Homemade Wicked Edge

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One more question. You've been so helpful already. Have you come up with a way to index knife position so you can keep track of your settings? The WE uses the two hole, two position depth key and a ruler like alignment guide. This apparently makes touch ups quick and easy.

I re-read your previous post and seems like you touch up on your sharp maker.
 
not only is it expensive but its poorly made i have 1000$ into mine and it still needs major fixes to make the design work right. i would truly love to know the parts list you used to create your proto so i could try to make one my self. great job man!!!
 
Great job! I've thought about trying to do something like that but never new where to look for the right parts.
 
kos43709 said:
not only is it expensive but its poorly made i have 1000$ into mine and it still needs major fixes to make the design work right. i would truly love to know the parts list you used to create your proto so i could try to make one my self. great job man!!!
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He has the parts list on page 1.
 
kos43709 said:
not only is it expensive but its poorly made i have 1000$ into mine and it still needs major fixes to make the design work right. i would truly love to know the parts list you used to create your proto so i could try to make one my self. great job man!!!
Click to expand...
What type of fixes?
 
Very cool! The play in the arms and the cost of rig plus what I wanted as accessories is what kept me away from the WE. One thing that just irked me was that they identified a problem, i.e. The arms, fixed the said problem, then proceeded to charge for the "upgrade." Hell no, you enhance your product then offer the new product with the improvements IMO.


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chopsaki said:
One thing that just irked me was that they identified a problem, i.e. The arms, fixed the said problem, then proceeded to charge for the "upgrade." Hell no, you enhance your product then offer the new product with the improvements IMO.
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There was no problem with the original design, it worked fine and better than anything else available at that time. As any good and innovative company should do, they keep developing the system and come up with new ideas and designs that are even better or make life easier. The original system is still available and a good option for those who just need a basic system, not much more expensive than an Edge Pro or Spyderco Sharpmaker with the diamond stones. New buyers have a choice of the original cheaper system or the more advanced pro systems. Existing users just pay the price difference if they want to upgrade.
 
fvdk said:
There was no problem with the original design, it worked fine and better than anything else available at that time. As any good and innovative company should do, they keep developing the system and come up with new ideas and designs that are even better or make life easier. The original system is still available and a good option for those who just need a basic system, not much more expensive than an Edge Pro or Spyderco Sharpmaker with the diamond stones. New buyers have a choice of the original cheaper system or the more advanced pro systems. Existing users just pay the price difference if they want to upgrade.
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I get it, but the thing for me was that why is there play in the arms and paddles to begin with? Why do I need to spend 150 more? 60$ maybe, but 1/2 the price of an edge pro for the friggin arms?? No thanks.
 
fvdk said:
There was no problem with the original design, it worked fine and better than anything else available at that time. As any good and innovative company should do, they keep developing the system and come up with new ideas and designs that are even better or make life easier. The original system is still available and a good option for those who just need a basic system, not much more expensive than an Edge Pro or Spyderco Sharpmaker with the diamond stones. New buyers have a choice of the original cheaper system or the more advanced pro systems. Existing users just pay the price difference if they want to upgrade.
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The whole point of this system (in my opinion) is it allows the user to grind intended precise angles on their edge in order to make routine sharpening, from then on, much easier. I don't use my wicked edge for routine sharpening, I use my sharpmaker or freehand for that. If the factory bevel is all out of whack (which is often the case even with high end knives) it's a real pain to freehand. So I only use it for setting geometry, and a knife only need go on the system once.

SO... if the standard arms have a bit of play natively... it sort of defeats the purpose doesn't it? You have to be conscious not to "rock" the stones back and forth otherwise you wont contact the entire flat of the bevel at once, and it will produce a slightly convex edge. It'll still perform very well and produce a superior edge than what came from the factory, but it's no longer precise in my opinion. For a company that boasts their system can produce the "perfect" edge, it doesn't then make sense for them to acknowledge a potential improvement and yet continue to market the inferior version and sell the improvement as an upgrade. How can you improve on perfection?

Lately I've been having issues with the stones themselves. The hole that the rod slides into is a tad imprecise. I have one stone that is quite tight on the rod, and the other stone (when put on the same rod) is a bit loose and can be rocked back and forth. Initially I was very impressed with the wicked edge stones, but the plastic holder really isn't as good as it could be. I'm going to look into finding a way to make my own stone holders as well.
 
The original arms had some play that was (and I would think still would be) fixed for free... you don't need to buy the upgrade arms as a 'fix'. You could either send them in, or they would send you the parts needed. I think it was just a washer you could install at the base of the arm. The 'upgrade arms' weren't the fix for the originals... they did improve the tolerance, but also added the micro-adjustment. (Once this was discovered, the original arms were modified before being shipped out).

If your stone holder is defective, I'd call W.E. and see about a replacement. I know there are some who've modified the stones for even tighter tolerances, but don't have the details.
 
Thanks for sharing this awesome build! I've ordered the parts to build this unit and will soon need stones. I know the WE stones are well liked but they are beyond my budget. So in the DIY spirit of this great thread I'd like to fabricate my own stone holders from wood and mount stones purchased from Amazon, but not sure which stones are good to use. Here are a few questions/ideas that I have:

1) Arkansas stones seem very reasonable - do they produce an inferior result to whetstones or Ceramic?

