Paper Wheel vs Wicked Edge

S

soapboxpreacher

Joined
Apr 3, 2010
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Two totally different ways to sharpen. I have tons of knives to sharpen...a few I cannot sharpen on a Wicked Edge such as my (3) Fallknivens because they are convex. But can I sharpen them on a paper wheel? Also can a paper wheel do a great job on folders, fixed, and so on. What are the down falls? I have a week before the Wicked Edge is back in stock and ready to buy. Let me know, seems many here love the paper wheel.
 
Belt sander, use 3M Trizact and/or Norton Norax belts. Finish with a leather belt and some polishing compound. Keep the convexed edge. Just sayin'.
 
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The slotted paper wheels can touch up a convex edge. However the gritted wheel will change it to a V edge. The paper wheel handles recurves and hawkbill blades fine. However I've put my wheels aside in lieu of the Worksharp Knife & Tool Sharpener, which is essentially a mini belt sander. I find the flexing belts are much more forgiving if you don't have rock steady hands. Admittedly the thing needs to be shut off after 20 minutes of continuous use(user manual recommends no more than 20 minutes of use in an hour), so sharpening a lot of knives in one go isn't a good idea.

I wouldn't go with a full size belt sander unless I plan to put grinds on a blank blade or do regrinds.
 
camoninja said:
And if your not careful starting off with paper wheels can burn the blade.
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Definitely possible, which is why I recommend using cheap kitchen knives when starting out with ANY new system. As completely foolproof as the Wicked Edge may be, it's best not to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools:thumbup:.
 
wait, do you already have a wicked edge or not?
seems like you can afford both systems so why not buy both? If you cant afford it, Just dont go to the strip club for one or two nights and your just about even money wise.



soapboxpreacher said:
Two totally different ways to sharpen. I have tons of knives to sharpen...a few I cannot sharpen on a Wicked Edge such as my (3) Fallknivens because they are convex. But can I sharpen them on a paper wheel? Also can a paper wheel do a great job on folders, fixed, and so on. What are the down falls? I have a week before the Wicked Edge is back in stock and ready to buy. Let me know, seems many here love the paper wheel.
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Noctis3880 said:
I wouldn't go with a full size belt sander unless I plan to put grinds on a blank blade or do regrinds.
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With the finer grit the Trizact and Norax belts tend to come in (~800-1,000 and up), a simple 1"x30" unit will do smaller blades just fine, and even at higher belt speeds the cheap ones have (like the Harbor Freight model), they still do not take a lot of metal off too quickly. Keeping a bucket of cooling water nearby (and drying the blades each time) is another key to this method's success.
 
I have both and love the paper wheels for how quick they can get shaving sharp. I can use the wicked edge and use up the the .5 micron diamond paste to get insane sharp but not many knives get that treatment from me. Honestly if it can shave shouldnt that be sharp enough for 99.99% of anything your gonna do?
 
i have used the wheels just over 20 years and i would not trade them for anything. i used to have a guided system but there was no real way to get the same angle or match an existing angle like i do now with the wheels. the grit wheel works great for forming a v edge but the slotted wheel which takes the place of a strop works great for removing the burr on both the v and convex edge.

you can maintain either edge with the slotted wheel. when an edge gets a little dull, just give it a few passes on the slotted wheel and you're good to go. you can also touch up serrated edges on the slotted wheel too but only if they are not too bad.

cbr, when protourist was down i showed him (on the knife i made for him) how to put the same kind of edge (what i call a novelty edge :D) on that you get with the .5 micron paste and whittled a hair as if it were a toothpick. i quickly took that edge off and put on my normal edge which still shaves hair and push cuts newspaper. then i cut the fingers off a kevlar glove.

soapboxpreacher, here are some links to check out.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585019 free sharpening thread

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=651061 Good Man......Richard J

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ime-is-important-to-you?p=8652463#post8652463

