Problems with clamping Tsprof Kadet pro

[blades and sheaths]

Hello folks,
I got a problem with my Kadet pro and was hoping someone here could give me some advice.

So I got this Kadet pro for 1 1/2 years now and it treated me well until recently. I got my knives super sharp after getting to know the ins and outs of this system. For a year before that I used a Kme. I also have a nice stone collection of bonded bonded diamond annd cbn and a selection of Boride SC-HD and T2 stones. Also strops lapping films.

Anyway, recently I’ve been having problems getting my knives sharpened at the same angle on both side of the blade. I’ll zero my angle cube on one side and it’ll be different once I flip the knife around to do the other side. The cube shows a difference is just .4 degrees but that seems to be enough. I raise a burr on one side but not the other. I never had these problems before. At least not with the whole milled clamps.
I always got these knives nice and sharp.

Using the knife in question as an example. The blade has a “flat” spot at the spine and I always got it nice and sharp before. What I did was first tighten the clamp closest to the Hilt. Although just slightly hand tight. Then I tightened the second clamp closer to the tip. After that I went back to the other clamp and tightened it well and then tightened the clamps closest to tip again. That usually worked very well. Not anymore though.

Could it be that my whole milled clamps are worn out? What am I doing wrong? I was even wondering if the guide rod isn’t straight, but that’s not it.

Last year I even bought some of those double clamps with the springs, for my flat ground blades like Spyderco. Those I never got figured out though. Plus they had holes on the inside of the clamps, where tighten the back screw. I attached a pic for that too. I’m at wits end by now. I apent so much money on good stones, emulsions, pastes, strops etc. It would be a shame if I can’t use them now.

I would be super grateful for some help and advice with this.

 

[cudgee]

Hello folks,
I got a problem with my Kadet pro and was hoping someone here could give me some advice.

So I got this Kadet pro for 1 1/2 years now and it treated me well until recently. I got my knives super sharp after getting to know the ins and outs of this system. For a year before that I used a Kme. I also have a nice stone collection of bonded bonded diamond annd cbn and a selection of Boride SC-HD and T2 stones. Also strops lapping films.

Anyway, recently I’ve been having problems getting my knives sharpened at the same angle on both side of the blade. I’ll zero my angle cube on one side and it’ll be different once I flip the knife around to do the other side. The cube shows a difference is just .4 degrees but that seems to be enough. I raise a burr on one side but not the other. I never had these problems before. At least not with the whole milled clamps.
I always got these knives nice and sharp.

Using the knife in question as an example. The blade has a “flat” spot at the spine and I always got it nice and sharp before. What I did was first tighten the clamp closest to the Hilt. Although just slightly hand tight. Then I tightened the second clamp closer to the tip. After that I went back to the other clamp and tightened it well and then tightened the clamps closest to tip again. That usually worked very well. Not anymore though.

Could it be that my whole milled clamps are worn out? What am I doing wrong? I was even wondering if the guide rod isn’t straight, but that’s not it.

Last year I even bought some of those double clamps with the springs, for my flat ground blades like Spyderco. Those I never got figured out though. Plus they had holes on the inside of the clamps, where tighten the back screw. I attached a pic for that too. I’m at wits end by now. I apent so much money on good stones, emulsions, pastes, strops etc. It would be a shame if I can’t use them now.

I would be super grateful for some help and advice with this.

777 Edge Will probably see your post and should be able to help. He is most knowledgeable with these systems.

 

[blades and sheaths]

777 Edge Will probably see your post and should be able to help. He is most knowledgeable with these systems.

Thanks a bunch. Much appreciated.

 

[Wowbagger]

Clamps are evil .
Edge Pro for ever .

 

[blades and sheaths]

Clamps are evil .
Edge Pro for ever .

Yeah, I’m seriously considering freehand. I just got a lot of 1x6 stones and can’t afford bench stones right now. So you’re happy with your edge pro, I take it?

