a big deal as they are aluminum and removing a bit of it hasn't harmed my clamps but I don't think I'd go lower.
The clamps aren't expensive so as an experiment it can't hurt as you could easily replace them and who knows it may be a tweak that works out. If not just don't use those extra holes...
Make sure you drill in the identical spots to assure the angles are equal on both sides.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[fvdk]

Which clamp do you have, the soft-grip-clamp http://lansky.com/index.php/products/soft-grip-knife-clamp/ or the original design clamp http://lansky.com/index.php/products/multi-angle-knife-clamp

There was a problem with the design of the soft-grip-clamp and with smaller knives, using the 17 degrees setting resulted in hitting the clamp.

The 17 degree setting on the original clamp results in an actual angle of less than 14 degrees with small knives and even lower with larger knives.

So even though you can get lower angles than 14 degrees with the original design clamp, I would think that it does not make much sense for any pocket knife to go that low

 

[malaverdiere]

Thanks everybody.

I have the original clamp and I'll give it a shot (virtually crossing my fingers along the way!).
By the way, how accurate are smartphone apps compared to your dedicated device?

 

[fvdk]

Thanks everybody.

I have the original clamp and I'll give it a shot (virtually crossing my fingers along the way!).
By the way, how accurate are smartphone apps compared to your dedicated device?

The angle cubes use the same type of sensors that are used in the phone but there can be slight differences in the resolution. In general they should be accurate within 0.1 degree.

 

[malaverdiere]

The angle cubes use the same type of sensors that are used in the phone but there can be slight differences in the resolution. In general they should be accurate within 0.1 degree.

So I tried with an app that doesn't have a 'reset' feature like your angle cube to set a relative zero, so my results aren't gonna be amazing. That being said. I was getting ~10 degrees. I tried matching the bevel using the sharpie trick and adjusting the depth of the rod. I can't claim great success - my clumsy hands don't like 'fine tuning'.

But it establishes the fact that my Lansky system is suitable for sharpening my Japanese knives, so that's good news!