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609189&page=2 post 33
 
eccvets said:
wait, do you already have a wicked edge or not?
seems like you can afford both systems so why not buy both? If you cant afford it, Just dont go to the strip club for one or two nights and your just about even money wise.
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No heavily considering. I have a DMT Aligner and a sharpmaker. Aligner isnt bad for small folders but takes a while. The shapemaker is great for my kitchen duty but not stellar. You can knock tips off with the sharpmaker and it is not suitable for reprofiling or rebeveling. It is a touch up sharpener that can be very inconsistent depending on the user. So I was down to the Wicked Edge or EP Apex and the wicked seems to be easier, cleaner, faster, and more idiot proof. But I wanted to see if paper wheel on a 60 dollar grinder is an option. Seems like it is limited. Wicked Edge is expensive. For you absolutely need to get the 800-1000 grit stones for 600 is a good working edge but as most know 600 edge will dull faster than a 1000+. I dont like mirror edge for I believe that they a great at cutting somethings and terrible at cutting others. But the high grit/polished edges seem to hold up well but dont have the micro serrations from the lower grit edges that make the lower grit edges cut certain things far better. I think there is a happy medium and that seems to be between 1000-2000 Correct me if I am wrong but I did an experiment with my ZT 0350 using my sharpmaker with ultra fine stones (2000+) and it didnt cut nearly as well as the fine stone did, tested on paper after the 1200 fine stones where used and it did a good job cutting but didnt do as well after the ultra fine). So I was on a quest to find a better system. My blades are not over 10" so I initially looked at the EP and the WE as options eliminating the EP after talking with many sharpening shops that sell both and how they actually prefer the WE over the EP. None said either was bad but that the WE was easier (yet more expensive) but still had a few limitations...much of which both shops said I wouldnt run into. I know I cannot sharpen my Fallknivens on the WE or the EP for that matter but they dont see nearly as much time as the multitude of EDC I use and carry. I will also do kitchen knives on the WE if I go that route. Oh one questions...WE an Mora 2000 and Mora 2010? Can it handle it?
 
Really, you're comparing apples and oranges to be honest.

I use the EP, WEPS, Sharpmaker and a Kalamazoo 1x42 belt for my sharpening tasks, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. When you start trying to compare powered and unpowered sharpening, it's difficult to keep things even across the board. The WEPS is very, very easy to use, and very difficult to do significant damage to the blade with. If a perfect edge is your goal, and you have plenty of time, the Wicked Edge or the EdgePro is the way to go. If you want a great working edge (by that, I mean easily push-cutting telephone book paper, etc, but probably not good enough for a HHT) then the powered system is the way to go. I do probably five or six times the number of knives on the belt grinder than I do on all of my other systems combined. It's fast, it's easy and it's versatile. However, if you're not careful that same speed and power can come back and bite you in the form of a blade that's missing tips or has a weird recurve where you got a little enthusiastic.

More or less whatever you choose, pick up a couple cheap kitchen knives and spend some time playing with it before you try a decent blade!
 
Komitadjie said:
More or less whatever you choose, pick up a couple cheap kitchen knives and spend some time playing with it before you try a decent blade!
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Absolutely GREAT advice!!! Swing by Goodwill, Salvation Army, or the like, and you should be able to pick up almost a limitless number of tossed kitchen knives. Sometimes you even run across a decent one for only a couple dollars. I can't even begin to tell you how many "garden" knives I've made for my family over the years this way, and the practice you get sharpening them is invaluable.
 
Is there any reason you can't take a Wicked Edge blank and stick some mouse pad covered with sandpaper on it for convex blades?
 
I certainly would think so, the usual method that Clay uses is to use the strops with a coarser paste abrasive to blend a faceted edge together to make an extremely precise convex. If such a thing can be said to exist. It'd be just like hand-mouse-pad convexing, only more precise.
 
Convex definitely doable on the WEPS. Does a great job actually. What Komitadjie said. There's a vid out there of Clay doing it to a Sebanza.

Moras soon, they are designing essentially an extension to raise the blade ... higher the blade, steeper the angle. Mora's run around 11 degrees ... have seen the prototype get around 7.
Just make sure you get a digital edge reader to set the angles as the numbered angle bar is out useless .... I'd say with the WEPS, an angle meter is essential in general due to the design.
 
I have actually been toying with the idea of a convex set up on my edge pro(seems just as possible on the WE). It involves using a blank plate and gluing a mousepad to it, then attaching polishing tapes onto the mousepad. I do not see how it would fail other than consistent pressure would be VERY important I would think. I will try this weekend and post back if I have the chance.

I also am a paper wheel user, but I am admittedly rather bad at it. My free hand is much better, just never had luck with powered systems.

ETA: Didn't see your post MVF. That's funny, great minds think alike.
 
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