New Wicked Edge Go WE60 & WE66 Obsidian

tokerblue said:
Looks like a nice choice for those who need a portable sharpener. I don't know if I'd ever use this compared to just bringing along more knives when I travel. Probably requires less space too.
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It depends on where you're going and how long you'll be gone. If I was backpacking, I would not want to lug my WE130 sharpener with me. But if I'm traveling in my car, I might take it with me. It would just depend on what I was doing and how long I would be away from home. The WE60 could be put into a pretty small bag. You can screw it down or clamp it to a table or even a board laying around. I have the big rolling case for my WE130. It really doesn't take up too much space in a vehicle.
 
I've never owned a wicked edge system but considering purchasing the new GO. I know 60 will be the first available then the 66 later on this year. My question really is would anyone prefer to manually clamp their knife in compared to the 66 that will have the cam lever action clamp?? Should I not even consider the 60 and just wait it out?? Any knowledgeable insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
jll346 said:
I've never owned a wicked edge system but considering purchasing the new GO. I know 60 will be the first available then the 66 later on this year. My question really is would anyone prefer to manually clamp their knife in compared to the 66 that will have the cam lever action clamp?? Should I not even consider the 60 and just wait it out?? Any knowledgeable insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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The WE64 will also have the lever action clamp, but it will have the standard angle slides and not have the lead screws for micro-adjusting the angle slides. The WE66 will have the lever action clamp and the lead screw angle slides.
 
000Robert said:
The WE64 will also have the lever action clamp, but it will have the standard angle slides and not have the lead screws for micro-adjusting the angle slides. The WE66 will have the lever action clamp and the lead screw angle slides.
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Any idea when the WE66 will be released.
 
Here's my article on the Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener. I hope you guys like it.

The New Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener
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The New Wicked Edge Go WE60 Sharpener is here! It is very nice with a lot of new design features. The WE60 unit comes with the Sharpener Base and new designed Standard Vise and Standard Angle Slide Assemblies. The above photo shows what comes in the WE60 package.

** Please keep in mind that I was invited to be a beta tester and the WE60 and its package contents that I have may be slightly different than the WE60 Sharpener/package contents that will be released for sale to the public, and that they are subject to possible changes without my knowledge. **

The WE60 Sharpener comes with the standard vise and standard angle slide assemblies installed onto the WE60 Sharpener Base, two 200/600 Wicked Edge diamond stones, two 9” Guide Rods, practice knife, vise key, depth key, alignment guide, C-clamp, four vise clamping screws(one vise hold-down screw) , two ball joint shields, four rubber o-rings to retain the ball joint shields, practice knife instructions, a card with the QR Code and URL so you can go online and get the WE60 instructions, a package of nice Wicked Edge paperboard shims, and a Wicked Edge sticker.

The vise clamping screws are stainless steel 5/32” Allen head flat socket screws. The total length of them is; 1/2”, 5/8”, 7/8”, and 1”.

The Wicked Edge paperboard shims are nice for protecting coated blades and to help keep really thin blades from possibly slipping in the vise jaws.

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Above is a closer view of the WE60 unit and the main package contents. The flange on the base of the WE60 Sharpener has two holes for two #10 screws to affix it to a surface. An aluminum base is planned to be available September 1st.


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Above is a look from the backside of the WE60 Sharpener. I love the, “Made in U. S. A.”!

You can see the protective plastic balls inserted into the standard angle slides. You just loosen the Delrin Guide Rod Retention Screws and remove them to install the Guide Rods.

The dimensions for the WE60 Sharpener Base is 9 11/32” long, 2 29/32” wide, and 29/32” high. The top of the vise is about 4 5/8” high from the bottom of the base. The vise jaws are 1” wide at the top.


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Above you can see the bottom of the WE60 sharpener base. The empty hole on the right center is for changing the vise to face the other way if you so desire. My WE60 unit came with the fixed vise installed so that the vise clamping screws go into the fixed vise jaw from the right side – that’s the way that I like mine.

You can easily change the vise around if you wish by using the supplied vise key. Just remove the vise mounting screw and turn the fixed jaw of the vise around and screw it down into the empty hole on the right, and then snug it down tight.


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In the photo above you can see the WE60 vise jaws from the top. I just have them pushed together with no vise screws in them. The vise jaws have two vertical slots that give the jaws three fingers that will flex around and clamp distally tapered blades. You can also see that the center fingers are slightly more angled toward the center than the outside fingers.

In the next photo you can see the inside of the new WE60 vise jaws. You can see how the contact pad of the center vise jaw finger goes up to the top and the outside vise jaw finger contact pads stop about 1/8” from the top. The inside of the other jaw is the same.

The inside jaw faces have offset contact pads on the fingers that help with clamping fully flat ground blades. Brilliant design!

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In the above photo you can see that the protective plastic ball has been removed and the ball end of the Guide Rod mounted between the Delrin Guide Rod Socket and the Delrin Guide Rod Retention Screw. The Guide Rod moves as smooth as silk. I really love this design!