 

[777 Edge]

I would highly recommend not measuring or being concerned about the opposite side angle of your blade. Measure one side only, and when you change stones or strops, flip back to the same original measured side and only ever readjust the angle on that same original starting side again if needed.

Invariably, there are always minute differences in angles on opposite sides of a knife grind or opposite sides of a clamp - but the angle difference is hardly ever enough to need to really be concerned about. Just measure and readjust your angles on one side of the blade or you'll just be chasing a rabbit down a hole unnecessarily.

Readjusting the angle every time you flip, ends up being counterproductive and often results in not getting your blade as sharp as you should because of all the adjustments - especially with how the angle is measured and adjusted on the Kadet.

 

[777 Edge]

Clamps are evil .

I absolutely love my clamp based systems.

True, they don't work on all knives and a platform based / magnetic based system is definitely also good to have in your sharpening arsenal but if you learn the tricks of how to use clamps correctly, they are awesome.... especially if you have the right clamps for the job.

 

[blades and sheaths]

I would highly recommend not measuring or being concerned about the opposite side angle of your blade. Measure one side only, and when you change stones or strops, flip back to the same original measured side and only ever readjust the angle on that same original starting side again if needed.

Invariably, there are always minute differences in angles on opposite sides of a knife grind or opposite sides of a clamp - but the angle difference is hardly ever enough to need to really be concerned about. Just measure and readjust your angles on one side of the blade or you'll just be chasing a rabbit down a hole unnecessarily.

Readjusting the angle every time you flip, ends up being counterproductive and often results in not getting your blade as sharp as you should because of all the adjustments - especially with how the angle is measured and adjusted on the Kadet.

Tanks for the reply 777 edge! I’m very grateful to you for still helping people figuring out the ins and outs of clamp based systems, and I know you know just about any system that’s available out there. Your posts have helped me for years, even before I joined the forum. So tons of thank to ye, Sir!

Anyway, it wasn’t so much the angle cube that led me to the belief that something isn’t going the way it used to. I seem to raise a burr, or even just more if a burr, on one side and not or not so much on the other. Also I can easily remove the burr on one side and hardly so on the other side. I must be doing something wrong. Something seem to be different. On 3 different knives now I was not able to get rid of the burr. On the last 2 of them I was able to remove it by raising 3 degrees and finishing with a 2000 Rockstar. That was the plan for the 2nd knife anyway. Going from 13 to about 16 degrees. Just micro-edging though. So I did just 2 light passes with a 2000 grit Rockstar/glass. But then the burr was gone, but the blade was just dull.
I had been having great results that way for about 6 to 10 months.I would either use a 1000 ceramic or the 2000 Rockstar, depending on the blade.

Or am I just overthinking it?

Just to give more details, I actually had a similar problem about a couple, or so, months ago. What fixed it was that little ball where the guide rod goes through, I mean the unit that also works as a stone thickness compensator, that whole unit sat in there very wobbly. I took it out and re-tightened the spring on the bottom and it worked like new after that. This time it’s still in there nice and tight though. So can’t see how that would be the issue again.

So I’m at wits end. I think I’ll wait until I got the clamps that I ordered a couple days prior to encountering new issues. They’re the kakbritva side clamps with your attachments for them. I’ll try and diagnose the problem when they arrive.

Would it be alright to post ya another question, in case something else comes up?

 

[777 Edge]

Tanks for the reply 777 edge! I’m very grateful to you for still helping people figuring out the ins and outs of clamp based systems, and I know you know just about any system that’s available out there. Your posts have helped me for years, even before I joined the forum. So tons of thank to ye, Sir!

My pleasure, happy to help where I can.

I seem to raise a burr, or even just more if a burr, on one side and not or not so much on the other. Also I can easily remove the burr on one side and hardly so on the other side. I must be doing something wrong.

