How do you know what angle you are sharpening at?

bgentry said:
I'm not sure about here, but I found a thread on another forum from a guy named Ken that did a series of Panavise setups. They were pretty interesting. The first one is on the first page of the thread here.

Seems like a pretty accurate setup, though a bit involved. I think I'll experiment with propping up stones and some way of measuring angles. That inclineometer seems like it might be good to have. Interesting stuff.

Brian.
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That inclineometer is the exact same one I have. It works very well and only costs about $8-$10.

Mike
 
cotdt said:
And most people could not afford your paper wheel system.
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I don't know about that. I got 63 bucks total investment in my paper wheel setup (including shipping). It works awesome. How much is everyone spending on stones and these various jig and crock stick systems? I know many are spending quite a bit more than 63 bucks.
 
MadmanR1 said:
I don't know about that. I got 63 bucks total investment in my paper wheel setup (including shipping). It works awesome. How much is everyone spending on stones and these various jig and crock stick systems? I know many are spending quite a bit more than 63 bucks.
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I have to agree. I spent way more trying to get a good freehand setup. Here's what I have so far:

Cheap 3 stone freehand setup ($34), leather strops ($10 each), polishing compound ($30), various grit sandpaper ($30), etc. Not to mention the time it took me to get a shaving sharp edge. (about $100 - $150 total?)

Then I got a Sharpmaker and that made things a little easier. ($48 + $45 for the diamond rods)

Now I have a paper wheel kit although a cheap bench grinder will cost you another $50 . ($45 - $95)

I rather have the paper wheels and spend 15 seconds putting a shaving sharp edge on a blade. No polishing, stropping needed. It saves me 30 minutes per blade! And when I get good with the grinding wheel, it will save me hours per regrind. :thumbup:
 
You can use an electrogoniometer and protractor to measure the angle very precisely, including for convex edges.
 
Only when I got a Sharpmaker did I start to care about the specific angle. Now I use a 4x4 piece of wood cut at an angle and screwed to a 1x6 base. This gives me something to lean the stone against and I hold the knife vertically, like with the Sharpmaker. It works the same as the wood clamp in the pictures above, except I can do it on a table or work bench. I have bases cut for 12, 17, and 22 degrees. The first 2 are used and touched up on the Sharpmaker at 15 and 20 degrees. The last one is for other peoples knives I sharpen, and a few hard use knives and some kitchen knives that keep getting nicks in the blades. The specific angle isnt so important for most people, but my setup helps keep things consistent and saves time between sharpenings. After over 1000 posts, why would I be in the sharpening forum if I were not a little neurotic about angles and such.

I made my bases so they would give the same angle if used vertically or horizontally, but the way I hold the knives usually lowers the angle when using them horizontally. The 17 degree base gives angles around 13 degrees, and the 22 goes about 18 in use.
 
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