Future WE60 Sharpener Units will have hex heads on the Angle Slide Locking Screw and Delrin Guide Rod Retention Screw sized to 11/16” and 7/16” respectively so that they can be operated with standard wrenches.

Ok, let’s sharpen some knives!



I’ll start with the supplied practice knife. I could screw the WE60 Sharpener Base down to a sturdy surface, but for this article I’m going to pretend that I’m in the hills and need to clamp the WE60 Sharpener down to a wooden standup TV dinner tray using the supplied C-clamp.

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You can see above that I have the supplied Wicked Edge practice knife clamped into the top holes of the WE60 vise using one of the supplied Wicked Edge paperboard shims. If the spine to edge of the blade was more than an inch wide then you would mount the blade in the bottom holes.

The way that you tighten a blade in your new WE60 vise is while you are holding the blade on top of the depth key or where you want it in the vise jaws, screw the top (Pivot) screw in until both jaws touch the blade on both sides.

While keeping the blade held in position, tighten the bottom (Jack) screw until the blade is held tight in the vise jaws. Then tighten the Jack screw a half turn more. Check to make sure that your blade is held firmly in the vise jaws. Be careful!


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Above I am using the supplied Alignment Guide to record the “sweet spot” position of the blade in the vise jaws so that the next time that I need to sharpen the blade it will be much quicker to get it clamped into the vise in the same position that it was in the previous sharpening.

The sweet spot isn’t very critical with this blade since it doesn’t have much of a belly to it. There will be a Wicked Edge video for finding the sweet spot in the instructional videos for the WE60 on the Wicked Edge YouTube channel.

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I sharpened the Wicked Edge practice knife at 20dps. The supplied Wicked Edge 200/600 diamond stones worked very well to get a good working edge on the knife. As you can see in the photo above, the edge cut the printer paper pretty well. I would advise getting some more different grit stones, but the supplied stones work well for an entry level Wicked Edge sharpener.

Continued in the next post.
 
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Above I am clamping my leather knife into the new Wicked Edge WE60 vise. I sharpen the blade at 17dps, but since the blade is so small that I could not sharpen at 17dps in the top holes without the stones hitting the sides of the vise jaws.

The small size of the blade is one of the reasons that I chose to use it in this WE60 Sharpener article. The other reason is because it is the only fully flat ground blade that I have and I wanted to see how well the new WE60 vise jaws will clamp it.

I also chose not to use one of the supplied Wicked Edge paperboard shims on the blade to make it more difficult for the vise jaws to clamp the blade even though I was clamping the blade above the top holes and on top of the outside jaw finger contact pads.

I’ll be honest with you; I didn’t really think that the vise would hold the blade tight enough and also straight up and down without a paperboard or leather shim. But it did! The new WE60 vise jaws held the blade very well!

The blade did not move up or down, or side to side. I am very impressed with the new Wicked Edge WE60 standard vise!


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You can see in the photo above a top view of my leather knife clamped into the vise jaws of the new WE60 vise. The blade is straight up and centered. You can see the light reflecting off of the blue base around the blade spine in the jaw finger vertical slots. The blade self-centered in the vise jaws.

The new WE60 jaw fingers are wrapped around the full flat ground blade nicely. They should work even better on a larger blade. It’s the small blades that give me trouble sometimes. The larger blades are usually much easier to clamp up in the vises and sharpen in my experience.

My photo of the blade edge is a hair off center, but I think that you can see it well enough to see how secure the new WE60 vise jaws clamp the blade.


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You can see in the photo above and below that I set the WE60 Standard Angle Slides to 17dps on my leather knife. The stone just barely scraped the top side of the free jaw. But the edge of my leather knife is only 23/64” above the top of the vise jaws.

It’s pretty impressive that the newly designed Wicked Edge WE60 vise was able to sharpen the small fully flat ground blade at 17dps, especially without using a shim. Of course, the taller that a blade is the easier it is to put more acute edge bevels on it.

It is my leather knife so I used my 1000 grit stones to put a more refined edge on the blade. Wicked Edge has many different stone grits to choose from to use for sharpening our blades, as well as other great accessories.


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I didn’t take photos of them, but my Low Angle Adapter, Scissor Attachment, and Chisel Attachment clamped up nicely into the WE60 Standard Vise. With the Low Angle Adapter, you just set it onto the depth key in the bottom holes of the vise and then center it lengthwise.

Below you can see that my leather knife is sharp enough to easily slice the printer paper. It would do so with the 600 grit stones as well.

I must say again that I’m very impressed with the new Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener! The redesigned vise jaws are genius. And the retention design for the Guide Rods is golden.

Trying the Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener out was a pure joy. I can’t wait to check out the new Wicked Edge lever-action vise.