The only logical conclusion I can come to, is the possibility that you're spending too much time on one side of the blade as opposed to the other side? Have you perhaps gotten into a possible negative habit of setting bevels and sharpening away on one side alone until creating a burr, before flipping over to the other side?

If so, then you're edges are getting off-centered on the centreline of your knives. This would result in one side of the knife edge bevel being a little bigger than the other side, and your edges being misaligned to the blade centerline.

I'm not sure if this is what's happening (possibly not), but my suspicion is that.

So I did just 2 light passes with a 2000 grit Rockstar/glass. But then the burr was gone, but the blade was just dull.

There's also a possibility that you're spending too much time on your finer grits, this can sometimes dull a blade if done incorrectly.

Do an experiment and sharpen some knives only with your low grit (up to around 400 or so) stones, spend extra time on the lowest grit to make sure your edge is centered (not ground down on one side more than the other side of the edge) and the burr is raised on both sides. Try spending minimum time on the medium grits and end your sharpening there as an experiment.

So I’m at wits end.

I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Would it be alright to post ya another question, in case something else comes up?

Of course, anytime.

 

[blades and sheaths]

The only logical conclusion I can come to, is the possibility that you're spending too much time on one side of the blade as opposed to the other side

Actually, that could be. That’s possible. I should pay better attention to that. What would be the fix to that? Grind the opposite side more now? Would that be the side that doesn’t raise a burr as much, and doesn’t let me get rid of the burr? Beginner questions, I know.

Do an experiment and sharpen some knives only with your low grit (up to around 400 or so) stones, spend extra time on the lowest grit to make sure your edge is centered (not ground down on one side more than the other side of the edge) and the burr is raised on both sides. Try spending minimum time on the medium grits and end your sharpening there as an experiment

I shall do that. Thanks for your help. I think you found the issue. Even though I should’ve come up with it myself by now .

 

[Bdtry]

You could also try to calibrate your spring clamps. Relatively easy to do and they sometimes get out a bit.

 

[777 Edge]

Grind the opposite side more now? Would that be the side that doesn’t raise a burr as much, and doesn’t let me get rid of the burr?

Yes, correct.

I shall do that. Thanks for your help. I think you found the issue.

No problem, that should hopefully fix it for you.

 

[777 Edge]

Last year I even bought some of those double clamps with the springs, for my flat ground blades like Spyderco. Those I never got figured out though. Plus they had holes on the inside of the clamps, where tighten the back screw.

Just another (unrelated to your whole milled clamps) note for you regarding your adjustable spring clamps. Looking at your pic and reading your note, you seem to be using those incorrectly.

The screw in the back is not for tightening, it's a spacer to open or close the geometry of the clamp so it can follow the geometry of a blade being clamped. As an example, if you screw the rear screw in, you'll see that the back part of the clamp opens up and the clamp geometry changes. The further the back screw is tightened, the more the rear of the clamp opens up. This is handy if you want to clamp directly onto the primary grind of (as an example) a full flat ground blade.

These types of clamps are incredibly versatile clamps, but like you, a lot of people misunderstand how they actually work.

Perhaps I should make a video sometime regarding how to use adjustable spring clamps correctly, it's very commonly misunderstood.

 

[blades and sheaths]

You could also try to calibrate your spring clamps. Relatively easy to do and they sometimes get out a bit.

Thanks a bunch! I've been mostly using the whole milled clamps. I got springs clamps a little while ago for my Spydies. Problem with them, is that one of them has a hole where there's not supposed to be one and it's hampering things a bit. I'd post more pics but it doesn't want to work uploading them with Imgur. No tech guy here I'm in contact with Tsprof about it and just waiting to hear back. I think my main problem is what 777 Edge said. I just got back from a week in the big city to see a bunch of specialists. So I didn't get the chance to sharpening yet. Tonight though.

 

[Blade Lady]

I purchased several magnetic angle guides that stick to the blade and there you have it. They work great, amazon!

 

[Blade Lady]