2) If yes, these Arkansas stones on Amazon look like a good deal, and are wide enough to cut in half to make one stone for each side of the rig. Do you think this could work? If so, this purchase would yeild 3 grits for ~45 bucks!
https://www.amazon.com/Arkansas-Sha...rpening+stone+set&refinements=p_72:1248909011

3) There is also a wide variety of highly rated waterstones available, but most are 2 grits bonded together. I thought buying one of these, then first cutting it vertically length-wise into two smaller pieces (still 2 grits each) on a tile saw, then cutting the grits apart to mount to wood carriers for the sharpening rig. Perhaps this is a better idea to leverage the large selection of higher quality whetstones and ceramic stones?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000Y7LA...TF8&colid=3EW8PGAHV40ZI&coliid=I3MUZSO7WUO6D0

What are your opinions???
 
Hi
Dalcini said:
Thanks for sharing this awesome build! I've ordered the parts to build this unit and will soon need stones. I know the WE stones are well liked but they are beyond my budget. So in the DIY spirit of this great thread I'd like to fabricate my own stone holders from wood and mount stones purchased from Amazon, but not sure which stones are good to use. Here are a few questions/ideas that I have:

1) Arkansas stones seem very reasonable - do they produce an inferior result to whetstones or Ceramic?

2) If yes, these Arkansas stones on Amazon look like a good deal, and are wide enough to cut in half to make one stone for each side of the rig. Do you think this could work? If so, this purchase would yeild 3 grits for ~45 bucks!
https://www.amazon.com/Arkansas-Sha...rpening+stone+set&refinements=p_72:1248909011

3) There is also a wide variety of highly rated waterstones available, but most are 2 grits bonded together. I thought buying one of these, then first cutting it vertically length-wise into two smaller pieces (still 2 grits each) on a tile saw, then cutting the grits apart to mount to wood carriers for the sharpening rig. Perhaps this is a better idea to leverage the large selection of higher quality whetstones and ceramic stones?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000Y7LA...TF8&colid=3EW8PGAHV40ZI&coliid=I3MUZSO7WUO6D0

What are your opinions???
Click to expand...

Hi,
what size stones are you looking for ? 1" x 4"? 1" x 6"? 1"x8"?
Its funny, I can't find the size of wicked edge stones :D

1) arkansas stones dont really produce an inferior result,
worn/loaded arkansas stones might,
so might worn/loaded "whetstones" or "ceramic"
... stones wear and load, and then you have to recondition them
(lap with slightly coarser loose grit on tile)

arkansas stones are slower/slow on high carbide steels
but should be ok for microbeveling (setting the apex)
if edge is prepped/shaped well



2) I see you linked the 6" stones that are $44.95 + $6.95 shipping
For comparison
The same manufactuer sells Arkansas Tri-Hone Knife Sharpener - 3 Stones 8"
cheaper, $44.95 & FREE Shipping on orders over $49.

so yeah, if you've got a saw that can cut them,
that seems to be the cheapest way to get these in smaller sizes ...

but see next part :)

3) There was a guy that just hacksawed split some norton water stone in half some good info on the trickyness/fragility of that stuff 1427995-Separating-waterstones


And if you willing to buy from ebay, lots of choices to consider
There seem to be many deals on edge pro apex type ~1"x6" stones, diamonds or "whetstone"
you could get a apex clone with 4 "whestsones" for under $8
pick your own grits diamond for ~$5 a piece from 60 grit to 2000 (stable price)
similarly prices sets of whetstones ...
already thin/cut/uniform... ready to clamp

last month all this stuff even ~7inchx2,5 taidea waterstones were selling for $1 or $3 or $8

...
 
All great ideas Bucketstove, and thanks for the info on Arkansas stone. I like your thinking on the Tri-Hone stone as well. I saw that one on Amazon and didn't even think of using it. For stone size, I'm thinking around 1x6". If I'm not mistaken, that's roughly the same size as the WE stones. However, after my post yesterday, I found an even cheaper (and possibly even better) alternative: lapping films. I found a great discussion on them at badger and blade forum here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/283576-Lapping-film-try-it

Sure, they're not as "cool" as sharpening stones and probably don't feel as good to a purist, but at a fraction of the price they fit the bill pretty well. They also tie in well with my desire to complete an entire high quality, easy to build DIY knife sharpening solution for a fraction of the cost of the big boys. Moxy's build looks to be completely on par with a WE system for 1/3 the price, but purchasing WE stones to go with it at ~$70.00/pair eats up those savings. I think a set of sheet carriers with sheets could be done for about $40.00.

I bought a kit of lapping sheets ("sheet kit 2") for ~$30.00 shipped from bestsharpeningstones.com here: http://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/catalog/Lapping Film.htm. This kit contains one 8.5 x 11 lapping sheet each of 9,5,3,1 &.3 micron grits. The sheets are adhesive backed so making handles should be easy. The trick to these is apparently to mount them to a super flat surface or they will wear prematurely. - so I figure I could pick up something like a marble (glass? wood?) remnant from a big box store for next to nothing and cut holders to size on my tile saw - say 1" x 5.5" pieces. That way, I get 16 strips per sheet - giving me 8 stone "refills" for each of the 5 grits for 30 bucks. The guys on the forum above (although it's a razor forum) estimate they can sharpen about 15 blades per strip. That's a lot of use.
 
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I know this is an older thread but in the interest of continued and archival improvements or suggestions I offer the following:

Instead of using the "Low Profile Nuts" as suggested to keep clearance with the sliding structural pivot arms. I suggest using nut inserts.

These are also handy throughout the project , especially the blade clamp. Its just saves on fumbling with nuts and wrenches when making adjustments or disassembly for storage.

The tool and a starter assortment of nut inserts can be found on Amazon or Ebay. Very very handy for all manner of little jobs.

wmr-w2007_cx_xl.jpg

rivet_nut_insert_a.jpg
 
I'm unable to view the photos in the first post. Any help with that would be appreciated.
 
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