I am really happy that I was invited to be one of the Wicked Edge WE60 beta testers – thanks, Clay! And thanks to everyone at Wicked Edge. I really believe that you guys knocked this one out of the park! Well done!


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The photos were taken, and edited and the article written by Robert Calk Jr. 000Robert
 
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Sorry guys. I had to post this article up old-school. I guess I need to get a new computer. It tells me that my Word 2010 is obsolete. But my Dell Inspiron 17R has been a good one for many years. About 14 years, I think. I service it about every 2 or 3 years.
 
So, do you think we will see this three finger vice clamp (lever cam version) and/or the new ball joint design appear in the WE130 in the future? (000Robert)
 
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000Robert said:
View attachment 1899319


Above I am clamping my leather knife into the new Wicked Edge WE60 vise. I sharpen the blade at 17dps, but since the blade is so small that I could not sharpen at 17dps in the top holes without the stones hitting the sides of the vise jaws.

The small size of the blade is one of the reasons that I chose to use it in this WE60 Sharpener article. The other reason is because it is the only fully flat ground blade that I have and I wanted to see how well the new WE60 vise jaws will clamp it.

I also chose not to use one of the supplied Wicked Edge paperboard shims on the blade to make it more difficult for the vise jaws to clamp the blade even though I was clamping the blade above the top holes and on top of the outside jaw finger contact pads.

I’ll be honest with you; I didn’t really think that the vise would hold the blade tight enough and also straight up and down without a paperboard or leather shim. But it did! The new WE60 vise jaws held the blade very well!

The blade did not move up or down, or side to side. I am very impressed with the new Wicked Edge WE60 standard vise!


View attachment 1899320



You can see in the photo above a top view of my leather knife clamped into the vise jaws of the new WE60 vise. The blade is straight up and centered. You can see the light reflecting off of the blue base around the blade spine in the jaw finger vertical slots. The blade self-centered in the vise jaws.

The new WE60 jaw fingers are wrapped around the full flat ground blade nicely. They should work even better on a larger blade. It’s the small blades that give me trouble sometimes. The larger blades are usually much easier to clamp up in the vises and sharpen in my experience.

My photo of the blade edge is a hair off center, but I think that you can see it well enough to see how secure the new WE60 vise jaws clamp the blade.


View attachment 1899321


You can see in the photo above and below that I set the WE60 Standard Angle Slides to 17dps on my leather knife. The stone just barely scraped the top side of the free jaw. But the edge of my leather knife is only 23/64” above the top of the vise jaws.

It’s pretty impressive that the newly designed Wicked Edge WE60 vise was able to sharpen the small fully flat ground blade at 17dps, especially without using a shim. Of course, the taller that a blade is the easier it is to put more acute edge bevels on it.

It is my leather knife so I used my 1000 grit stones to put a more refined edge on the blade. Wicked Edge has many different stone grits to choose from to use for sharpening our blades, as well as other great accessories.


View attachment 1899322


I didn’t take photos of them, but my Low Angle Adapter, Scissor Attachment, and Chisel Attachment clamped up nicely into the WE60 Standard Vise. With the Low Angle Adapter, you just set it onto the depth key in the bottom holes of the vise and then center it lengthwise.

Below you can see that my leather knife is sharp enough to easily slice the printer paper. It would do so with the 600 grit stones as well.

I must say again that I’m very impressed with the new Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener! The redesigned vise jaws are genius. And the retention design for the Guide Rods is golden.

Trying the Wicked Edge WE60 Sharpener out was a pure joy. I can’t wait to check out the new Wicked Edge lever-action vise.

I am really happy that I was invited to be one of the Wicked Edge WE60 beta testers – thanks, Clay! And thanks to everyone at Wicked Edge. I really believe that you guys knocked this one out of the park! Well done!


View attachment 1899323



The photos were taken, and edited and the article written by Robert Calk Jr. 000Robert
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So you do not need the Tormek small knife blade holder in these new clamps. ????
 
Billabong said:
So, do you think we will see this three finger vice clamp (lever cam version) and/or the new ball joint design appear in the WE130 in the future? (000Robert)
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I have no idea - I don't work for Wicked Edge. It wouldn't surprise me if they offered an upgrade of the vise design for the WE130 sometime in the not too distant future.
 
cudgee said:
So you do not need the Tormek small knife blade holder in these new clamps. ????
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I need it for the sheepsfoot blade on my Buck 301. Every sharpening device has pros and cons. With the Wicked Edge sharpeners so far, the con for me has been tiny blades. But it's not a problem that the Tormek can't handle, or I'll just sharpen them by hand. But the newly designed jaws help with distal and fully flat ground blades.
 
scottc3 said:
inquiring minds want to know the steel type and HRC
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I don't know the exact answer, but i do know those knives, a bought a bundle of them off Ali Express to practice on with a sharpener i made. They were cheap, but did the job, they are a very soft stainless, i now use them for steak knives and they actually do a really good job slicing through steak.
 
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