Got my Wicked Edge Yesterday....oy vey.......

Rolex John

Rolex John

Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
1,029
Well, I got my WEPS yesterday, got it set up, and went to work on a cheap Kershaw Skyline. Which as it turns out was a mistake because of its small size. Conventional wisdom appears to be to start with kitchen knives, but when I went upstairs to grab one I noted our less than stellar kitchen knives were had rust spots. I then ordered a 7pc. set of Ken Onion Shun knives which will be here later this week. :D

So anyway....I was running into problems left and right.

-Using painters tape only, the blade in the vise wasn't thick enough for the top tightening screw not to protrude on the right side and hit my diamond sharpening stone with each pass. This was infuriating - I made four or five passes against the diamond stone before I realized what was happening which did my diamond stones no good.

-To overcome this issue, I tried additionally wrapping the knife blade spine in a cotton gun bore cleaning pad folded over a couple of times. This gave me the additional girth I needed to ensure the blasted screw wasn't sticking out. However, this created a new problem - cotton on steel is slick and it was moving around more than it should. I need to find a better solution - something rubber I think. The system shouldn't force the user to hunt for and cobble together such solutions for the money charged - why the heck aren't the inside walls of the vise line with rubber?!?!

Needless to say, after a couple of hours, my Skyline isn't particularly sharp. But, my sensei Rubicon has talked me out of falling on my sword (tried slitting my wrists but the Skyline was too dull....) and I'm going to try on a larger Gerber I own tonight....

I did some clean up work on my work bench/gun cleaning bench/knife sharpening bench this past weekend. Here's my WEPS along with my tub-o-knife sharpening tools/accessories:

bench.jpg


tub.jpg


weps.jpg
 
I bought one recently and though it take some practice it produces some truly amazing edges. I practised on old kitchen knives before moving on to my "good" knives. In fact I'm blown away with the results.

Give them a call, I'm sure they can advise you.
 
Man, talk to Clay! Those vise jaws look like they're bent BAD. That would explain your clamping problem for sure.

When it's working properly (and I'm fairly sure yours is NOT from those pictures) you can literally pick up the whole shabang by the clamped blade. I can do so with mine (paperstone base) no problem. And the rubber lining would just attract grit and scratch up your blades. :) Give Clay a call, if those pictures aren't deceiving me, those jaws look like they bent out badly.
 
Komitadjie said:
Man, talk to Clay! Those vise jaws look like they're bent BAD. That would explain your clamping problem for sure.

When it's working properly (and I'm fairly sure yours is NOT from those pictures) you can literally pick up the whole shabang by the clamped blade. I can do so with mine (paperstone base) no problem. And the rubber lining would just attract grit and scratch up your blades. :) Give Clay a call, if those pictures aren't deceiving me, those jaws look like they bent out badly.
Click to expand...

I don't think they're bent.
 
Very well could just be barrel distortion from the camera lens, I suppose. The insides of those jaws should be perfectly straight. :)
 
Komitadjie said:
Very well could just be barrel distortion from the camera lens, I suppose. The insides of those jaws should be perfectly straight. :)
Click to expand...

The first pic shows them lining up perfectly.

When the jaws are apart the one on the right is free to move around. It's probably not perfectly parallel to the fixed jaw making it look off.
 
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CrimsonTideShooter said:
The first pic shows them lining up perfectly.

When the jaws are apart the one on the left is free to move around. It's probably not perfectly parallel to the fixed jaw making it look off.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I just snapped these quick photos with my iPhone - lighting isn't that great at my garage work bench.
 
I had the same problems, these were my solutions. I used a thin piece of rubber in the end of the jaws to take the screw out of play, I have since got myself a shorter screw. I also used a match under the rubber to raise the knife up high enough. Also get yourself an angle cube and rub stones together a little when new to take some aggression out of them and use very little pressure towards the end of each progression.
 
Dude, I am an avid WE user and the right hand jaw just doesnt look right. I presume you are bringing the top screw in to hold the blade then tightening the bottom screw to hold it tight. Only on the thinnest of slippys have I had the stone contact the screw or clamp jaw. Take pics, post or pm me or call Clay or Kay. Also remember Shun are chisel grind so there is a learning curve to sharpen those. Once mastered there is no going back!!
 
You're most likely right as I look closer, CTF. That is an ODD optical illusion right there!

I actually ran into some screw-contact issues myself, mostly on smaller or thinner blades. I just handled it by taking the screw out to the bench grinder and taking one thread off, then chamfering the diameter to give a little more clearance. I suppose I lost a BIT in thickness-holding capacity, but I don't see myself trying to sharpen a quarter-inch-thick blade any time soon.
 
I too noticed screw sticking to far out . Took screw to local hardware store , and bought a shorter screw for 5 cents , problem solved.
 
Yup, I was just too lazy to drive down to the store, and had the grinder handy. It's a standard screw, nothing funny there. #10-24 if my mind serves correctly, I'm not at home to check at the moment.
 
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